Kenmore wiring fiasco
 

I had to rewire the cord set on my new to me Kenmore 158-481. The old wires were cracked in many places and had been taped several times.

When I took the connector block apart all the little connectors popped out before I could see where they went. And unlike all the others I've worked on, this one has the cords soldered to the spring contacts, instead of screwed on.

So I had joined the Yahoo Kenmore group for info. A week or so later a lady posted that she had the same exact thing happen with her Kenmore cord set. Another poster pointed the direction to a wiring diagram.

I printed it out and tonight I rewired the cord block.

But it didn't work right. No fireworks but as the foot controller was pushed and the motor ran, the light dimmed. It didn't do that before. Oh brother. I double checked my work with the diagram and it was the same.

Then I took out an older cord set that was for either a White or a White made Kenmore and tried that. It worked fine.
Took that apart, took the one I just rewired apart and they were not the same. Nuts!

So I switched the contacts around in the cord block I had just rewired so it matched the older one and tried it. Everything works fine now.

So ... for my machine at least, the wiring diagram on the Yahoo site is not correct.

The moral of the story is, be very careful during disassembly of cord sets so you can mark everything before it pops apart on you. That is the only way I can think of to be sure to get it right.


Joe

I'd also add beware of fools with electrical advice. Joe---Glad to hear you weren't hurt.

Jon

Glad you got it all fixed up with no major problems. Could have been a mess for sure.

At least the connectors were the same so you didn't have to re-solder it.
I take it this was a 3 prong connector like the old Whites use?
Rodney

Yes it is.
I'm considering going back in and redoing it anyway. I'm not overly happy about how it turned out.
I shouldn't do things at night when it's dark.

Joe