AEG 72600 Washing Machine Water Distribution Gears

[twonky]

This photograph(sorry it's out of focus) shows the correct position of the water distributor timing gears in my AEG 72600 washing machine. As can be seen from my marker pen lines, at this position(for interest only) the machine would flush water into the fabric conditioner compartment of the powder drawer. The other positions, reading clockwise are, pre-wash compartment, main powder compartment, special treatments compartment and a position which is used for the 'Main Fill' of the machine. The gears can be manipulated into this position by removing the 4 screws that hold the circuit board compartment in position, slightly lifting the yellow gear spindle(the one with the large gear and ‘brushes’ on) and carefully rotating it into the position shown in the photo, I say carefully because those brushes look pretty delicate and could easily get damaged. It does not affect the timing to re-orientate the small gears in this electrical compartment. I noticed that the yellow gear spindle was ‘twisted’ which was probably effecting the timing(because the missing tooth in the yellow gear needs to be in the correct relationship to the ‘brushes’)and so having removed it I put the yellow gear back on the spindle and was able to ‘untwist’ it so that the splines were returned to an in-line state, this was easier than it sounds ie it easily twisted back to it’s original state. Another modification I made, which is probably a bit radical, was to shorten the length of the compression spring on the water distribution arm spindle(pink gear) as I felt that it was preventing the spindle from turning freely which is critical as the fact that this spindle was tight caused all the problems in the first place, there was still enough tension left in that spring to keep the distribution arm seal pressed against the outlet orifices. The gear with the ‘brushes’ attached to it did have 2 or 3 of the teeth slightly worn where it had stopped because the pink gear spindle had seized but fortunately the teeth were still in serviceable condition. If anybody else is contemplating this repair, one thing to note is the two long small diameter springs which carry the current from the circuit board to the drive motor, I turned this unit upside down and as they were so small I never noticed them drop out which gave me a bit of grief when I came to test the machine, luckily I soon spotted what was wrong but they had fallen inside the washing machine and were not easy to find.
At the time of writing a new water distributor top cover would cost in the region of £65 with postage, for which I would have to work almost a day to earn, so it is well worth unseizing this assembly and re-assembling it using water resistant grease. I was lucky in that I heard it making the loud clicking noise, which is the tell-tale sign with this fault, before it had a chance to do too much damage to any of the gears(the 3 shown or the small ones in the electrical compartment) so I was able to repair mine which hopefully should last another year or two.