Miele w504 - rinse light flashing, drum struggling

[canonbeck]

W504, rinse light flashes and the drum seems to be struggling to turn.
It does have a heavy load of towels in it at the moment. This happened first last night so I drained and emptied the machine and then stuck it on a rinse. Seemed it run through that fine. Today, I put half of last nights load in and now I can see the drum try to turn.

Does anyone knowledgeable know what this might be? knackered motor? The drum seems to turn freely when its empty.

Is this the kind of thing a local repair chap could fix or am I likley to need a Miele engineer? (more expensive no doubt but its more the time it will take to get one - with 3 school children being without a machine will be hard).


Many thanks in advance!

 

[zipper]

It needs a new set of motor brushes.

 

[canonbeck]

Thanks Zipper!

Is this potentially a DIY job? I'm fairly handy with a screwdriver (I'm a computer engineer) but I've got no idea how the thing comes apart to get at the motor.

Cheers

 

[zipper]

You can do it yourself but the front panel needs to come off to get at the motor. Take off the door seal clamping ring & release the seal edge, remove 2 T20 torx screws from the door switch + the 10mm stud at 6 o-clock position in the door opening, take off the kink strip & remove the outer T20 screw each side (may only be a clip at the LH side). Then pull the lower edge of the front panel out & down to remove it. Don't make the same mistake this poster did & unscrew the motor completely, it normally isn't necessary //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2058119#2058119

 

[canonbeck]

Awesome - Thanks again Zipper!

I managed to get the machine apart and the brush assembly out. Brushes do look quite short compared to photos of the spare ones I can see on ebay. Lots of carbon dust in the assembly.

Anyway, I cleaned it all up and cleaned the commutator - put it all back together to see if made any difference. Again, with no load the drum was spinning fine so I put a light half-load in and set it on a quick. This time I could really see it struggle, particularly on the clock wise turn, to get going. It does actually turn anti-clockwise and the momentum then lets it turn clockwise too. Anyway, it struggled through the cycle with no flashing lights so I'll be ordering new bushes and hopefully the next strip & refit will be a little bit easier.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[zipper]

Nae bother

 

[canonbeck]

I'm having more of the same with the new brushes fitted.

I sourced some replacement brushes from an online shop. They appeared to be very similar to the originals I took out of the machine (only longer ), fitted them and bolted it all back together.

We stuck a very light, quick wash on. The drum struggled at first and then seemed to take off in both directions - though sometimes it didnt manage to get going before it switched direction. It struggled all the way through the programme but did get to the end without flashing lights etc.

So, next we tried a full wash programme and again the drum was struggling only this time it did give up and we got the familiar flashing 'rinse' light. Usually when this happens, putting the machine on a rinse will finish the job.

Anyway, I was thinking to myself that the brushes probably need some time to bed in but its been 2 weeks now and my wife is begining to complain about it.

I did take the new brushes out to see if they were ok and although one of them had a small chip missing from the tip they do seem to have been making contact and are begining to wear.

Could the problem here be cheap brushes? Should I try expensive miele ones or is it time to call out an engineer?

Any/all advice appreciated...

Cheers

 

[zipper]

Are the brushes fitted the right way round? (the angle of the brush tip should match the commutator profile).

 

[canonbeck]

Yes, fitted the right way around (same way the old ones came out).

I did notice when i took them out for a look that the area of contact is quite small (maybe a slightly different profile on the pattern parts) and one of them seemed to have picked up more wear than the other - so i made sure i could hear the 'click' when i installed them again. Doesnt seem to have made any difference to the stuttering/failing condition though.

Cheers

 

[zipper]

You sure the 4 prongs at the rear of the brush assembly are mated properly with the field frame? Take a peek at the motor plug for a bad contact/loose wire. Had a few W500 series that eventually shorted the plug completely because of a bad contact. If there is no sign drum bearing damage or a bad contact any place then I would suspect a motor fault.

 

[crussell1000]

Id have gone with what zipper says and said the brushes first, then check the wires to the motor.

At the terminal block to the motor give the wires a firm wiggle, one of them may well snap away, strip back, refix and away you go. If the base isnt sealed you could check this easily by tipping the machine (switched off) and wiggling it from underneath...