Today's little success......

[Globalti]

......or how I fixed the dishwasher and saved a pile of cash.

Mrs Gti mentioned that the little cover on the detergent dispenser seemed to be sticking shut. Fiddling with it showed this to be the case. I took the lazy non-inquisitive route and phoned the NEFF service centre. A surly man told me an engineer visit would cost £90 and a replacement dispenser £24 plus VAT.

That's ridiculous so I took the "effort required" analytical route, pulled off the sliding cover and cleaned it in the hope of freeing the four pegs that run in two guide channels in each side of the housing. No change. Sprayed it with wax polish. No change. Looked at it carefully and realised the cover was actually slightly bowed, probably due to slight swelling of the plastic with time and immersion in very hot water. Tried shaving the sides of the pegs with a knife. No change. Then bingo, I realised that the slight bow of the cover must be pushing the four pegs wider and hence deeper into their channels. Sanded a tiny bit off the end of each peg and... success, the cover slides up and down as freely as it did when new.

Now that's at least £130 saved, so I'll pour a beer tonight and enjoy the reward for Zen and the Art of Dishwasher Maintenance.

 

[Speicher]

......or how I fixed the dishwasher and saved a pile of cash.

Mrs Gti mentioned that the little cover on the detergent dispenser seemed to be sticking shut. Fiddling with it showed this to be the case. I took the lazy non-inquisitive route and phoned the NEFF service centre. A surly man told me an engineer visit would cost £90 and a replacement dispenser £24 plus VAT.

That's ridiculous so I took the "effort required" analytical route, pulled off the sliding cover and cleaned it in the hope of freeing the four pegs that run in two guide channels in each side of the housing. No change. Sprayed it with wax polish. No change. Looked at it carefully and realised the cover was actually slightly bowed, probably due to slight swelling of the plastic with time and immersion in very hot water. Tried shaving the sides of the pegs with a knife. No change. Then bingo, I realised that the slight bow of the cover must be pushing the four pegs wider and hence deeper into their channels. Sanded a tiny bit off the end of each peg and... success, the cover slides up and down as freely as it did when new.

Now that's at least £130 saved, so I'll pour a beer tonight and enjoy the reward for Zen and the Art of Dishwasher Maintenance.

Very good. I might try that with my dishwasher. Currently I mostly use the quick wash and chuck the dishwasher tablet at the back of the machine.

 

[Globalti]

Just line up the four pegs with their entry channels, pull the cover off, check for slight distortion and sand down the ends of the pegs a small amount.

 

[screenman]

Did you give the machine a good clean at the same time?

 

[Dave7]

Save time and just use a big hammer

 

[alicat]

That's brill @Globalti. Now that you have proved your capabilities, please could you pop round to mine and analyse why the chaincase on my shopper bike is rubbing against the chain when it wasn't before I removed the rear wheel to service the internal gear hub?

 

[Globalti]

Certainly because the rear wheel isn't quite where it was before. Did you stand the bike on its wheels before tightening the nuts and did you tighten them gently and progressively each side in turn? Sometimes tightening just one displaces the axle slightly in the dropouts.

Also, were there any washers between hub and frame?

 

[alicat]

I tightened the nuts gently and progressively. I also had a go at recentring the wheel - that didn't seem to make much difference.

I did have to remove the chaincase. The chainstay bracket isn't quite in the same place, but i can't make it go back where it was last time.

I'll have another go tomorrow. I'm not very mechanically minded so I have to leave it a while and sneak up on it...

 

[alicat]

Also, were there any washers between hub and frame?

Just the anti-rotation washers, which I replaced.

 

[Globalti]

So it looks like a bit of bending is needed!