Kenwood Kitchen Stand Mixer Repairs: A701A, A901, A901E, & KM200

My longer-term followers will probably know that I volunteer at a monthly repair café organised by Climate Action Stokesley & Villages (CASaV), a group who aim to help communities in Stokesley and the surrounding villages to take action on climate change by supporting and developing local initiatives to reduce carbon emissions.

Repair cafés focus on waste, specifically by trying to repair items and allow them to be reused instead of being binned or sent for recycling. People are encouraged to bring along items that they need repaired, and to be involved in the repair process themselves – repairs are free, though owners can give a voluntary donation if they’re happy with the service.

For whatever reason, the repair cafés over the past few months have seen a large number of varying Kenwood kitchen stand mixers, which I took on as personal repairs, including: a A701A (1962-1976), A901 (1976-1980), A901E (1981-1985), and KM200 (1991-1998) – a full age range covering the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s!

These had a variety of issues, and I cover their repairs below. DISCLAIMER – this is not a how-to guide: only work on mains-powered electronics if you’re competent and confident enough to do so, and always in a safe manner – you are accountable for your own actions.

Kenwood A701A (1962-1976)

The oldest mixer of this batch of repairs was a Kenwood A701A, produced from 1962 to 1976 – apparently this had been in use until quite recently, when it had stopped working. It was in reasonable physical condition but needed (at least) a good clean and a new mains cable with a new plug.

A common failure on pretty much all of these Kenwood mixers is the motor drive electronics, so this was the first place to look – extending the base, the black motor cover can be removed by undoing the top cable cover (one flat-head screw), removing the mains cable (two flat-head screws), and the cover itself (four cross-head screws, one in each corner) – this can then be lifted enough to undo the two large cross-head screws holding the base lever onto the mixer main body.

With the cover removed and the base levered open as far as it can go, it is easy to see the motor drive electronics – on this A701A, this comprises two capacitors, a power resistor, and an inductor. The green capacitor commonly fails short-circuit, releasing lots of thick acrid smoke, and damaging the inductor in the process.

There wasn’t any obvious signs of damage to the electronics, but realistically they need to be serviced either way – rebuild kits for the two-capacitor A701 are available online, and included a new power resistor, two new capacitors (100nF and 150nF Class X2), a new 3A choke, and a useful guide on how to refit the new parts.

The first step was to remove the original electronics and clean everything up, taking careful note of where the original parts were connected to. The parts are wired point-to-point on the A701, unlike many later models which have a PCB.

The new parts can then be fitted, matching their original connection locations.

At this point I also fitted a new mains cable, as the original was damaged, and a new 3A fused UK plug, as the original was not up to modern standards. This meant removing the original cable, feeding the new 2-core 13A cable through the strain relief on the back of the mixer, and connecting the live and neutral cables using ring crimps.

I reassembled the mixer for testing and powered it on – the motor started up and the speed control worked, but the orbital gear which drives the attachments did not spin. It seemed that the motor was not the only problem with this mixer, and there was likely a gearbox or other mechanical issue with it too.

I removed the upper case cover, and the drive belt was intact and properly positioned – I removed this, the orbital hub, and the other covers to get access to the gearbox, in case the main drive spindle had failed, which is apparently a common issue.

With the clutch gear and gearbox lid removed, it was clear that the gearbox was completely jammed up – the grease had deteriorated with age and dried up into a toffee-like consistency. It was nearly impossible to move the gears at all by hand. The main drive spindle was thankfully intact.

It was pretty clear to me that the gearbox would need to be cleaned and packed with new grease – cleaning out the old grease was a pretty torturous process, very messy and smelly, and took a rather long time. I just had to scrape the bulk of it out, then use degreaser spray to loosen the remainder and scrub it off, which was particularly tricky with the gear teeth.

Eventually, I managed to clean the upper and lower halves of the gearbox and all of the gears and gear rings until they were clean enough to re-pack.

I ordered a tub of food-safe grease and a pack of silicone sealant to re-pack the gearbox, greasing and fitting the various mechanical parts in the gearbox, and packing any voids; I then cleaned off both of the mating surfaces at the edge of the gearbox, applied a small bead of the sealant around one of them, then reassembled the gearbox. Once the gearbox and surround were reassembled, I also re-greased the orbital hub and gear ring.

I waited for the sealant to dry, then re-tested the mixer – unfortunately, the orbital hub still did not spin. On refitting the clutch gear, I noticed that the dog clutch fitting on top of it didn’t seem to attach to the main drive spindle properly – it looks as though the threading inside it had been stripped, probably overloaded by the jammed-up gearbox. I ordered and fitted a new part, which properly screwed onto the main drive spindle.

I took this opportunity to fit some other parts which had come with the kit, notably two new motor brushes and four new motor mount bushes, which required removing the motor – this is held in place by the drive belt cap, the drive belt, and four large cross-head screws in each corner underneath the motor.

The old brushes were in good condition with little wear, but it makes sense to replace them as a matter of course when you already have the motor out.

I also fitted the replacement rubber feet which also came with the kit, as the originals were completely wrecked – these are hammered into place, the originals have a nail which needs to be pulled out using a flat tool.

I cleaned and reassembled the mixer for testing, and it now worked perfectly!

Kenwood A901 (1976-1980)

The next mixer of this batch of repairs was a Kenwood A901, produced from 1976 to 1980 – another repair cafe entry, this had been in use until quite recently, when it had exploded into a plume of smoke. It was in reasonable physical condition but needed (at least) a good clean and a new mains plug.

Again, a common failure on pretty much all of these Kenwood mixers is the motor drive electronics, so this was the first place to look – extending the base, the black motor cover can be removed by undoing the top cable cover (one flat-head screw), removing the mains cable (two flat-head screws), the two large cross-head screws holding the base lever onto the mixer main body, and then the black motor cover which is hinged.

In the case of the 1970s-1990s Kenwood mixers, these typically use RIFA-brand filter capacitors, which are epoxy-coated metallised-paper X-class mains filters – these are usually used to filter the mains supply to stop high-frequency noise from entering or exiting a piece of electronics, however in this application these are actually used as timing capacitors for driving the motor.

These have a notorious habit of failing short-circuit and exploding into large plumes of acrid black smoke – this is a common problem with computer equipment of the time also, such as the Acorn BBC Model B. As you can see from the pictures below, that is exactly what has happened here – both capacitors have cracked with age, but one has pretty much blown itself apart. This failure has also burnt out one of the resistors.

This is such a common issue with these that rebuild kits for the A901 are available online, and included two new power resistors, two new capacitors (47nF and 150nF Class X2), a new triac, and a useful guide on how to refit the new parts.

I removed the original drive components (triac, two capacitors, two resistors), cleaned up the board, then reinstalled the new parts as per the guide – these are installed point-to-point so it is very important to make sure that the new parts are connected properly to where they need to be. I also applied some thermal grease between the triac and its heatsink, so maximise the amount of heat transfer.

I took this opportunity to fit some other parts which had come with the kit, notably two new motor brushes, which required removing the motor – this is held in place by the drive belt cap, the drive belt, and three large cross-head screws on top of the motor, all of which require removal of the mixer top cover, which is held in place by three cross-head screws on a black plastic ring underneath the attachment cover.

While the motor was out, I took the opportunity to clean up the inside of the mixer gearbox compartment, which was pretty filthy.

I then refitted the motor, and checked two things: that the drive belt still sits correctly on its pulleys and doesn’t run up and off, which meant tweaking the three motor mount screws until it sat correctly: that the motor idle speed was correct, which meant adjusting the two cross-head sprung screws on the motor drive board until the motor idled smoothly and the speed control allowed the motor to run from minimum to maximum speed.

I also fitted a set of replacement rubber feet, as the originals were completely wrecked – these are hammered into place, the originals have a nail which needs to be pulled out.

I also replaced the original mains plug as it did not conform to modern standards, but I did not replace the mains cable as already a fairly modern one in good condition.

I cleaned and reassembled the mixer for testing, and it now worked perfectly!

Kenwood A901E (1981-1985)

The next mixer of this batch of repairs was a Kenwood A901E, produced from 1981 to 1985 – another repair cafe entry, this had been in use until quite recently, when like the A901 it had exploded into a plume of smoke. It was in reasonable physical condition but needed (at least) a good clean and a new mains plug.

Again, a common failure on pretty much all of these Kenwood mixers is the motor drive electronics, so this was the first place to look – extending the base, the black motor cover can be removed by undoing the top cable cover (one flat-head screw), removing the mains cable (two flat-head screws), the two large cross-head screws holding the base lever onto the mixer main body, and then the black motor cover which is hinged.

Again, just like the A901, these typically use RIFA-brand filter capacitors, which have a notorious habit of failing short-circuit and exploding into large plumes of acrid black smoke. As you can see from the pictures below, that is exactly what has happened here – both capacitors have cracked with age, but one has pretty much blown itself apart.

This is such a common issue with these that rebuild kits for the A901E are available online, and included a new power resistor, two new capacitors (100nF and 150nF Class X2), a new triac, and a useful guide on how to refit the new parts.

I decided to remove the motor to access the brushes and drive electronics, which required removing the motor – this is held in place by the drive belt cap, the drive belt, and three large cross-head screws on top of the motor, all of which require removal of the mixer top cover, which is held in place by three cross-head screws on a black plastic ring underneath the attachment cover. It also has two cables running to the terminal block on the mains input, which I removed.

I removed the original drive components (triac, two capacitors, two resistors), cleaned up the board, then reinstalled the new parts as per the guide – these are installed point-to-point so it is very important to make sure that the new parts are connected properly to where they need to be. I also applied some thermal grease between the triac and its heatsink, so maximise the amount of heat transfer.

Whilst the motor was out, I replaced the two brushes, which were supplied with the kit.

I then refitted the motor, and checked two things: that the drive belt still sits correctly on its pulleys and doesn’t run up and off, which meant tweaking the three motor mount screws until it sat correctly: that the motor idle speed was correct, which meant adjusting the two cross-head sprung screws on the motor drive board until the motor idled smoothly and the speed control allowed the motor to run from minimum to maximum speed.

I also fitted a set of replacement rubber feet, as the originals were completely wrecked – these are hammered into place, the originals have a nail which needs to be pulled out.

I also replaced the original mains plug as it did not conform to modern standards, but I did not replace the mains cable as already a fairly modern one in good condition.

I cleaned and reassembled the mixer for testing, and it now worked perfectly!

Kenwood KM200 (1991-1998)

The final mixer of this batch of repairs was a Kenwood KM200, produced from 1991 to 1998 – the owner of the A701A was so grateful for my efforts that she actually gave this to me, it was a spare mixer she had which stopped working a while ago and also started leaking its gearbox grease out of the attachment port on the orbital hub.

My mother-in-law has been wanting to get a stand mixer for a while, and this one matched her new kitchen, so I decided to fix it up to give to her!

Again, a common failure on pretty much all of these Kenwood mixers is the motor drive electronics, so this was the first place to look – extending the base, the black motor cover can be removed by undoing the top cable cover (one flat-head screw), removing the mains cable (two flat-head screws), the two large cross-head screws holding the base lever onto the mixer main body, and then the black motor cover which is hinged.

Again, just like the A901, these typically use RIFA-brand filter capacitors, which have a notorious habit of failing short-circuit and exploding into large plumes of acrid black smoke. In this case, both of the capacitors were intact (probably due to them not being as old), but the triac had been burnt out.

This is such a common issue with these that motor drive rebuild kits for the A901E are available online, and included a new power resistor, two new capacitors (100nF and 150nF Class X2), a new triac, and a useful guide on how to refit the new parts.

In this case I ordered a full rebuild kit that was well as the motor drive parts included new motor brushes, a new motor drive belt, new grease and a tube of silicone sealant for the gearbox, food-safe grease for the planetary hub, a set of five new rubber feet, and a new fabric cover for the underside of the gearbox.

I decided to remove the motor to access the brushes and drive electronics, which required removing the motor – this is held in place by the drive belt cap, the drive belt, and three large cross-head screws on top of the motor, all of which require removal of the mixer top cover, which is held in place by three cross-head screws on a black plastic ring underneath the attachment cover. It also has two cables running to the terminal block on the mains input, which I removed.

I removed the original drive components (triac, two capacitors, two resistors), cleaned up the board, then reinstalled the new parts as per the guide – these are installed point-to-point so it is very important to make sure that the new parts are connected properly to where they need to be. I also applied some thermal grease between the triac and its heatsink, so maximise the amount of heat transfer.

Whilst the motor was out, I replaced the two brushes, which were supplied with the kit.

I then turned my attention to the gearbox – this was a similar issue to the A701A, but instead of the grease degrading and turning thick, in this case the grease had degraded and turned so thin that it had started to leak out.

The first step was to remove it, which is held in place with two large bolts.

I then opened the gearbox and cleaned out the old grease, which was slightly less torturous than on the A701A as the grease was so thin – it was still very messy and smelly, and took a rather long time. I just had to scrape the bulk of it out, then use degreaser spray to loosen the remainder and scrub it off, which was particularly tricky with the gear teeth.

Eventually, I managed to clean the upper and lower halves of the gearbox and all of the gears and gear rings until they were clean enough to re-pack.

I used the grease that came with the kit to re-pack the gearbox, greasing and fitting the various mechanical parts in the gearbox, and packing any voids; I then cleaned off both of the mating surfaces at the edge of the gearbox, applied a small bead of the sealant around one of them, then reassembled the gearbox.

I waited for the sealant to dry, then greased the planetary hub with the food-safe grease provided in the rebuild kit, then cleaned and refitted the plastic cover for the planetary hub, then fitted the fabric cover for the lower gearbox.

I then refitted the motor and gearbox, and fitted the new drive belt which came with the kit, then checked two things: that the drive belt still sits correctly on its pulleys and doesn’t run up and off, which meant tweaking the three motor mount screws until it sat correctly: that the motor idle speed was correct, which meant adjusting the two cross-head sprung screws on the motor drive board until the motor idled smoothly and the speed control allowed the motor to run from minimum to maximum speed.

I also fitted the replacement rubber feet which came with the rebuild kit, as the originals were completely wrecked – these are hammered into place, the originals have a nail which needs to be pulled out using a flat tool.

I also replaced the original mains plug as it did not conform to modern standards, but I did not replace the mains cable as already a fairly modern one in good condition.

I cleaned and reassembled the mixer for testing, and it now worked perfectly!

The original plastic bowl had been discoloured by the gearbox grease which had leaked into it and sat in it over time, so I replaced it with a stainless bowl (Kenwood part 17551).

My mother-in-law was very grateful for the mixer, and very kindly made us a very lovely chocolate cake using the mixer as a thank you.