Calypso, Repair in Progress

[jaxsunst]

Oh course my camera battery died, it is recharging now. I have it taken apart down to the spanner nut. I have been hammering on it for about 30 minutes.

Is the u-joint supposed to move with the nut? It is.

Am I just not being patent enough and need to keep hammering?

 

[jaxsunst]

Here is a pic, the entire thing moves.

 

[andrewinorlando]

That u-joint looks like it's fine. The boot isn't torn or damaged.

 

[DADoES]

Maybe the u-joint is OK and the knocking noise during high-speed spin is from the broken shock you mentioned previously? Have you gotten the front panel off for a look? I believe you can also see the shocks from beneath. Try to get out as much water as possible. Or take off the back panel and remove the lower hose from the sump, with a pan ready to catch the water out of the sump. Lay the machine on its back, prop it up with something if possible to keep the sump end lower to help prevent any residual water from running out from the tub ring openings or wherever. Remove the bottom panel and have a look.

 

[jaxsunst]

pics of what's going on

I found when I had it on it's back that one of the struts was leaking oil. Also, the shocks on the front bottom are very greasy with a lot of loose grease.

 

[jaxsunst]

another

Look at my feet!!!!

Also notice the orange vintage floor in my garage.

 

[jaxsunst]

And another

 

[jaxsunst]

bottom plate

Look, no rust

 

[vintagesearch]

wo its pretty much intact no rust grime or anything still looks new wow!

 

[jaxsunst]

I forgot to ask, does the balance ring supposed to have water in it?

 

[jaxsunst]

on the next to the last pic, if you look under the strut on the left, you can see the small puddle of oil

 

[andrewinorlando]

Jackson-

That machine is in perfect condition. It looks brand new inside.

The balance ring is filled with water, seawater, I believe. It's why these machines have such amazing ability to complete cycles with the most out of balance loads...even washing a single pillow is no problem for it. In six years, I've never had mine shut down because of an out of balance condition...it always completes the cycle.

It's very hard to say whether or not the struts are the issue. Mine do not leak oil, I know that from working on it. You may have a bad one. But with the panels off the machine, if you re-assemble the tub and top, you can start the machine up and see how it reacts during spin and see if you can hear where the noise is coming from while watching for excessive tub movement. It should spin pretty steadily, just some minor rocking, but definitely no twisting of the tub. You'll get some "tub twist" when the machine shuts down after the final high speed spin with a load in it...that's normal.

When you re-assemble the top, make sure all the rubber flanges are correctly in place under the top lid of the machine. Their placement is obvious, but if they are outta place, the machine will splash water over the tub while it's washing, causing unsightly rust underneath.

I hope you can return the u-joint and leveler???

Another thing I would do

 

[DADoES]

Are the tub struts hydraulic/oil-filled? I haven't examined them closely and don't recall from the tech manual, but I figured they were simply spring supports.

Your Calypso is pristine compared to mine!

 

[jaxsunst]

video

I just posted a video of the problem. The lighting is not great. If there are any angles or changes anyone would like to make, please let me know.

 

[bundtboy]

inner and outter tubs rubbing

Your tubs are rubbing. I don't know how to explain why, but they are. Is the main wash tub loose on it's hub?

B

 

[bundtboy]

bent

...could the tub be actually bent at the hub? Just a guess - but I can see in the video that the inner tub is not concentric to the lid opening. It looks like it's in crooked - or possibly bent.

B

 

[jaxsunst]

I found where it is rubbing, it is the balance ring rubbing against the outer ring. I must have done something wrong reassembling them.

 

[DADoES]

You haven't yet removed the inner basket or changed the u-joint, correct? Is there fluid in the balance ring?

Mine has never had an OOB situation (perhaps I should force one to see what happens?). Seems odd it gets up to high speed before triggering an OOB, shouldn't that happen much sooner (if the load is really OOB)? There's no OOB switch in terms of sensing tub oscillations, if I understand correctly it works via motor current. Something is apparently putting the motor under more of a load that normal.

 

[jaxsunst]

Yes, the balance ring has some kind of fluid in it. Judging by holding it, it is about half full.

No, the u-joint looked new, so I put the new grommets, seals, leveler, and inner wash dome in.

 

[andrewinorlando]

The balance ring should be about half full with liquid. The way the machine stops when it's at full spin is fairly normal....minor twisting of the tub. You definitely haven't got it put together correctly. Something is rubbing against something somewhere.

The last 40 seconds of the video where it's at high speed spin definitely seems like there is too much movement of the tub assemblies. Mine is much more sturdy than that and that may be triggering the OB error. Like I said before, I've never been able to get mine to go out of balance, no matter what I put in it. It always completes the cycle. If the machine is not assembled correctly, its going to be hard to diagnose the problem, though, so another video without the rubbing noise would really help. I'm not hearing the other noise you spoke about when it reaches high speed.

Andrew

 

[jaxsunst]

it works via motor current

When I described the symptoms to RepairClinic.com, they said that it could be either the u-joint or drive motor. Could the motor be my problem?

I didn't get to work on it last night. I was on the phone with AHS most of the evening. It is amazing how quickly things can start happening when you drop a few f-bombs.

 

[DADoES]

Pondering on this a little ... unless I'm missing something, I don't see how either the u-joint or leveler could cause excess vibration/oscillation of the tub during spin. When spinning, it all locks together and rotates as a unit. Wouldn't u-joint trouble especially manifest during nutation?

 

[andrewinorlando]

It's definitely not the u-joint or leveler, unless they're not leveling the wash plate out before it goes into spin.

How could the motor be the culprit? The spin shaft could be bent or damaged, possibly even from trying to remove the u-joint. It doesn't make sense that the spanning nut couldn't be loosened, but perhaps in the process of trying to remove it, damage to other components occurred? A bent spin shaft could cause the problem you see in the video.

I still don't recall seeing any oil near or around the strut supports on my machine....maybe still a problem there. I'm at a loss otherwise. Might need a complete teardown to get to the bottom of it? Just fyi...the washbasket is cone shaped at the bottom, but still symetrical...make sure the basket is not out of round, too. If the balance ring were leaking, you would be able to see it.

 

[jaxsunst]

The balance ring has a leak. I took it back out, and was moving it around, and it literally sprayed liquid out of a hole.

 

[jaxsunst]

When I removed it the first time, I noticed that it was wet, and thought that it just must be some residual water. Sitting on it's side in my garage, it has made quite the puddle.

Found one on Ebay for $15

 

[DADoES]

Yay!

 

[andrewinorlando]

There ya go!! Good find Jackson! Probably had a small leak all along.......

 

[jaxsunst]

New ring should be here middle of next week. I will do laundry in the DD this week and polish and make the Calypso all pretty.

 

[DADoES]

Status?

There's a Calypso pair listed at a local garage sale on Fri. Investigation reveals the seller is someone who I kinda know in passing. Hmmmm.

 

[bpetersxx]

Go get them Glenn

Having two is twice is nice and a dryer is better

Now if I can figure out to not oversudsyfoam mine