DIYbanter - Trying to fix a washing machine

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Trying to fix a washing machine

We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?
--
David Morris

David Morris wrote:

We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

so the fault's with the drive circuitry.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Thats the mains filter, and is fine since the machines not dead.
Whoever suggested it was the motor cap is about 40 years out of date.
Or American.

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?

With this little knowledge Im not optimistic. To be honest I'd ring the
repairer and see what it would cost, ie just how badly they want to
sting you.

NT

"David Morris" wrote in message
...
We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?

David Morris

Does the motor turn at all? If you remove the belt from the motor and drum,
then put the machine on spin cycle. Does the motor even look as though it is
going to turn?

Are the carbon brushes worn down? At he end of the motor, that isn't at the
belt end, you should see two plastic slide in holders. These have a wire
attached to them and should disappear into the connector you were looking
at. The holders themselves have a clip affair that holds them in place in
the motor body. This looks like a strip of plastic which springs out from
the holder and catches behind the metal body of the motor. The clip can be
released by pressing a screw-driver against the little tab provided, and
squeeze it in toward the holder until it clears the motor casing. It then
slides out away from the motor casing.

Inside the holder is a piece of carbon. This carbon must touch against the
commutator segments of the armature (the bit that actually spins) for the
electricity to flow and make the motor turn. They should be at least 15 mm
in length, and anything less than this can cause problems. They have a
spring which keeps constant pressure on them, so they stay tightly against
the armature. The springs may also have weakened and this too can cause
problems.

The next thing to check is the motor control unit. This is a Printed
Circuit Board which is housed against the side casing of the machine. It
can be hidden by a flap of plastic, or inside a solid plastic cover, and
will be sited (usually) near the top of the machine to prevent is from
falling victim in leak conditions. Remove the whole board from its clips
and catches, and then inspect it for signs of burning or charring. If it is
showing signs of excessive heat on or around any of the component, then it
is worth having the unit changed. Even if the unit does show some signs of
heating, and is still working, it is advisable to change it. If only to
prevent it from further damaging the motor in the future.

Get your screw-drivers out mate, and a torch, and get looking around inside
the machine.

REMEMBER TO UNPLUG THE MACHINE COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU TAKE THE
CASING OFF !!!!!

David Morris wrote:

We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?

Just get a recon motor and fit it.

usually in the 40-80 quid mark.

In article ,
David Morris wrote:
We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no
longer turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out.
There are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact.
The rest of the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and
pumps but the drum - he no turn.

We have the same model w/m and the problem has always
been worn brushes. They look ok, and you can apparently
get a continuity through the commutator, but in fact
they are worn-short and the springs are at full stretch.

Before doing anything more drastic, remove one of the
brushes, (Torx key needed), and just check whether
there is a decent extension of the brush as you take
it out.. ie, as you remove the last holding screw does
the brush holder push itself away from the commutator.

New brush assemblies are about £20 a set from Hoover,
and delivery is about 2 days.

--
Tony Williams.

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 03:25:11 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
strung together this:

Just get a recon motor and fit it.

usually in the 40-80 quid mark.

40-80 quid in the bin then when it turns out to be a broken track on
the timer\circuit board then.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

On Thu, 2 Jun 2005 21:25:36 +0100, "Vortex"
strung together this:

IMHO unless it's completely obvious what the problem is it's not worth the
grief.

Repair man will likely charge £25 just to walk through your door. If it's
repairable you'll likely end up paying £100!

In these days when you can walk into B&Q and get a brand name washer that's
Warranted for under £200 what's the point!.

..............My 2 cents

Depends, I know of repairmen who would probably fix most faults like
this for 50-60GBP on average. Although the Hover Quattro isn't the
best machine it's better than most wanky sub 200 quid jobs.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

BigWallop once wrote in
....

"David Morris" wrote in message
...
We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?

David Morris

Does the motor turn at all? If you remove the belt from the motor and drum,
then put the machine on spin cycle. Does the motor even look as though it is
going to turn?

Before I took it apart, I tried gave the motor a "helping hand" but it
didn't seem to want to start, so I suspected it wasn't even trying to
turn. I'll give it another go when I put the motor back on, but I'm not
hopeful.

Are the carbon brushes worn down? At he end of the motor, that isn't at the
belt end, you should see two plastic slide in holders. These have a wire
attached to them and should disappear into the connector you were looking
at. The holders themselves have a clip affair that holds them in place in
the motor body. This looks like a strip of plastic which springs out from
the holder and catches behind the metal body of the motor. The clip can be
released by pressing a screw-driver against the little tab provided, and
squeeze it in toward the holder until it clears the motor casing. It then
slides out away from the motor casing.

We've checked electrical continuity through the brushes and they're
fine. There's also a (small) current flow if you meter up the motor and
manually spin the shaft, so we suspect no problems there either.

Inside the holder is a piece of carbon. This carbon must touch against the
commutator segments of the armature (the bit that actually spins) for the
electricity to flow and make the motor turn. They should be at least 15 mm
in length, and anything less than this can cause problems.

They look fine.

The other possibility could be what I suspect is a speed / motion sensor
on the opposite end of the motor shaft to the brushes? Presumably that
detects what the motor's doing and feeds back to the control circuitry?

The next thing to check is the motor control unit.

I suspected sooner or later someone would suggest that :-)

This is a Printed
Circuit Board which is housed against the side casing of the machine. It
can be hidden by a flap of plastic, or inside a solid plastic cover, and
will be sited (usually) near the top of the machine to prevent is from
falling victim in leak conditions. Remove the whole board from its clips
and catches, and then inspect it for signs of burning or charring. If it is
showing signs of excessive heat on or around any of the component, then it
is worth having the unit changed. Even if the unit does show some signs of
heating, and is still working, it is advisable to change it. If only to
prevent it from further damaging the motor in the future.

Sound advice. I think I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Thanks for the help.

Get your screw-drivers out mate, and a torch, and get looking around inside
the machine.

REMEMBER TO UNPLUG THE MACHINE COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU TAKE THE
CASING OFF !!!!!

Sound advice again. Thanks.

--
David Morris

On Thu, 2 Jun 2005 21:25:36 +0100, "Vortex"
wrote:

"David Morris" wrote in message
...
We've got a Hoover AE230 Quattro machine. The tub motor is no longer
turning the tub.

I've had the motor off and had our sparkies at work check it out. There
are no bush problems and the field windings etc are intact. The rest of
the machine functions are OK as well - it fills and pumps but the drum -
he no turn.

There was a suggestion that it may be the motor capacitor, but having
taken off a large cap (with five leads - two blue, two brown and an
earth) and tried to match it up with any of the ones on the various web
sites (espares etc), I can't see anything like a match. I was wondering
if this was only a mains filter cap?

Has anyone got any suggestions before I give up and ring Washing Machine
Repairman?
--
David Morris

IMHO unless it's completely obvious what the problem is it's not worth the
grief.

Repair man will likely charge £25 just to walk through your door. If it's
repairable you'll likely end up paying £100!

In these days when you can walk into B&Q and get a brand name washer that's
Warranted for under £200 what's the point!.

..............My 2 cents

David

Shouldn't you be on the shopping NG ? ;-)

Andy

David Morris wrote:
BigWallop once wrote in

REMEMBER TO UNPLUG THE MACHINE COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU TAKE THE
CASING OFF !!!!!

Sound advice again. Thanks.

and discharge the mains filter, otherwise it may still bite.

so the fault's with the drive circuitry.

Or the drive belts bust...

My monies on a loose/corroded connection somewhere - happened on mine and
needs a kick every so often