Code 49 relates to the cold water valve. Nothing to do with the diverter. Either the cold valve is bad, the wiring harness isn't making contact or a wire is broken, or possibly the controller board is bad. Code 49 (and the related Code 50 for the hot valve or Code 48 for both) triggers immediately upon connecting the machine to power. Pressing any button on the panel may clear it temporarily for accessing diagnostics.

Try swapping the cold and hot wires, see if the code remains or changes. If Code 49 triggers with the COLD wires on the HOT valve then the wires or board is likely the fault. If Code 50 triggers with the HOT wires on the COLD valve, then the cold valve may be the fault.

The valves can be tested with a multimeter (machine unplugged, valve wires disconnected, test across the valve terminals). Both should read 64 ohms. Do not apply 120v power to the water valves, they operate at 24v.

I fear that if your pump smoked, could be the board got zapped.

Thanks. Clever idea..... unfortunately the wires aren't long enough to interchange. It would be convenient to access diagnostic mode in order to determine that the valve was the problem. Do you think that because I cannot clear the code 49 fault and/or enter diagnostic mode that it is most likely the board?

..... unfortunately the wires aren't long enough to interchange. Truth, which I hadn't noticed until I checked a few mins ago on my IWL12.

If adventurous, you could temporarily/physically remove the cold valve assembly to access the hot wires to it. The valve body simply presses into the mixing chamber with a friction seal (first remove the hold-down bracket at the back).

Code 49 trumps Code 50 on my machine with both connectors removed (I don't get Code 48, it may trigger only when the controller tries to run both valves during operation).

Perhaps the way to look at the situation is if the cold valve checks good at 64 ohms, then there's nothing but the board left to fault, other than broken wires.

how do I check the ohms on the valve?

did I need to install the fuse that came with the pump?

As explained, obtain a volt/ohm meter (multimeter). Set it to the ohms mode (may be more than one scale, 1x, 10x, 100x, etc. depending on the meter, read the test result accordingly). Disconnect the machine from power. Remove the harness connectors from the valves and test the resistance (ohms) across the terminals on each. Should read 64 ohms on a good valve.

The fuse would not have anything to do with this situation. It is to protect the board from the (new) pump going bad. Unless the new pump IS bad fresh out of the box, then the board would have been zapped previously by the old pump.

Thank you again. Can I assume that there are only two terminals (per valve) to measure across?

Yes. Each valve solenoid has two wires connecting to it ... each wire is to a separate pin terminal on the solenoid. Test by touching one meter probe to one of the pin terminals and the other meter probe to the other pin on the same valve. The meter has a battery that sends a low-voltage electric current through the valve solenoid and measures the solenoid's resistance to that current passing through. Ohms is an measurement of electric resistance, named for German physicist Georg Ohm (Ohm's Law).

dadoes,

both valves measured between 58 and 59 ohms. would you recommend that I replace the cold water valve or is it still most likely the motor control? I would be willing to bear the cost of the valve and the pump but if it is the motor control I will probably decide to replace the washer.

thank you in advance

Resistance readings can be a tad low or high from the optimal and still be OK ... although I checked my valves a couple mins ago, and got exactly 64 ohms on cold, 63.1 on hot. You're 8% to 9% low on both. Difficult decision. If you change the valve(s) and still no joy, then the board is the only remaining component ... and you'll already be into it for a pump and both valves. Don't know your parts source, SearsPartsDirect.com indicates the valves and controller (and pump) are returnable.