AEG OKO lavamat 600 - leaking!

[andrew]

Hi everyone, my first (distressed) post...

Have an AEG OKO lavamat 600 that I think has been leaking for some time, only now apparent because water has spread beyond the machine's footprint.

The image shows rusty streaks on the back of the drum, and when I got the back off and inclined it forward to get room to take the pic, slow dripping observed at points indicated.

We were bequeathed this machine 5 1/2 years ago from previous v elderly owners of the property, and it has delivered sterling service (~12-15 loads/week) for the whole time. (Apart from a brief period awaiting delivery and self-install of new shocks. The point at which all my powers of persuasion were brought to bear on a partner who was very keen to get a new machine...)

Can anyone offer any advice as to what's causing the leak, other things to check, whether this is something that could be fixed? Economically? With basic tools?

Photo not great, apologies, but can try again if necessary.

Thanks very much in advance.
Cheers

 

[launderess]

Might be the bearings have gone or are going, but it could be something else as well.

http://mr-ives.blogspot.com/2008/02/replacing-bearings-on-aeg-lavamat.html

 

[launderess]

That cardboard trick does work

Slide a piece of heavy cardboard or even side of a paper box that fits. Run the machine through a short cycle then pull it out. Look for areas marked by water to see where things are coming from.

To find actual source you'll have to work backwards. Water will travel path of least resistance and seek its own level.

While it *could* be the bearings, look for signs to confirm (noise during spinning, odd sounds during tumbling such as knocks), excessive play (up and down, side to side) in drum.

OTOH it could also be water is leaking from another area and is running down the spider arms/being thrown onto back of tub as machine spins.

Look "up" into back of washer at hose connections to machine, detergent dispenser/distributor, solenoids... any place water goes or should go. Check internal hoses for cracks/leaks and to make sure are tight.

 

[henene4]

Probable issue in increasing order of severity

That lower circle seems to be the temperature probe; most likely its seal has degraded over time.

You should easily get a spare part for that, or just seal it up with some temperature resistant silicone sealant.

The overall spread rust streaks would appear to be due to bad bearings or a bearing seal that leaks which can in turn lead to bad bearings as well.

Does the drum sound rough while turning it by hand? Or can you lift the drum by hand (basicly moving it in relation to the tub)?
If so, the bearings should be replaced.

That would require you to pull the entire tub assembly from the cabinet and then to remove the bearing cross (that black-ish thing bolted to the back of the tub).
Alternativley, you probably could try to just pull out the bearing cross without removing the entire tub. Basicly, takeing off the belt and pulley, then removing all the bolts and trying to gently and carefully remove it throuch the back of the machine.

Then knock out the old bearings, carefully tap in the new ones, and reassemble.

Bearings cost about the same as the dampers probably. And removing the surface rust on the tub while at it isn't a bad idea probably either.

The right circle you draw there however is somewhat of a bad sign probably.

It could be just that water that leaked from the bearing ran along the back of the bearing cross and pooled there and caused some extended rusting there, but no major rusting affecting the integrity of the tub.

What it could be as well though would be a complete rustspot through the tub wall.
That would mean the tub would have a literal hole in it that would only get bigger over time (probably pretty quickly) and as it is in the area of the water line during any part of the cycle, it would be rather important that that would be remidied.

Patching up a hole on these tubs is either incredibly time consuming or impossible all together. AFAIK getting a new tub for these is next to impossible or prohibitivley expensive if doable.
You could get lucky and find a donor machine, take the best parts of both machines and merging them into a as good as possible machine.

If the inside of the tub is NOT lined with enamel, you'd have to take it out, remove the drum and heater, remove the rusted area, then weld in a piece of stainless steel to patch it up, make sure your seams don't start to rust. Lots of work.

If there is a mounting point for the bearing cross within the rusted out area, your rebuild would have to be structually sound to absorb all the forces.
And you'd have to make sure you could mount the bearing cross properly as well.
So, even more elaborate.

If the tub IS lined with enamel, welding on the oustide would probably just damage the enamel on the inside (cracks etc.) if it even was doable at all.
Then you'd have to compensate for that with some kind of enamel repair paint or so to prevent even worse rusting in the near future.

So if that is a deeper rust spot penetrating into the tub material significantly, the machine is probably beyond saveing.