Washing Machine Noisy Motor?

Well, my 8 year old Bosch classixx 6 washing machine has started getting noisy and the clothes are soaking when they come out even on a 1200 spin!

It sounds whiney and like the motor is struggling so I was thinking bearings or motor? Any other ideas?

Not got the time today to take it apart, so I was looking for suggestions before I set aside the time to hack it apart.

Not paying a Bosch appliance "engineer" £70 / 1/2hr to look at it.

Just got on top of the washing too.

I got a bosch one, only a few months old, had a two now. Anyway, i have noticed that if i put what the machine deems to be too much soap in, not only does a little light come on, but the clothes do come out wet for some reason

Do not know anything about modern washing machine motors, other than they are weird. Nothing is designed to be fixed now, if it is broke buy a new one, that is the way of the world now. Had a tumble dryer [Creda] that lasted for years, i mean yonks. It finally expired, but it was only the start cap on the motor, so i stuck in a new one and it lasted about another 5 years if not more before it did its best to catch fire and then the drive belt wore through..

john..

Im no expert but that sounds like main bearings Duck, can be a piece of piss to change on some machines ( even Ive done it!) and a reet ballache on others, also sometimes you cant get just the bearings but have to replace the whole drum. If that's the case you may as well get a new machine tbh

Loads of useful info on the espares website in any case, take a look, especially at the vids

If its the drum bearings that is easy to check.

With the machine empty, spin the drum by hand, if it rumbles or makes odd noises its the bearings.

I would also suggest you have a look at the motor brushes, often slower spin, particularly with heavy loads is often caused by worn motor brushes.

Thanks for the replies, been up to my elbows in flat pack (bloody cam bolts).

John, it's not clever enough to know how much soap its got in it but it probably does have an electronicly controlled motor.

Monkey, ta, I will look into it German appliances tend to be like German cars, easy (or at least logical) to fix but the parts are expensive. Maybe a new machine? maybe a washer dryer? Will be a good excuse to get the core cutter out

IIRC one of the main appliance sheds (my be Currys) are selling a Bosch washing machine for £299 at the moment,,, I think a Beko one for <£200

Anyway,, we're on our 3rd machine in 25 years,,, we had a second hand Creda for a year before the drum bearings gave up (sounded like you were washing bricks), an indesit for 23 years (it had the brushes replaced several times, a new motor control board and then the final straw was the drum fill hose giving out - I could have replaced it but I figured that other things would start to fail now due to its age) and now we're on a second/third hand Bosch and it works great

Richard-the-ninth said:

If its the drum bearings that is easy to check.

With the machine empty, spin the drum by hand, if it rumbles or makes odd noises its the bearings.

I would also suggest you have a look at the motor brushes, often slower spin, particularly with heavy loads is often caused by worn motor brushes.

Click to expand...

Thanks RT9,

Must have posted as I was replying previously.

I checked by hand and it seems fine its the motor sounds an octave lower if you get me?

I will try get a look inside at some point this week.

Not really in the market for for a new machine at the moment if I can help it!

UK Whitegoods forum is your best bet. 

Spin the drum by hand and "feel" for any bearing grating/noise. The older Bosch models had proper shocks to support the drum - the newer ones not so sure. As for still wet the pump motors seize easily with things like bra wires, coins, screws etc.

I'd whip the back off and have a look. Put some towels down. Check the waste pipe isn't blocked too which is very common. Take it off the pump via the clip and have a poke with a bit of stiff wire etc.

On the subject of Bosch you'd think you can't go wrong, BUT............seem to recall reading that a few years back they bought an ailing Spanish manufacturer and their cheaper models are now stamped "Made in the EU" rather than "Made in Germany"and maybe not so good.

.......and just fount this too, aside from the waste pipe side seems there's a specific drain plug:

http://howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=219129

Before spinning the drum by hand, I'd remove the belt first (unless its a direct drive motor) and then check the drum and motor seperately

I would not bother looking at the pump.

If the pump had a problem the drum would not spin at all as it would be full of water.

Bra wires often get stuck between the inner and out drums, and sometimes into the filter, but not the pump.

Typical pump problem indicators:

Cycles taking far too long

Clothes still soapy

Very slow at emptying main drum

Mains drum will not empty.

Yours has none of the above.

Also already killed the pump with some goldscrews