Whirlpool Awm8145/3 Noisy On Final Spin Only

[alanterrill]

My machine has recently starting making a really horrific noise on its final high speed spin. When washing and doing the lower speed spins it is as quiet as normal -it literally makes this noise in the final two minutes of a wash/spin cycle. I've removed the back and had a look at it while it is spinning -there is no unusual vibration. I have checked the filter and there is no unusual build up in there. When the noise is present I noticed a lot of sparks coming from the motor and a smell of elctrical burning, so I assumed the brushes were worn. I've just bought new ones and now have the motor out and the brushes out, but there is plenty of length left on them and they are not pitted or burnt. If I rotate the drum by hand there is no noise nor great resistance. Although I might as well fit the new brushes now i've bought them, can anyone suggest what else might be casuing this noise and smell? The motor windings don't look burnt or damaged in fact the whole machine looks very clean inside.

One small point -the new brushes have small plastic overhang when holds the carbon brush in its slot -should this be snapped off before fitting? -the exisitng ones haven't got this piece.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

The brushes are being held in place to protect the brushes. Once this tab is removed the brushes will spring out. If you can easily remove this tab once the brushes are in place that is the best way to do it.

If neither brushes are charred or damaged then I suspect you may have the same fault with new brushes. If the motor is sparking excessively there could be a fault on the armature, and not necessarily one you would see any physical evidence of.

[alanterrill]

Thanks -I've fitted the brushes but unfortunately it's made no difference to the noise. I'm now suspecting the bearings although the usual tips about spinning it by hand don't produce any noise or marked resistance. What I have noticed is that after a fast spin there is smoke in the drum although there is none visible in the back -ie its not coming from either motor so I guess its friction somewhere.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

That's just as I suspected from your description of the old brushes. It is possible that the motor is a red herring. At least in relation to this noise. You need to try and determine if the noise is being caused by the excessive sparking in the motor or not. Excessive sparking combined with electrical smell is something that should definitely not be ignored in this quite serious. However even if the motor was smoking none of the smoke should really get inside the drum. Therefore are there two separate issues here?

Smoke inside the drum implies as you say friction. Is the drum catching on the door seal? If so it should have melted and damaged some of it. My guess would be that there may be something inside that shouldn't be there. If it is the drum bearings they should be making a rumbling noise when they turn (what do noisy drum bearings sound like?)

Check out the link and also read carefully the two other articles link to at the bottom of the bearings article which explore all possible noises on washing machine's potential causes. If you read these articles slowly carefully and discount everything you ought to be able to come up with the answer.

[alanterrill]

I think the motor is a red herring - I could see some sparks but I don't know if this is excessive as i've never had cause to look when it was working properly. Today I couldn't see any sparks so the new brushes have probably bedded in. I removed the belt and rotated the drum by hand, no rumbling as in your video just a high pitched squark once each revolution -more like rubber or plastic against metal. I removed the front panel and took the rubber seal out then rotated the drum by hand -completely silent. I then emptied the filter and although I only did it yesterday, it was full of thin white plastic shavings, so something is rubbing against the drum. I stuck my head inside the drum and shone a torch in - I could see the element but nothing that might have caused an obstruction . I disconnected all the wires to the element and tried to pull it out, but it would only shift a few millimetres and then stuck. So I connected it back up and removed a little clear plastic box to the right of the element. This has small amount of soft sludge in it and was connected to a switch by a rubber pipe. No idea what it does, but the hole enabled me to look in to where the element lays. I could see nothing other that some some sludge and agood clearance to the metal drum. I cleaned the rubber seal (which had a couple of scratch marks around its interior) then reassembled everything. I put some water in and put it on a spin cycle -it spun beautifully without making the horrible noise - it reached full speed and then just as it was slowing doen there was a clunk and then the loud noise returned. When ti has stopped and I opened the door the drum was full of smoke. It didn't smell of electrical burning -I think it was the result of plastic friction. If I now turn the drum manually there is a constant squarking noise like a sealion.

So it seems the metal drum is rubbing against the white plastic drum and/or the door seal. The question is - do I need a new door seal, new bearings or something else?

[alanterrill]

Before you answer that I'm thinking that the clunk followed by the noise may be due to the metal band that holds the inner door seal having jumped off the rim and the consequent noise being the drum rubbing against the seal. I found it very difficult to get on so maybe I didn't do it well enough. I'll have another go shortly and report back.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Also check this article out because another possible explanation is something stuck in the drum

[alanterrill]

An update -the door seal was fitted correctly, so I decided the only way to see what was going on was to remove the drum and look inside. On this model the drum comes apart easily -a series of metal clips around the join just prise off with a screwdriver and the outer drum parts easily. What I found was no foreigh bodies but a continuous scoring in the plastic of the rear outer drum and a more partial one in the front outer drum (see picture). The metal spider on the rear of the metal drum was quite corroded. On scraping some of the corrosion away I could see three hairline cracks , one on each of the arms. They haven't parted company (yet!) but I'm guessing this is the cause of the instability. Now to see if that part can be purchased at a reasonable price.

[alanterrill]

Nobody sells the spider separately - the manual only shows the inner drum as one piece (at £193 from espares) and although there are a couple of third party spiders for whirlpool machines on ebay they don't fit this model. So for the sake of a corroded spider I have to throw the whole thing out. But I can get a new Whirlpool machine with 7kg load and 1400 spin speed for £189 so I've just ordered one. The way of the world etc..

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Many thanks for the update Alan. I can see you don't give up easily. I should have posted a ink to my general article on noisy washing machines which does have a section explaining that possibility. However, in light of your experience I have just elaborated a little bit on that particular section and added a photo.

All spare parts that are available should be listed on the 4washerhelp site run by the biggest spares company in the UK (who also own espares).

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If the spider has corroded it is probably relatively old. To be fair it's not just for the sake of a drum spider because a proper repair would involve replacing the seal that protects the bearings, possibly even the bearings if they are showing signs of wear, and to be on the safe side the seal inside the main tub.

Sadly there are very few machines that are repairable these days when the drum bearings fail. Thanks again for your updates which will help other people.