What Does The Error Do?

Probably one of the more frequent repairs I am doing at the moment is the Electrolux Ultra Active with the E3 error. The machine I see it on the most is the Electrolux Ultra Active ZUA3861P. This is a super simple fault to diagnose, the machine will start up as per normal run for a second or two and then cut out and the digital display will flick from E to 3 continuously. As I understand it the Electrolux Ultra Active ZUA3860P has the same fault as well (although I have not seen one for a while).

How Do I Fix It?

The solution is to replace the Powered Ultra Active Hose and the Power Supply PCB or simply the PCB if the hose is okay. It is really critical to check the hose and make sure it is fine because if the hose has an issue the machine will work fine for a bit after replacing the board but will fail a while later and you will need to replace the board again along with the hose you should have done the first time round. The hose doesn’t require any special testing gear though basically you are checking that the copper slip rings inside the hose machine end are smooth and continuous. Hold the hose close to the hose machine end and twist the hard plastic of the hose end. It should turn smoothly and easily if it feels like it has some crunchy peanut butter inside and moves reluctantly then the hose will need to be replaced as well this is not repairable. The correct hose for the Electrolux ZUA3861P is part number 2193947112.

What Will I need?

So once the hose has been cleared of fault (or been replaced) you need to replace the main Power Supply PCB part number 1181342062. The first time round for this repair is a bit tricky as it requires some levering of semi brittle plastic parts and will almost certainly leave some marks on the machine. You will need a very small but strong  flat blade screw driver about a 2mm blade is perfect, a slightly larger flat blade driver perhaps a 3mm and a torx driver number 20 size. I have made a video showing how to do this repair and I would encourage you to watch it through once before you do the repair rather than stop start so you get a good idea of the process. 

How Hard Is It To Repair?

In terms of difficulty I would give this repair a 5 or 6 out of 10, a technician will have no trouble at all with this and a good DIY will be able to do this without too much trouble in less than an hour.  Given that the circuit board is a pretty cheap one (about $35 at time of writing) I think this is a great repair. This is intended as a basic guide for a suitably skilled person to be able to do this repair. Basically what I am saying is this is a guide, if you are not used to fixing stuff don't start with this

What Did I forget To Do In The Video?

Obviously this is a bit of an afterthought, I have done the repair, made the video and even published the blog. Even as i tidy it up I am thinking what have I missed? The answer is the filters, if your machine is having serious problems like this don't go ahead and do a major repair and forget to do the simple stuff. This machine really needs new filters every 6 months, even if you are cleaning them regularly I would swap them for new ones a couple of times per year. The code for a complete set of filters for an Electrolux Ultra Active is USK4. They come in a handy pack and are cheap as chips - well maybe not actually chips but certainly a gourmet pizza. Either way for not a lot of money you can extend the life of the vacuum and improve its performance. 

Google