Old Hoover washer dryer broken - advice needed pls

[blueswallow]

I have an old Hoover Special Edition 1100 washer dryer which has been fantastic.  Must be about 17 years old and has been very reliable with no major issues.

Recently when it was on a spin cycle it started to make loud noise like the drum was moving about too much.  I stopped it and noticed a smell of

burned rubber.  The grey door seal had been torn.  The drum is loose.  I think this means the belt has broken but I could be wrong. 

My question is can this be repaired? Are the parts still available? Or am I better off investing in another one? 

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hello there. To be honest, this washing machine is so old now that spare parts are likely to be obsolete, and even if available, likely to be extremely expensive. Plus it's just not worth risking spending money on something so old.

If the door seal has been damaged by the drum then the drum may have dropped due to either collapse drum bearings, or a broken drum spider. If this is the case though, you should be able to lift the drum up and down on the shaft, if not all the way round, then at a certain point if you turn it down slowly and lift it at each turn.

Another alternative could be that some item of laundry got jammed between the drum and the back of the door seal, and this caused the damage, and also caused the drive belt to be thrown off, or even cut through.

If the washing machine has been quite noisy on spin for a while, then it may well be the first explanation and that, without doubt is definitely not worth fixing. But if the drum appears to be okay, and you can spin the drum by hand from the front and it doesn't sound noisy and run smoothly then maybe the major drum bearings and drum are still okay. In that case you would need to have a look at the drive belt, is it broken? Or did it just get thrown off?

But even if it just needed a new belt and a door seal you may struggle to get the parts.

[andyr12345]

Could a shock absorber(s) have failed and dropped the whole tub tearing the door gasket or one or both of the top springs on the top of the drum snapped Andy do you think what do you reckon, again tearing the grey door gasket?. That wouldnt be too much of an expensive repair would it? 
17 years is good going in any case .

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi Andy. Aye that's a possibility though I would expect to hear the drum was twisted if that happens. Easy to check with lid off though.