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A little more progress on this..
I checked the resistance of the heater thermistor at the main PCB end of the lead and it showed around 33K, the same as directly at the thermistor, so the blue wires are making contact with the plug, despite my damaging that. Whilst there, I noticed I had in error connected one of the heater spades onto the heater ground terminal and the ground at spade of the heater. As said, I am working in a very cramped space and difficult to see what I am doing with it on the floor.
All is now working as it should, except for the dryer part – the dryer wasn’t working prior to this anyway, but it was though never used so never repaired. The ‘Dry’ light was flashing, because I had accidentally set the dry temperature to other than ‘off’. Time to now fix the final screws in the case, put the tools away and put the machine back where it belongs under the utility worktop for hopefully the next 16 years 🙂
Trouble at the mill….
When I disassembled it, I didn’t realise the wire outside of the door seal was pulled tight with a spring, so much easier than the seal to drum to release, so I failed to suss that out and struggled to release the seal at the more difficult drum instead. Anyway, I got it all built back up and got to testing it…
I should say at this stage, I somehow managed to rip the two thin blue wires out of its plug – the water heater temperature sensor I think, but I think I got it back in place OK.
Just to point out all was working fine, apart from the bearing problem, before I pulled it apart. Now I am often seeing the power LED rapid flashing along with the F08 fault (from the list) and sometimes the ‘Dry’ LED.
This fault code list – https://www.manualslib.com/manual/81…p.html?page=23
To the good – there are no obvious leaks, I can sometimes get it to fill with water, it spins the drum back and forth as it fills and the fill level stops at the right point, pump out works, but the water heater might not be turning on.
I’ve not had much time today to explore further, but does this sound like a poor connection to the heater sensor please?
I just thought I would update you all and thank you again for the help.
The bearing kit was delivered yesterday, so I set to it. I’m long since retired, so plenty of time to tackle things like this A bit of a struggle working alone and in my cramped utility room, but I managed by the end of the day, to get the tub out complete with the drum and move it outside to continue today. The drum just had a the slightest of rumbles, so I wasn’t convinced the bearing was faulty. Today I parted the two halves of the drum, and balanced the side with the drum still attached on a triangle of short bits of railway sleepers, fitted a sacrificial bolt in place of the pulley bolts, and began hammering.
It moved around 6mm then would move no further. I spent an hour trying, but it wouldn’t budge. I then tried rotating the drum and it wouldn’t turn. A bit more brute force, and the drum began moving a bit easier, then just dropped out. I guess the bearing was locked solid, and I must have been turning the shaft inside the bearing inner.
The inner bearing was obviously completely shot, I’m surprised it was so quiet. Both old bearing and the seal came out fairly easily, with a bit more brute force. After cleaning up the alloy tube, and the surface rust off the shaft, I pressed the new bearing and seals in place, adding a good dollop of British Rail points grease, making an assumption it would be a water-resistant grease, to help protect the shaft from further rusting. The previous slight rumble, was completely gone.
I then managed to rebuild it, all bar the front panel, and testing which I will tackle tomorrow.
electrofix wrote: with the age of it you might well find the spider badly corroded when you split it
chances are you will need a lump hammer to get the drum shaft out ( unless your lucky) you will also need to find another bolt and washer to screw in the spider so you can hit it without damaging it
Dave
bearing kit ordered now, I will see once I start work on it. It’s had a relatively easy life since purchase and only needed my attention twice it that time. The none resettable thermal switch tripped in the drier unit, repaired by drilling a tiny hole in it to enable it to be reset with a pin. Then a failed capacitor on the control board, which failed just out of warranty, which I managed to spot and repair. It was under-rated for temperature, failed due to other other hot components located around it.
electrofix wrote:the only way you can be certain is to remove the pulley and look at the number on the rear bearing ot measure the shaft diameter
also a lot of the time if the pulley is metal it 35mm if its plastic its 30
DaveIt is metal, so that further confirms it, I will order the 35mm with confidence, thanks.
The back story is that it has had a slight click when turning the drum by hand for years, it sounded like a tiny loose bit of metal in the drum, but I never found anything. There was never any play in the drum, so I assumed the bearings were fine.
Last week – after it not being used for a month, I tried to run a wash and it flashed up a fault, after a few attempts to rotate the drum, which was stuck as if a brake was partially on, it didn’t feel like a jammed bearing. I took the belt off, to work out whether it was the motor or drum sticking and found it was the drum. Working the drum back and forth a few times, it freed up, all back to normal, ran a wash as normal and it’s still perfectly free, just the usual tick as the drum is rotated by hand.
My guess, is that whilst it was stood unused, the bearing was able to build up more rust than usual and the rust jammed it. At least I have a bit of a reprieve now to decide when to tackle it.
matrixresonator wrote:Btw, the suffix on these is the colour of the chassis.
Thanks for that and it maybe solves it. Mine is silver, but all of the bearing sellers say the 35mm fits the WD420(with a suffix letter), so if the only difference is the colour, no reason why it shouldn’t be the correct bearing.
Yes, I already know the tank can be split – I checked and it is bolted together. I just want to be sure I order the correct bearing, ready for when I begin the job. Like most people I just have the one washing machine, with limited space to work in, so priority is to not have it waiting around for days waiting for the correct bearing to be delivered.
I thought someone might be able to confirm the correct size, or be able to suggest a way to be sure, without actually diving in to strip it down first?
