Hi

Yes, I've tried short spin (4 min cycle) and counted revs (visually) and it looks to reach 700 RPM (as expectd) and you can hear its drain pump running; that all looks fine.

Hi
I will haul it out now and get back to you after testing that.

Hi

There is no removable rear panel: on my one, the case looks to be built in two halves of pressed steel (with no removable rear inspection cover), with the joint between them half way down each side of the appliance (so the back panel wraps round to a joint half way along each side). There's a bolt through the top holding a pump (looks like an air pump) and bolts at the base (I can't see what they are supporting) and there is also a central bracket across the top (holding both front and back together and supporting an insulated air intake). It would seem a massive strip down to get to that heater, so I wonder if in my version it's meant to be accessed from the base? I've tried a mirror and torch under it and there is a harness plugged into something, but I'd have to get it on its side to see what it is. I'll have to search the www for an exploded diagram to see how to access the heater, but I can only think its meant to be accessed from below.

I wonder if the heater can be disconnected somewhere from the top?

Bri

Before I do that, do you happen to know if the other end of the heater supply terminates into something at the top; that could provide a much swifter and easier way to disconnect and thus test it?

Thank you for that info; mine is the trickier one (I'm just getting so tempted to get my angle grinder onto it)! Sorry to ask another question before answering that diagnosis, but as there is quite a big access hole at the base, is the connection near to the very bottom of the machine? If so, it might be easily accessed from below. If that sounds plausible, I'll empty the last of the water out of its sump and tip it on its side (it's in a tiny utility room, so it's all a little tricky no matter what I do).

If you don't think that's plausible, I'll strip it down as you suggest and proceed that way (I'll try to do it now, but that would probably have to be done tomorrow morning).

Bri

Good point; I'll do it the correct way and get back to you to let you know how I got on (hopefully later, but it might have to be tomorrow).

Hi

You were correct; the cabinet removal was very simple and I even remembered to unplug it from the mains first (which is why I'm not yet dead). As you proposed, I removed two separate heater power feed wires (gray wires), but left the other connector (two blue wires; likely a sensor) and it ran the full 23 minute rinse cycle okay. The heater element measures 23 ohms (cold; obviously) and no leak to earth (but that's with a meter as opposed to a megger) so my wild guess would be that it's detecting an over-current or a leak to earth (most likely the latter) and thus it's prematurely terminating the programme when that happens (so jumping to 3 mins before the end). It's on a spur that's not protected by the house RCD and thus it wouldn't have tripped the mains feed, so it could have been deteriorating for some time (I assume that's an additional AEG safety feature for folks who don't have an RCD). I didn't thing it would activate the heater on a rinse cycle, but there you go; you learn something every day!

I guess the next step would be to source a new heating element, slap it in and then see how it performs doing a full wash. Thank you very much indeed for all your excellent guidance in disassembling things; I'm pretty sure we've now got to the bottom of the issue.

Bri :)

It massively helped and it is most appreciated! I'll slap in a new heater, and if that doesn't fix it, I'll tackle the control panel.

Thanks again; a totally fantastic service!!!

Bri