@larsi - No that is not okay. I've been using the Custom cycle these last couple of weeks, instead of Extra White. In fact, I just did whites today. My cycle is:
1:08
Hot
High Spin

It might be the full moon. The day before yesterday, my W4842 had a major spaz attack. At the end of one cycle, the door would not unlock and the screen was telling me to close the door.(?!) I had to trick it into starting a new cycle, then canceling it, in order to get the door to open. (Yes, I know there is a manual way to do it spelled out in the owners manual but I could not be bothered.....)

Every now and then, mine will do something completely weird, and I ignore it. At worst, I figure I'll crawl over it, unplug it for a few minutes, then replug it in and see what happens. Sort of like having to turn off our computers, from time to time. If any of it continues to happen, then I'll call service. These are, after all, computers that wash textiles. =8-)

When you said "at minute 58" my reply was based on presuming you meant 58 minutes remaining in the cycle.

So funny! I'm using custom tonight to wash my kids' clothes.

warm
sensitive
high spin

I think start time was 1h26m but I'll have to confirm when complete. I just checked it was at 55m and still washing.

I'll record when it starts the spin and rinse and post back later.

@cavimum! my machine has given me the same message on several occasions. I attribute it to sensitive sensors. I don't know?? Usually I just have to push the start button and it unlocks. Weird ...

I'm a little disturbed by the few strange things the machine has done but I can only assume it is sensor related. It seems like mechanisms that would be triggered by sensors.

I was on the phone with Miele for 30 minutes!!! They are insisting my machine is normal. Seriously?? LOL

Yes, when 58 minutes are remaining for the Custom Cycle, the machine drains, spins and then starts the rinsing processes (3, since I have the Sensitive selected). The digital screen changes from Main Wash to Rinse!

So when it is 1:08 to start, and when the countdown shoes 58 muinutes remaining the first Rinse begins...that is TEN minutes of Wash time. Seems way too short.

Once every few months, at the end of a cycle, the door will not unlock...and then the machine will start frantically beeping. I have to turn it off, then the door opens. An odd snafu, but very infreqent!!

@larsi - There is no way that a ten-minute wash cycle is correct. I'll have to pay attention the next time I run a cycle, possibly tomorrow, but I am quite sure I get at least twenty minutes or more of the Wash phase. I'll even use the same settings you posted.

Miele told me the 10 minute Main Wash was fine, because during the rinses, there is still residual soap in the clothes, and they keep getting tumbled. I spoke with TWO different people, and I was fed Bullsh*t by them both. But, they insist my Custom Cycle is fine :-o

The 2 "idiots" I spoke with, both told me to use the Normal Program for almost every cycle. It is Miele's preferred program! Uhhhh, Thanks Miele!! LOL

This isn't scientific but ... tonight my custom cycle was like this ...

custom
warm
sensitive
max spin

starting time 1:20
started rinse when time remaining 45 m

These are the times for other cycles. I can't say when the rinse starts but I'll start keeping track.

normal
warm
sensitive
max spin
1:13

wrinkle free
warm
sensitive
high spin
1:10

extra white
very warm
high spin
1:25

My machine has also done the crazy beeping noise at the end. Do you think the machines are "buggy" or just sensitive sensors at play?

FWIW....not Miele-owner but....I can increase the dwell-time -- that is the time spent in actual wash-cycle with soap/water/clothes -- on any cycle chosen on my 6-year-old Duet by pushing a button. I have always assumed any machine could do the same. Are you saying you're locked in to some pre-determined dwell-tme on whatever cycle you've chosen with no way to increase it?

@asolo - we have an "Extended" option on this machine, which adds 20 minutes, more or less (depending on the cycle chosen), to the "wash" portion.

I just now started my equivalent test load of laundry, a load of queen-size sheets and several kitchen towels and dishrags, and one man's tee shirt:
Custom
Very Warm
Max Spin
1:08

Like @livebetter, when I add "sensitive" the cycle bumps up to 1:20. I opted out of that because I have to leave the house before a cycle that long would finish.

Methinks the 'wash' portion of the cycle is out of kilter.
I will report back the remaining 'time' at which the Rinse cycle begins.

1:08 Time shown on screen for cycle
1:06 Time shown after two seconds of water running in -- probably because my water heater heats to 130F and internal heater won't need time to raise temp. BTW, I primed the water intake by running the HOT water in the adjacent laundry sink, and had tested the temp of the HOT water minutes prior.
:38 Time shown when Wash tumbling stops
:33 Time shown when interim Spin completed and RINSE
appears on screen

The :38 when the wash tumbling stops is right, because if I had added Sensitive, those extra twenty (20) minutes would make it :58, but my total cycle time showed 1:28 for my W4842 when I added Sensitive, 1:08 when I deleted it.

I think we can conclude that your WASH cycle is getting cut short and something is wrong with the computer inside your machine. Have you checked any other cycles?
Can Miele to explain how livebetter and my machines are working properly, giving us a 30 minute WASH phase, and yours gives a ten-minute wash with the same settings?

THANK YOU Cavimum!!! :) So nice of you!!
Thanks Livebetter!

I have tried several washes using Custom, and each time I am given a 10 minute Main Wash.

Other cycles, especially Miele's beloved Normal Program gives me much longer Main Wash times...haven't exactly timed it yet, but it seems to be in the 20-30 minute Main Wash time, before the Rinses begin.

Annoyed, but I hate calling Miele again. Everything else is working just fine!!

@ larsi

My display shows 1:08 on Custom-Warm-High spin. The wash water drains at approximately 0:39, giving me 30 minutes of wash time. Are you sure you are monitoring your machine correctly? I remember a few months ago you also freaked out over something - oh yes, you thought your pre-wash compartment was not activating or something - but then you realized you were mistaken. Please just make sure, because this behavior is programmed and it's almost impossible that your machine would act so differently than everyone else's.

Now, with that said, have you tried reverting to factory defaults in your service menu? I don't mean just selecting the reset option, which actually doesn't really work. You need to go through every setting and put it back to its default so you can eliminate those variables as a possible cause. Also ensure that you have Automatic Load Control turned ON, as that dictates and alters cycle behavior according to the load.

Now Larsi, your machine WILL drain at approximately 0:58 if you DO have the Sensitive option selected. However, your total cycle time before hitting Start will show 1:20. You are getting 30 mins of wash time. If your display reads 1:08, you do NOT have Sensitive enabled and you are going to get two rinses starting at approx. 0:39.

By the way, what Miele told you is total bull. If they designed their wash cycles so short because of all the residual detergent in the clothes, then wouldn't that "feature" be defeated by their service technicians telling people like me to only use 1 TBSP of detergent? It's absolutely irrational. And if Miele thinks there is enough residual detergent in the rinse water to clean if you're using only 1-2 TBSP, I think they need to have their corporate heads examined. And wow, not to mention what a poor statement that is about their own machine's rinsing performance.

Miele has stumbled upon the perfect scape goat with "detergent residue". Miele bends and twists this to suit the individual circumstance. In your case, the machine is behaving normally because there is enough detergent in the rinse portion to continue cleaning your clothes. Um okay. And in my case the dryer was moaning because I used too much detergent as witnessed by all the "detergent residue" (aka DUST) inside of the dryer body. Funny that my clothes were dried in the drum, not underneath it where the dust appeared, yet somehow this residue magically teleported itself from my clothes or the air inside of a supposedly SEALED chamber into the bottom of my dryer. Really? Miele really thinks we are that stupid, and I am simply shocked.

Sstava....

I think my machine is acting VERY screwy. I just went and checked right now (10:20pm CA time, 10/15/11). When I select either Warm or Very Warm in the Custom Cycle WITH Sensitive selected and either high or max spine it shows 1:10 wash time (it was 1:08 a few days ago!!! :-o). If I remove Sensitve in the Custom Cycle...the total time shows :58 minutes!!!

So...I do not have a 1:20 time frame like you have. I DO NOT understand how our machines can be SO different. I've tried Custom Cycle at least 3 more times this weekend, and with a cycle lasting 1:08 (now 1:10 & I cannot explain that one!!), at 58 minutes remaining, the machine drains and begins THREE rinses. 58 f'ing minutes of rinsing, while my clothes were washed for only TEN minutes. So annoyed. I guess I'll just have to stick to Normal or Wrinkle Free. Both those cycles give normal,long wash times!

Thanks for posting!

I wonder if it's some adaptation code run amok. When my W4840 was a few months old, the Custom cycle (and maybe others) suddenly got two minutes shorter. For example, custom with no options was originally 1:10, and it became 1:08. The two minutes came off the spin part of the cycle. I wanted that two minutes back, so I tried various service menu manipulations, all to no effect. Maybe Miele service has a way to return the software to original factory settings.

@larsi - have you tried either unplugging the machine for a few minutes, or shutting off the circuit breaker, then re-booting? Might be worth a try, and nothing to lose but several minutes.

So...tried another 2 loads using Custom Cycle, and I think my W4842 thinks Custom means whatever the f**k the machine wants!! :-o

Custom Cycle, Warm or Very Warm, Sensitive Option and High or Max Spin now starts at 1:10 for the duration (formerly was 1:08). It used to drain with 58 minutes remaining, so basically 10 minutes in the Main Wash Cycle and then 58 mins of just rinsing and spinning.

Today, both loads began with 1:10 for the duration, and then drained and started rinsing with 49 minutes remaining. That's 21 minutes during the Main Wash portion. So, for sure better than 10 minutes, but seriously...WTF? How can it keep changing itself?

Normal, Extra White, Wrinkle Free, Comforters, Beach Towels, Sanitize...they are still all the same as they have always been.

Wow, Custom for my machine is REALLY Custom!!!

@ larsi

I still suspect this has something to do with your service menu settings. Have you restored those to defaults and confirmed, by going through each setting, that they are actually set to factory defaults? Without doing this, you can't properly diagnose your issue. The two settings I would look at are Automatic Load Control (ON) and Water Plus (Water+/Extra Rinse). The settings in parenthesis are the defaults.

Also, are you starting the cycle with dry clothes? I remember a while back you (or maybe someone else) would wash the clothes first using Beach Towels and then wash on the main cycle. If you're doing that, the wash cycle is starting with damp clothes which require less water. Perhaps because of this, your machine is reducing the wetting time. If you've done this repeatedly, the machine may have adjusted itself due to this repeated confusion. I'm just guessing here.

Can you post a photo of your control panel with the cycle parameters in question? Here's a photo of mine, confirming the time and settings:

{{!gwi}}

As you can see, the display shows 1:38 on the timer. When I wrote my previous post a couple of days ago, the display showed 1:20. The only difference is that I ran a few loads after quoting the 1:20 time, and the machine appears to have adapted to something and has increased the cycle time to 1:38. Larsi, it appears the machine may be adapting to something you are doing.

Thanks Sstava!

I have Automatic Load Contol ON, and my Water Plus is set to (Water+/Extra Rinse). I do use Beach Towels when I wash my son's school clothes, to "de-sand" them, but most loads I do not use a Beach Towel cycle before using Custom Cycle.

Here are 2 pics from my control panel, taken this morning, 10/17/11.

More "uniqueness" :)

Did a load of clothes this late am today. Custom Cycle, Very Warm, Sensitive selected, Max Spin. Start showed 1:10 for the cycle duration.

At 45 minutes remaining, the Main Wash Cycle drained and switched to Rinsing (pretty good, since a few days ago, at 58 minutes remaining, it would start rinsing).

When the rinses cycle go to 41 minutes remaining, I walked into my office, and then back into the laundry room...and it said 47 minutes remaining!! HUH? This can happen? I've never seen time added, and there were NO suds during this first rinse! W4842 is KooKoo!!! LOL Again, ALL other cycles are performing perfectly. Just so odd!

@larsi, I think your Miele washer detected that, with your laundry obsession, you do laundry way too often and that the stuff you wash is basically clean when it goes in so you have no need for long wash times ;-) Ha! Ha!

Seriously though, it looks like the computer in your washer is starting to go haywire. I expect that strange things will happen for a while and then one day it will randomly quit working and you will need new electronics on your machine. Mieles may be solidly built but the electronics are susceptible to random failure, no matter if it's a German machine or Korean or American...

@izeve - LOL

I still think the recent full moon has something to do with it. ;-)

@ larsi

Do you have the bleach dispenser functionality on or off in your service menu? Mine is on, and that could account for why my timer is showing 10 minutes more than yours. You will hear the water run through the bleach dispenser about 10 minutes before the end of the wash portion of the cycle. Turning off the bleach dispenser function will knock 10 minutes off your timer.

Sstava..maybe this is my A-ha moment!! Bleach dispenser function is OFF. Should I turn it ON? Is the recommended? I use bleach only during the Clean Machine Cycle, Never with whites while using Extra White on Sanitize!

Has your estimated time remaining increased or decreased once the load has begun? During Custom Cycle, the time has changed +/- 5-7 minutes while running!

@larsi - does that +/- 5-7 min. time change happen during the wash cycle, or during the rinse/spin portion? I've seen our machine time stay stagnant, when the load is trying to balance itself before it goes into a spin, sometimes adding that much time by-the-clock but not normally on the countdown timer. Occasionally, though, I'll see the countdown increase by one or two minutes.

@cavimum...

The increase in time, has increased during the rinse/spin cycles. I have not noticed any time increase during the Main Wash portion of the program. Yes, the time physically changed in the countdown time. It said 41 minutes remaining, I left the laundry room for maybe like 30 seconds, returned...and the countdown timer said 47 minutes remaining.

What's odd, is the besides these eccentricities using Custom Cycle, the machine is behaving perfectly in every other program...hard key, or Master Care programs. I love German cars and appliances, but they for sure have some unique snafus. Luckily, build quality and materials used keep me faitful to most things German. If their materials or build quality were as glitch as their electronics...I would go a Japanese or Korean! :) LOL

I thought Miele produced their own electronics to keep quality high.

"electronic controls that always do everything right ..."

From Miele - the art of laundry.

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele - The Art of Laundry Care

@ larsi

Seeing the time increase or decrease during a cycle is normal behavior. The time displayed is just an estimate, but it will vary depending on what is actually going on with your laundry. For instance, I had my timer stuck at 1:00 for 20 minutes while the machine was heating the water to temp. I started it at Cold and then switched it to Hot within the first 6 minutes, so it was waiting for the water to hit 140F. The machine is working as it was designed. In your case, it added a few minutes for whatever reason. It's a dynamic thing. Don't worry.

Thanks Sstava. We must get together one day, and have a wash. Screw the drink...let's Persil and Downy!! LOL :) Cheers!

And then you can both check in to Belleview for an afternoon of electroshock... LOL!

MRB

@ mrb627...

LOL, ha ha ha ha. Sadly (but honestly), I think several family members and friends will help you take me and Sstava to there for our shock treament!!!!

@larsi - perhaps the recent influx of German laundry products has made your machine somewhat ... homesick?
Or could it be throwing a temper tantrum because it wants Tide?

;-)