Washing machine help ?

[SimonV8ster]

After taking some clothes out of the dryer/washer I noticed they were still soaking wet. Seems the drum doesn't want to turn any morebut have checked that the belt is still on which it is.

It makes a noise when you set a program to run like it always did but nothing else happens. Could it be that the motor is fked ? Is there any way to check ?

[jake15919]

Try typing the make and model into Google followed by 'reset' and follow the advice.

[singlecoil]

One possibility is that the pump is shagged, or blocked. Or it could be a pressure switch, fooling the machine into thinking it's still full of water.

Can you turn the drum by hand?

[SimonV8ster]

Yep, can turn the drum by hand, can spin the motor - all feels good.

So you think it could be the pump shagged and maybe because of that it might be in some sort of safety mode ?

[PJ S]

Could be the motor, but may just be the carbon brushes.
Doubt it's the pump - if it were you'd have a door locked waterlog issue, not unspun clothes.
Assuming you've not overfilled it, split the load in half, then set to spin.
You may hear arcing sounds, which confirms the brushes worn done.
If not, then the motor's probably had it.

[SimonV8ster]

Well got the pump out and thats not blocked and that turns freely. Did think about the bushes but they seem fine - not sure what they are supposed to look like though ?! They make contact with the motor.

Didn't realise how many pieces of a washing machine you could take out yourself !!

[Pobolycwm]

With everything set to run will the drum start to run if you give the drum a push to get it rotating, if this is the case it's the motor start capacitor which is a replaceable item

[eastlmark]

Pobolycwm said:

With everything set to run will the drum start to run if you give the drum a push to get it rotating, if this is the case it's the motor start capacitor which is a replaceable item

Is this some kind of a guessing game? You might get some acurate advice if you let us know a make and model.
Chances of it having a start capacitor are pretty slim and dont try manually turning the drum, should it be a bad connection which suddenly comes good you can say goodbye to your hand.

[SimonV8ster]

Put new bushes in and still wouldn't run. Took the motor to a local repair shop and its fine. Pretty sure the circuit boards fked.

Only a 120 quid for a stupid little board with some solder on.

Have found somebody on-line who repairs circuit boards so I think I'll give them ago before the parts appear on ebay !!

[SimonV8ster]

Well got the circuit board back and they say it now works perfectly, put it in the machine but still the same. I can short the wires to get the motor working so I know that works. Everything else seems to work, like it will fill with water and then drain but just won't get the motor turning.

Anymore ideas ?

[singlecoil]

Does the circuit board run the motor directly, or is there some kind of relay between the two?

Is the motor receiving voltage when it should?

Ids there some other switch etc that is telling the circuit board not to run the motor?

[SimonV8ster]

Well when I took the postive and negative wires off the circuit and put them together the motor would run. Thats all i'e tried so far.

[eastlmark]

eastlmark said:

Is this some kind of a guessing game? You might get some acurate advice if you let us know a make and model.

[SimonV8ster]

Sorry, its an Ariston Washer/Dryer AV1048CUK. Looks like actual Indisit parts inside.

[eastlmark]

SimonV8ster said:

Sorry, its an Ariston Washer/Dryer AV1048CUK. Looks like actual Indisit parts inside.

Yep Indesit/Ariston/Hotpoint all the same company these days but Jesus thats an old model! simple one though, no digital stuff to confuse the issue.
I need to know how many wires are in the motor plug.
assuming you have shorted the the 2 spades on the module and it shot into full spin, right? (dont try this with a load in the drum!) That will basicly test the armature and field coils of the motor which accounts of 4 (2 pairs) of the wires in the motor plug.

The other 2 are for a tacho generator on the end of the motor which is a small coil around a rotating magnet, with a test meter you should get low resistance across this coil and can maybe even generate a small ac voltage should you spin the motor by hand.
If you have 2 further wires in the motor plug then these may be a thermal cut out which may have failed if it does not read a short circuit across its 2 pins. In which case a new motor will be required.
So in short, the motor plug should read circuits across each pair of leads either 3 pairs for a 6 pin plug or 4 pairs for a 8 pin plug.
If not the motor, then it does sound like a module fault but the module is controlled by the timer which may also be at fault. Just an outside one, also test the heater element for shorts to earth, you may need a better meter to test this though.
Whatever you do, unplug before diving in and bare in mind that is pretty much obsolete model these days.

[SimonV8ster]

Thanks for your help !! I'm sorry, I didn't know you knew so much about them !!

I realise it is 17/18 years old which is why I thought I'd take it apart by myself, nothing to lose !! Parts seem to work individually which is why i've persisted with it.

Have to try to check the other bits tomorrow.

[SimonV8ster]

Just checked - it is indeed an 8 pinned plugged. I'll try some of the things you've suggested if I can get hold of a meter.