Indesit WG1130 TPG

[MikeHersee]

My Indesit WG 1130 TPG has until very recently performed flawlessly, but a couple of times at random it didn’t seem to have spun, leaving the clothes soaking wet. When I turned it round to re-do the spin cycle it seemed to work ok and this time the clothes came out nearly dry. I have a suspicion that a couple of times it may not have done much tumling either, but not absolutely certain about that. It did the non-spinning again while I was present and I couldn’t get it to re-spin, the last time it stayed at tumble speed while emptying on the spin cycle until nearly the end before doing a brief speed-up just before the timer ran out.

I should point out that it empties apparently perfectly and at the same speed it always has. I suspected the problem was in the timer / controller, so I took it apart to look for ‘iffy’ contacts. I adjusted a few of the contacts, especially the charred ones that looked as though they had a lot of current going through, and reassembled the machine.

It did at least one cycle perfectly because I was watching it the whole time, and one cycle where I’m sure it finished properly, then on the next load when there was a heavy towel in that was unbalancing the machine when starting to spin, I pressed the power button to let the machine stop and give it a chance for the clothes to redistribute themselves, and when I switched the power back on again a few seconds later without even touching the controller, it wouldn’t spin. Since that moment (earlier today) it has almost entirely refused to even tumble the clothes with water, no matter where I put it on the cycle, except for a brief while after loading up with extra water during cycle 4. The timer goes round perfectly, but the operation of the motor is sporadic – it either behaves perfectly or not at all, and almost entirely not at all. But it is emptying the water though, and that part sounds completely normal, including the ‘gritty cycling’ noise it makes when the drum is empty and the remaining water in the drain pipe keeps bouncing on the pump – which suggests it IS emptying the water properly.

This suggests to me some electrical connection fault but I don’t know where is the most likely cause given the symptoms. And why would switching it off briefly have caused it to refuse to spin when I switched it back on? I’m fairly confident that I reassembled the controller exactly as it was, and that it completed two cycles completely before it went wrong suggests that I probably did.

I’ve only repaired washing machines a couple of times before but I have a lot of experience of taking things apart and finding the root cause and reassembling them so they work better, but I’m getting frustrated with this one! Any ideas of where to look? Are there any components that are a dead cert?

I’ve just remembered that I did drop one screw into the drum filling neck when I was re-attaching the facia to the filling box, but it doesn’t appear to have affected anything else, and I can’t see how it would have had such an effect on the machine’s behaviour. I would have expected it to get stuck in the pump if anything, but that doesn’t appear to have happened.

Something I noticed that someone may know something about: I was directed by a local bloke to the electronic circuit board at the bottom of the machine. One end of the big resistor looked as though it might have got a bit warm, but the connection to the motherboard seemed to be ok. From the colour code, which looked like brown-red-brown, I reckoned it should have been 120 ohms, but measuring it it came out to be 12k, if I’ve read my multimeter correctly, which puzzled me. The ’12’ combination suggested it was about right, but I did wonder. Can anyone shed light on that? All feedback gratefully received!

[Penguin45]

Re: Indesit WG1130 TPG

Possible faults: Motor brushes worn, damaged/broken wiring (especially at motor plug), digital control board failing, poor contacts on edge connector on board, sludged up water level control system, faulty timer. Also bear in mind that being a digital motor board, it incorporates an out-of-balance circuit for uneven loads (see sticky at top of forum).

Power off for all investigations – given the numerous possibilities, it may well be time for pro help – click the link below.

HTH,
Regards,
Penguin45.

[MikeHersee]

Re: Indesit WG1130 TPG

Thanks for that. Because when the motor is running it seems to work perfectly, it seems to be in the control system rather than in the mechanics of the motor or the brushes.

I think I may have spotted it though: In this washing machine, any leaks from the joint in the drum between the back and front are positioned so that they drip down on the motor electrical connector, and I’ve just noticed that the drum does appear to have a very slight leak and the motor electrical connector was wet. If the control circuit switches off the motor if if there is electrical leakage caused by water, then that could account for all the behaviour.

I’ve glued a bit of thick polythene to the underneath of the drum to direct water away from the motor connector and tightened up the band surrounding the drum, dried out the connector with a hairdryer and squeezed the electrical contacts. It’s now started working again, and I’ll let you know if this seems to have completely solved the problem or not!

[Penguin45]

Re: Indesit WG1130 TPG

Keep an eye on that leak – often removing the drum rear and replacing the gasket is the only permanent solution.

Good luck,
Penguin45.

[MikeHersee]

Re: Indesit WG1130 TPG

Well, it’s now completed a whole cycle and worked perfectly, and the drips appear to have dried up completely too. The nut that tightens the sealing band was a bit slack, but it’s the first time It’s been looked at in about 6 years, when it came out of the factory – not bad for a cheapo model. I’ve done it up nice and tight so hopefully it will last for another 5 years!

I really appreciate the rapid responses and your suggestions though. Thanks. 😀

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