Zanussi so ancient it is solely electromechanical, no electronics The low rpm wash cycle is no more, spin cycle is fine so presumably the motor start cap is ok. There was a burning smell so is the following symptoms consistent with some shorted turns in the low RPM mode? With the top off and water in the drum , prodding the drum drive pulley with a stick will make the drum turn part of a turn and then oscillate back and forth a few times (7 wires go to the motor, brown,pink, 3 grey and 2 blue if any use) I worked out which contacts on the water height monitor to bridge, to activate wash cycle without the inertia of water in the drum and again just a vague kick of the motor but now prodding with a stick will spin the drum. Presumably no external fudge to the existing set up to get some sort of wash action back again without , not relevant as so old, motor replacement. The belt tightness and bearings seem what I , no washer experience, would expect
Washing machine motor problem
Sep 02, 2013
3 Replies
Sounds like only part of the commutator is operating. Most likely cause is worn out motor brushes, but other possibilities could be damaged commutator or damaged rotor windings.
Another possibility is a broken conductor inside one of the wires in the wiring loom to the motor, most likely where the loom flexes with drum movement.
worn brushes.
That was easier than expected and no bloodloss. There is a brush-commutator type noise on turning the motor by hand but I cannot see where any brushes could be. Other than generating a bit of voltage a DVM across terminals shows no variation on turning over. With motor out and good light 7 wires plus frame ground looming colours - internal motor wires grey - black dk blue - black lt blue - red dk pink - white/blk dk blue - blue lt pink - green purple - yellow Italian motor with 2 poli 3.5 amp and 16 poli 1.5 amp on the cover plate black-black about 0.4 ohm and thicker wires , no connection to the other wires, presumably spin cycle others have 10s of ohms range , all connected as a run, except yellow that shows no continuity up to 30Mohm , including waggling the wire and spinning motor around and its looming wire is not to frame ground
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