Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

[brightspark]

Hi all,

My trusty WFR2860GB washer is on the blink, the motor is no longer turning as it should.
It had been working OK, but the drum almost completely stopped turning, just repeatedly moving a bit then stopping for some minutes.
Apart from the drum not turning, the machine indicator and the fill/drain cycles as normal. At some points the unbalanced load warning is displayed. It’s the same with all wash or spin cycles.
Having searched through the site, I checked out the brushes, and these were pretty worn, being just a bit more than 1 cm, and there was plenty of black dust around. I carefully dismantled the motor and cleaned up, before reassembling with a new brush set courtesy of UKWG;).
I last replaced them about 18 months ago, so it looks like they have got a bit more wear than expected, although the machine is used at least daily with full (and probably more than full..) loads.
The motor is not reacting any better with the new brushes installed – it still turns intermittently for a couple of revolutions and then stops for some time. When the “unbalanced load” notice comes up, it seems to reverse for a bit like it should (but only for one or two revs).
Is it likely the motor is knackered is there a simple way for me to test (I have a basic domestic multi-meter). Could it be something else?
I see from the Bosch site that a replacement motor (Bosch part number 142122) is about GB£120 delivered. If it’s just the motor, would it be worth repairing? The machine is about 4 years old now.

Cheers,

Adrian

[helo_75]

to be fair, motors either run, or they dont

id be looking more towards a pcb problem myself

[brightspark]

Re: Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

So it looks like it’s had it’s chips then (pardon the pun). The PCB comes in at around 220 via Bosch.

[Penguin45]

Re: Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

Worth pulling the motor and checking the tips of the brushes. Occasionally, they can stick in the holders, giving a poor contact. If you have one brush which appears to be dark rather than shiney, this may be the case. The use of a fine file to clean the brush holder or even to ‘shave’ the edges of the brush may well restore the contact.

Penguin45.

[brightspark]

Re: Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

I had the motor out again to check brush contacts, and it looked like they were touching OK. I then removed the brushes to check the ends to see if they were making good contact. One has contact wear over about 20{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the tip of the brush, the other about half as much. I guess the contact area grows with use until they fully bed in (I even tried to speed up the bedding in process by attaching a battery drill and socket and spinning the drum via the spider bolt, with the belt on).
Both brushes seemed to be moving OK within the holders, although I didn’t remove these to double check and it’s hard be sure without the holders off.
There is a definite groove worn in the armature where the brushes touch, this looks to be about 1mm or so though I’ve not tried to measure directly.
When you start a cycle, eg spin, the motor seems to do one full revolution, then three small “steps” and then stops. It does this very consistently. I can’t see any signs of arcing.
When the motor does the small steps, the light in the room seems to dim slightly – a bit worrying that.
I even tried running a cycle with the belt off to see what difference that would make. It didn’t make any difference.
Is it possible that there is a loose contact somewhere between the main board and the motor, or maybe a solenoid that might be a bit duff?
I’m looking for an affordable to fix problem…otherwise I’ll be searching ebay or the small ads tonight for a replacement machine. If I call someone out that will be GB£50 for starters plus parts, and I’ll then be looking for something else major to go.
My dad has a Meile and that’s never gone wrong – what is the major spares cost for these like?
Would it be sensible to spend say GB£100 on a 5 year old one? I feel like for these machines the basic build quality and spares support is so good they are worth repairing for much longer than most of the other cra**ier brands. I just get fed up with having to junk machines where 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} is still working fine. Maybe next year I’ll have saved enough for one of your ISE ‘s.

[brightspark]

Re: Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

Is it likely that I’ve got the same problem that DunkandJu had with his Bosch (earlier thread in this forum)?
He reckoned he had a “cracked carbon collar” or “annulus magnet”. The first time I changed the brushes, I also ended up completely dismantling the motor & so might have introduced some weakness in the “collar” when reassembling.
The behaviour of the motor when it runs also sounds much the same as his.

[Penguin45]

Re: Bosch Washer WFR2860GB – motor turning intermittent

If the magnet breaks, you get a short burst of high speed running before the computer shuts it down.

Magnet is not a spare part 🙁 .

Penguin45.

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