Looking for a special Kenmore console

Hi everyone -

I am looking for that proverbial needle in the stack of hay.

If you'll recall the Arizona truck that had the pillaged washers, I am working with one that was in that load that is a bit of a dark horse or different beast, and I like stuff that is a bit different. It's a 1980 Kenmore 90 series. A very TOL machine, probably the top mechanical control model, just under the electronic Lady K.

These black panel models have essentially interchangeable panels - remove two screws and just about any panel can be re-installed on any accomodating machine. The only constraint is the wiring harness terminal block, which varies in size based on the number of pins, which correlate to the features the machine offers.

I knew when I saw the pic of this machine before it left AZ that it might become a project. Someone has transplanted a 70-series panel onto a 90-series machine, but the 70's panel is not capable of operating some of the machine's finer features. The original machine offered a second rinse and electrically operated bleach and detergent dispensers and these are useless or not even available with the current panel.

So.....what I'm hoping is that someone has one of these tucked away who used to work on these machines, OR that someone knows someone I should contact. I have a pile of these consoles, and I know a couple others through this site who do, but nobody has had this particular one.

I don't have a picture, so I'll describe the panel. It's a typical black face, with the woodgrain top. Center dial, with temp on the right - the temps are five manual on the lower half of the knob rotation, and 'automatic' on the top.

To the left of the timer is the water level, which has five selections. To the far left is a cycle modifier switch, which is the heart of why this model is different. This switch offers, in addition to 'wash only', a 'soak and wash', soak, wash and second rinse', a 'wash and second rinse' and a 'soak only' feature. So, this machine has a timer and three supplemental controls. Without this panel the mechanical dispensers and the second rinse are not available. The panel will say "Kenmore Heavy Duty 90". It could also say "Kenmore Heavy Duty 80" as there were two models in 1979/1980 that used an identical panel but were in two different series. It doesn't matter to me which panel I find.

If anyone knows where I might look for this, I'd be grateful for a head's up!

Thanks everyone!

Gordon


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Post# 428685 4/14/2010 at 10:31 (5,138 days old) by KenmoreGuy64 (Charlotte, NC)
Checkrate/Likes Hi everyone - I am looking for that proverbial needle in the stack of hay. If you'll recall the Arizona truck that had the pillaged washers, I am working with one that was in that load that is a bit of a dark horse or different beast, and I like stuff that is a bit different. It's a 1980 Kenmore 90 series. A very TOL machine, probably the top mechanical control model, just under the electronic Lady K. These black panel models have essentially interchangeable panels - remove two screws and just about any panel can be re-installed on any accomodating machine. The only constraint is the wiring harness terminal block, which varies in size based on the number of pins, which correlate to the features the machine offers. I knew when I saw the pic of this machine before it left AZ that it might become a project. Someone has transplanted a 70-series panel onto a 90-series machine, but the 70's panel is not capable of operating some of the machine's finer features. The original machine offered a second rinse and electrically operated bleach and detergent dispensers and these are useless or not even available with the current panel. So.....what I'm hoping is that someone has one of these tucked away who used to work on these machines, OR that someone knows someone I should contact. I have a pile of these consoles, and I know a couple others through this site who do, but nobody has had this particular one. I don't have a picture, so I'll describe the panel. It's a typical black face, with the woodgrain top. Center dial, with temp on the right - the temps are five manual on the lower half of the knob rotation, and 'automatic' on the top. To the left of the timer is the water level, which has five selections. To the far left is a cycle modifier switch, which is the heart of why this model is different. This switch offers, in addition to 'wash only', a 'soak and wash', soak, wash and second rinse', a 'wash and second rinse' and a 'soak only' feature. So, this machine has a timer and three supplemental controls. Without this panel the mechanical dispensers and the second rinse are not available. The panel will say "Kenmore Heavy Duty 90". It could also say "Kenmore Heavy Duty 80" as there were two models in 1979/1980 that used an identical panel but were in two different series. It doesn't matter to me which panel I find. If anyone knows where I might look for this, I'd be grateful for a head's up! Thanks everyone! Gordon

Post# 428705 , Reply# 1 4/14/2010 at 11:47 (5,138 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY)
Checkrate/Likes *Hey Gee* The cycle modifier sounds amazing, so many talents. I hope you find one. You are due for and deserve a classic Aworg miracle. Wish I could be the one to give it to you.

Post# 428754 , Reply# 2 4/14/2010 at 13:55 (5,138 days old) by KenmoreGuy64 (Charlotte, NC)
Checkrate/Likes Mike - The cycle modifier switch is pretty interesting. It works with one specific generation of mechanical timer. Originally, the functions of this one switch were performed by two switches - a soak selector and a second rinse selector - both had on or off positions. In 1979 when the switches were combined into one, the same functions were obtained while eliminating one switch and it's wiring. The timer is the cool part - it allows a cycle to run all the way from the beginning of the 22-minute pre-soak all the way through the second rinse without interruption, and the detergent dispenser dumps the powdered detergent in during the main wash, so the user doesn't have to come back to do that. Can you imagine a belt-drive running for at least 70 or 75 minutes without interruption? TOO COOL. If you don't want the machine to run that long, you just set it accordingly and it won't run the second rinse, etc. Actually, these same features exactly were incorporated into the final Lady K belt-drive washer. I could use one of those consoles actually, however it would not be quite correct for the machine. Since I have one of these Lady Ks at home and almost ready to use, I'll have to do an in-depth post about it sometime soon. Gordon

Post# 428846 , Reply# 3 4/14/2010 at 20:06 (5,137 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY)
Checkrate/Likes *Great stuff, Gordon* You do know that the 70"s LK Keyboards would allow you to pre-set a soak & prewash of 30 minutes followed by the selected cycle with dry detergent automatically infused, and then a second rinse, without interruption, same deal, 80 minutes. Be fun when you get this up and running. If I could do it all over again, it would be as a Kenmore Cycle Engineer.

Post# 429194 , Reply# 4 4/16/2010 at 10:13 (5,136 days old) by rll70sman (Hastings, Minnesota)
Checkrate/Likes As I was reading your post, it dawned on me that I had seen pictures of that console in the Do-It-Yourself Repair Manual for Kenmore Automatic Washers that I picked up a while back to assist in the restoration of my grandmother's washer. It's unusual in that I don't remember anyone having this particular model over the years. I'd love to see one in operation. Hope you are able to find a replacement. If I come across something, I'll be sure to let you know. Rob

Post# 429195 , Reply# 5 4/16/2010 at 10:33 (5,136 days old) by KenmoreGuy64 (Charlotte, NC)
Checkrate/Likes Rob - It's very interesting that you noticed that, and you're absolutely right. The machine in the manual is a 23811 (suds version) - a very odd-ball 1983 model that was not available for long. I have never seen one other than those pictures, and I want to say it is probably the most rare of the 10 29-inch 1983 belt-drive models. There were hardly any differences between it and the Lady K, so it was dropped and 23821 and 23831 model machines were introduced which lacked some features including the highly capable timer and the solenoid controlled dispensers. The actual console I would really like is a 1979 or 1980 version however the 1981 or 1983 would work too, the only differences being the print-font change that was done in 1981. Any of them would be better than what's on the machine now. Cool note Rob! Gordon