F11 code error on Kenmore HE3

I was able to get rid of this same problem by removing the CCU (pretty easy), desoldering the 3 relays on the board and soldering them back into place. I also opened up the two white ones and cleaned them inside, but the fix actually came after desoldering and resoldering the black relay. 8 loads so far - no issues. Prior to that it would stop working about every other load.

I too had this issue and thanks to Mayer and Chris Campbells post went straight to the problem. I looked at the solder points on the under side of the board for the relays. With the naked eye, nothing looked out of the ordinary; however, under a microscope at the office, was able to see the solder was broken in a circular shape at the base of the pin. Again, it wasnt clearly visible even under the scope until you moved the relay on the other side and then you could clearly see the pin coming in and out of contact with the traces. I had my technician remove the old solder and resolder which after reinstallation has completely solved the issue. For those who dont have a technician available to them, any local electronics repair house could do this for you. Good luck.

The F11 fault was killing my wife's well oiled household machine and it's my fault?

I found the round cracks around 6 of the soldered pins on the backside of the CCU board. I just touched up all the solder joints for the Black Relays like the fellas above stated. My wife is ecstatic that the machine went past the magic 11 minutes to go barrier she had been fighting for the last week. All I can say, is that you guys are AWESOME.

OBTW: I found that numbering all the connectors and matching the numbers on the CCU case made it a snap to reassemble. Just a thought.

Greg

The F11 code is caused by either a CCU failure or an MCU failure...here's how to tell:

If your machine starts a cycle and the water fills but the drum NEVER turns, your MCU is bad...it's most cost effective to buy a refurbished one and you can get them on eBay for $99 all day long.

If your machine makes it most of the way through a cycle but throws an F11 code during the rinse or spin, your CCU has the relay solder / vibration problem...

I found that my excessive vibration is due to there only being two springs holding the barrel as opposed to four, which it was designed for. The springs have stretched out and doesn't have enough support.

I tightend the connectors on the CCU and replaced the springs and haven't had a problem for 5 loads now.

Same problem with my 6 year old machine. Replaced k1 and k4 relay on ccu board. Now 3 weeks later all is still working fine. Problem looks like design error. When door latch opens the latch coil generates a voltage spike that arcs cross the relay and eventually the contacts don,t hold, especially at the vibrations generated during the final spin cycle. F11 error is just a bad diagnostic.

all you need to do is solder the broken connections on the relays on the boards.

Look at them with a mag glass and you will see they are broken.

I was receiving the F11 error and I replaced the MCU and it did not fix my problem. I went through and checked all the wires and when I went to pull the large wire harness from the motor all the black wires popped out. Luckily the wires stayed in the correct order so I re-spliced the wires hooked everything back together and the machine started working again.

The vibration had - over time - weakened the wires and the connection.

We began getting the F11 code about a week ago. However, ours was different than most of the F11 horror stories. Our code came a short time after starting the machine (10-20 seconds after cycle starting), the water would start, relays would click, door locks, etc, however, the drum never turns. I read most of the F11 postings I could find (one site had hundreds of posts on it). Proactively I removed the CCU board, carefully marking the location of each wire connector, taking photos, etc. I removed the white relays from the board, swapped them, resoldered them, checked/cleaned/renewed the solder on several other relays and a few components that were less than acceptable in my opinion. However, this did not rectify my F11 issue. I then found the documentation that was once in the washer, and that the previous homeowner had removed, and ran the diagnostic test. It would not go past step C1. HMMMMMMM, back to the internet. In the literally hundreds of postings that I read through, collecting notes on a legal pad for future consideration, I did find in two or three postings that the timing of the F11 code seems to be a critical troubleshooting observation. Most F11 codes are later in the cycle, when the drum is turning, either agitating the drum, or spinning, and the vibration of this action causes the bad solder/poor relay contact issues to cause the F11 code. HOWEVER, in those two or three postings I did identify that if the code was thrown early in the cycle, as ours did, then it was a MCU issue. So, I did my parts research, identified the correct part number using the manufacturers website, then went other places to price the part. I ordered my MCU from AppplianceCentral, and the part arrived in three days. I swapped the MCU out last night, I replaced the CCU cover and snapped the CCU back in place, checked all the connections to make sure they were all seated in their sockets, and ran a load. Voila, no F11 code. I do want to thank everyone for taking their time and posting all their trials and tribulations, as well as their victories. Oh, and a quick thanks to Al Gore, without him, we'd have no internet! (haha).

This is an awesome thread. I suggest you carefully read it all if you are having F11 errors and see what makes sense for you. The root cause of all the shenanigans is the incredible vibration of these machines. If yours is more than a couple of years old there are 2 mandatory things to do and this fixed my machine the first and second time over the years that the problem surfaced and in both cases for a couple of years. Remove the three or four screws holding on the top and take it off. Find the CCU in the cream colored box at the top back of the unit and mark all the connectors with a Sharpee A, B, C,....AA etc and of course the box itself with the corresponding letters. Take lots of pics with that smart phone too so you can get it all back together. CAREFULLY remove the connectors and avoid breaking off the retaining tabs. If you do, hang onto them and you will need to glue them back on. Remove the box and the board inside. You will see on the connectors that the vibration has fretted little craters in the connectors. Take a soldering pencil, 60W is good, and a bit of solder and reflow all the solder pads where the connectors land. Make 'em smooth again. There are lots of threads that talk about this. One of the two black relays has burned contacts. If you are cheap, pop the covers off after desoldering them and clean the contacts and swap the positions of the relays. If you are handy find the parts by number OMRON something or another and dig through Digi-Key and buy replacements. They are cheap, but get the 16A versions instead of the 10 or 12 A ones. The first time I fixed our machine I did the swap. The second time I replaced the relays. Both times I reflowed the connector pads. I broke a few retaining tabs off and had to make an aluminum one or two since the parts dropped to the bottom of the washer :( If you start getting DLs along with your F11s, you need to either replace the door switch or like cheap I did, open up the thing and with your contact burnisher and cleaning fluid, polish the sh*t out of the contacts, get all the springs back in the right place and put it back in. Fail to do this properly and your door won't lock. One guy mentioned that F11s are serial communication errors due possibly to a loose connector on the CCU backmost left side. We started getting F11s maybe 6 months after replacing the relays and fixing the door latch and I went in, wiggled the black wire connectors and the blue wire connector (3 wires) I just mentioned. So far so good.

We have an HE4t version and several years ago it sta

TEMPORARY SOLUTION: Having experienced this error as well, most answers talk about the problem being the small cracks in the relays that are breaking communication during the spin cycle due to vibrations. I don't have the 2-3 hours right now to take the machine apart and fix it because today is laundry day...

Instead, i folded a couple dish cloths and put one under each foot of the washing machine. They act like little mini shocks and keep the washing machine from jolting around during the spin cycle. 4 loads so far and no F11 - so at some point i'll have to get in there and resolder the relays, just not today.

We has the same error code. Couldn't see what the problem was. All the wires were in place No damage. My son researched it further

We had a power surge earlier. It may have knocked out the MCU. All we needed to do was turn off the breaker to the washer wait 25 min and then turn on the breaker. The washer works!!!

AAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. ALL I EVER WANTED WAS A WASHER THAT WORKED I never wanted anything fancy. I didn’t want these bells and whistles. ALL I WANTED WAS A FRONT LOAD WASHER THAT SAVED WATER All this skill that people have replying to this I am ever grateful for all your skill and willingness to share knowledge but I swear I will never buy another Kenmore as long as I live, look at the length of this string of posts trying to correct what is a basic design flaw everywhere on the internet I see people having the same old recurrent problem day upon day week upon week, fix this fix that, replace this replace that, my washer is now beeping with a load of clothes in it and the door locked. I cannot even in good conscience GIVE this accursed thing away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had our machine for over 14 years. It started popping the dreaded F11 code. Unplugged the machine, opened the top, carefully unplugged each of the wire connectors one at a time and adjusted the small metal connectors inside each one with a VERY small flat tip screwdriver to make better contact with the male side of the connector.

Do this very carefully so as not to break any of the plastic plugs or metal crimp connectors inside! Most likely this will correct your problem as 99% of problems are lost connections caused by vibrations.

Same issue on dryer with same resolution!

Good luck.

I had a corroded wall outlet. Fixed.