Reader Mail: Oasis/Cabrio f51 fix

Hi, was reading the postings and saw your request for a reply. We have a Kenmore Oasis, Model 27042602, and we, too, were plagued by the infamous F-51 error code. Not having purchased the extended warranty, and not wanting to pay for a service call that probably wouldn't even resolve the issue (as I'd read in other blogs), we were having to run back to the machine several times to hit "Stop / Start" to finally get through many a load. Believe it or not, we went through this for several months, until the procedure ceased to work anymore.

I did a lot of Googling, and somehow I got the impression it might be a
simple matter of a bad connection at one of the electrical plugs (I HOPED it was something that simple, anyway). At this point I had to get brave and open up the machine. It took only the removal of 3 screws to gain access to the control panel, where I unplugged, reseated, and wiggled every connection several times. Then I tilted the machine forward onto its face to get access to the open bottom. It took only the removal of one allen-head screw to remove the motor cover, then four bolts to remove the part of the motor that has all the coils. This gave access to two electrical connectors, one of which was the motor position sensor. I repeated the unplugging / replugging / wiggling procedure on both connections, then put things back together. And guess what? We haven't had a single re-occurrence of F51, or any other "F", ever since!

My guess is that it was re-seating the motor position sensor connection that
did the trick. In any case, we feel blessed, and I'm so happy my wife no
longer has to struggle with this machine--which she otherwise likes very
much (although she wishes it had spin speed control, and a rinse-only cycle
for removing set-in wrinkles). She loves how dry the super-fast spin leaves
the clothes, because it saves dryer time and cuts down on the gas bill.

Lennie

Wow, Lennie, thanks for the note (and the comments). I have had the suspicion myself that simply reseating the motor position sensor would do the trick. As such, I don't understand why control boards across the country are being replaced when it is probably just a matter of taking out the sensor and then plugging it back into place.

If anyone else decides to try this, let me know how it works out. And obviously, only do this if you have some basic mechanical skills and the proper tools to do the job. And be careful. For the love of Pete, unplug the machine first.

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