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I’ve had a problem with my washing machine in that it doesn’t complete the washing cycle. After watching 3 failures to complete the cycle I suspect the motor is the problem. Each time it failed it was preceded by a slight twitch of the drum. That is the drum was stationary and when it was about to start turning again there was a small movement as if it was trying to get going but lacked the power to start. The cycle then failed. I then tried with the machine empty so there was much less force required to turn the drum and it completed the full cycle without any problem.
I thought it might be worn brushes but on removing the motor I found it appears to be an induction motor. I read somewhere that the capacitors on these can degrade over time and that might be the problem.
So I’m interested to know whether I can confirm the motor is the problem. Is there some test that could be carried out? Would I need a new motor (cost £200) or could this one be repaired? Is there another fault that might be the cause of the above symptoms? The washing machine is 12 years old but aside from this performs faultlessly.
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions with this.
This machine uses a 3 phase induction motor so doesn’t have the large capacitors that basic induction motors use. It has a large 3 phase inverter board/pcb in the base to control the motor. There are some basic test routines that you could try. I will send you a private message. I would suspect electronic failure rather than the motor itself tbh.
So I’ve tried the test programme with the machine. It completed the whole cycle – from the LED test to the final spin – without any error codes. The machine was empty however so not much load.
It seems it will complete a washing cycle with light loads too. Any suggestion for how to proceed from here?
Thanks again for your help with this.
Difficult to answer tbh, not a fault I have ever encountered. I would still suspect an electronic failure rather than the motor but both of the pcb’s would need to be examined by someone who has board/component level knowledge and test equipment. There is also an outside possibility that there is an overload device inside the motor that could be cutting out under heavy load, looking at the wiring diagram does not show a TOC but it’s likely that one is built into the motor. Unfortunately either pcb or the motor are far to expensive to change in the hope they will cure the problem.:(
OK. Not too hopeful by the sounds of it but something to pursue. Thanks so much for you time and help with this.
iadom wrote:There are some basic test routines that you could try. I will send you a private message.
iadom, I’ve got a similar problem, albeit with a ISE W256W (ASKO WM70.1) and I’d be very grateful if you could pm me the info as well.
Do you know if it is an induction motor in that model?
(Drum and motor turn by hand, belt is fine, fuse is fine).
Can’t send by PM. Send me your email address via PM and I will see if I can help. All but the very early ISE 10’s have induction motors.
Hi Waldek, did you find a solution?
I’ve given my machine a good check over today but can’t find anything wrong, the program just stalls when it gets to the rotation section. I’ve checked the following, does anyone know of anything else I can check before it goes to landfill?
- Drum, motor and belt turn freely.
- Cleaned the drain and its hose using a hose pipe.
- All resistances in the service manual.
- Relays (coil resistance and applied a voltage to check for the click and checked the open and closed switch resistance).
- Diodes and transistors.
- Close look for any blackened electronics / damaged wires.
- Fuse on motor control unit.
- Had the motor out to confirm it’s brushless.
There is no power at the 2 wire plug in the top PCB that goes down to the motor which makes me think the problem is on the PCB but after checking all the above, I’m ready to give up. I presume that if I had an engineer round they’d just recommend replacing the board.
Update: Put it all back together and it’s suddenly started working fine again but not sure why.
P.S. Had a major leak at the drain pump – I’d taken it out and put it back but the plastic on one of the threaded holes had raised up into a burr preventing it from seating properly. I countersunk them and it sealed fine.
suddenly started working fine again but not sure why. Well that might be dependent upon the load wieght or no weight in it when you tested it. I have never worked on a ISE. Long shot is a faulty capacitor on the motor control board – look for domed capacitor top although could be an undomed one that is still a duffy. In the old pre 1980s days where you had an ordinary induction motor run via a 16 or 18 or 20 /22 uf capacitor (no pcboards) if the cap died you got the same effect = the machine either sat there looking sad or sometimes it would turn the drum but with very small loads only (2 pairs of undies and a pair of socks) but anything classed as a normal load it would either move only for .25 of second or do bugger all. It baisically is how a lot of modern Bosch w/m fail – motor control pcb.OR with Lg the Hall sensor fails instead of the pcb (which is rather nice since that is a 20 quid part or less rather than 160`ish quid if it were a Bosch). As for ISE pcb you`d have to ask if it is still available thought they went bust (or just stopped making them) some years ago??
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