Miele WD2780 Fault 53

[katipilla]

Hello there! I am wondering if it is worth paying an engineer to look at my 10 year old faulty Miele Washer Dryer? It is showing fault 53. The drum seems to be turning, there is a new rattle. I am a little handy but have limited tools. Are there any quick checks I can do to fine the problem. 

I have lost faith in Miele service team after a previous visit where the fault was misdiagnosed and they are still trying to charge me even though the dryer is still faulty (I think the problem is a sensor as the sensor drying cycle doesn't work but the timed drying cycle does work so I have just been using that).

I would really like to not give up this machine but worried it is going to end up costing me a lot to get fixed, if I can find a good engineer!  Is it time for a new machine?

Thanks for your thoughts 🙂

Edited November 8, 2024 by katipilla

[Whitegoodshelp]

Unfortunately it's likely to cost over £200 as that's what Miele charge these days. Like most manufacturers they have fixed price charges, which supposedly cover parts as well. But they have clauses that let them scrap a machine if it needs expensive parts and you then get charged around half the fee. 

[katipilla]

Thanks Andy.Yes I'm not impressed by the Miele service.

 I managed to get the front off and check the carbon brushes. See attached photo. Looks like one is worn down. I might attempt to replace them...Are there  any good quality compatible parts that you can recommend (rather than genuine Miele which are expensive)?

[Whitegoodshelp]

Hello there. Yes it does look as if that could be the issue. If the worn carbon brush is charred then it has not been contacting the commutator and has been sparking and flashing. Normally if a brush looks worn down but is still shiny and smooth they are often not the cause of the problem at that time.

Regarding carbon brushes, and spare parts for Miele appliances, apparently Miele have forbidden any other website or company to sell their spare parts to the general public. So you won't find any genuine Miele parts anyway. It might be better to just buy the proper carbon brushes, as it could be hard to find any non-genuine ones. The concern with the non-genuine carbon brushes is that in my experience (which is a while back now to be fair) the non-genuine carbon brushes were usually really poor quality. They were basically extremely soft, and you could see that the quality was poor. They tended to wear down considerably faster than the originals, and they deposited a lot of black carbon dust and soot, which often caused insulation faults resulting in the motor shorting out.

If you are hoping you could get the washing machine running again, and it might last at least another several years or longer I would definitely get the genuine. If you are hoping to just patch it up and get it running for a little bit longer then try to find some non-genuine. I don't think there's a lot of demand for copies of Miele carbon brushes though because the originals just last too long, so there is very little demand. We just replaced my Miele washing machine, for example, and the carbon brushes were still running strong after 18 years.

[Whitegoodshelp]

Also, you could check if by any chance the small brush is actually trapped inside the holder and can be released. If so, and it's actually a lot bigger than currently showing, you could try cleaning everything up and ensuring that it's moving up and down freely in the holder. Then gently clearing away the charred end with some very fine emery cloth. It's not ideal but could work especially if you can't find any new brushes.

There would be a risk that the curvature of the end of the carbon brush is flattened out though and that could cause a reduction in contact on the curved commutator. This would generate some sparking that might settle down if the brush beds in.