washing machine wont spin with a load

[max12]

my hoover am110 which i have had about 8 years wont spin with a load,it tries to but gives up,when i spin it empty its perfect,i have just fitted a new pump,and last year had new brushes in the motor.i have had a look for loose wires but all i found was a loose earth on the motor which i have sorted.
anyone got any ideas?please i am going mad and nearly went out to buy a new machine!

 

[rocks1]

poss out of balance load ,too much or too little ,

 

[max12]

i have tried it with just one item and few items it just wont spin with anything in it,what i have noticed is that the drum does shake when spun with anything in it and does not shake when spun empty,but i dont know if this is excesive,should it shake at all?

 

[cakeman]

have a look at the top springs and suspension legs for any obvious signs of damage
also top & front counterweight bolts , check they are tight with a socket

 

[max12]

thanx for your reply.
i looked at the springs,legs and weights for damage but didnt see anything obvious, so i will check everything is tight with a socket.
cheers

 

[SirBodger]

I had a similar problem myself today with the mother-in-law's machine. That wouldn't spin with a load either and would just "try". I could get it to turn without. It turned out to be the brushes on that. The symptoms you describe sound like the brushes again to me (although you said they were replaced). Is it possible they are not pressing against the motor commutator properly. The ones I replaced seem to dislodge rather too easily (and were winding me up when I was trying to fit them). Perhaps they are not quite fitted correctly or have worn prematurely or something?

One way of telling if it is the brushes is to check the ends of them. If one isn't conducting properly it will have a black end where it has been arcing and the other one will have a shiny end. Also the commutator (the surface the brushes rest up against) will be black or dirty (normaly it would be a gold colour I suspect if all is well). I learn't some of this from the guy selling me the brushes. Think it would be worth checking them again if you haven't done it already. (Also I scrubed the burnt commutor with some fine emery paper so it was gold before replacing the brushes).

Edit: the commutator should only be gold on the bit the brushes touch. Sounds like it could be the motor though from what Ted is saying.

 

[ted1980]

my hoover am110 which i have had about 8 years wont spin with a load,it tries to but gives up,when i spin it empty its perfect,i have just fitted a new pump,and last year had new brushes in the motor.i have had a look for loose wires but all i found was a loose earth on the motor which i have sorted.
anyone got any ideas?please i am going mad and nearly went out to buy a new machine!

it sounds like your motor could have gone or your pressure switch pipe has air in it but i would say more the motor try

 

[ted1980]

my hoover am110 which i have had about 8 years wont spin with a load,it tries to but gives up,when i spin it empty its perfect,i have just fitted a new pump,and last year had new brushes in the motor.i have had a look for loose wires but all i found was a loose earth on the motor which i have sorted.
anyone got any ideas?please i am going mad and nearly went out to buy a new machine!

it sounds like your motor could have gone or your pressure switch pipe has air in it but i would say more the motor try

check your brushes first the situated on ur motor they have 2 screws normally.but to me it sounds like ur motor they are a common fault on the hoover,especially the older makes

 

[max12]

thanx for your reply,i will check the brushes, but what i dont understand is why it spins perfect with no load and doesnt with a load,id have thought it would do it all the time if it was the brushes!

 

[cakeman]

if its the brushes on the way out then it will spin with no load
then gentle spin whilst washing but no rinse spin
then no spin at all

 

[max12]

well would you believe it,i took the motor out and checked the brushes and they are like new,looked at the comm and it looked ok but i thought i would give it a clean with some emery while i had the motor out and hey presto its now spinning like new.
thanks to everyone for your advice as i would have never checked the brushes etc because it had new ones last year.
thanks again

 

[SirBodger]

No worries, I'm glad it is working again.

A dirty com is more of a symptom of a brush contact issue though (I think). Possible one of the brushes got stuck and was made free after you had a tinker with it. Not sure really. At least it is going now. Good work.