Miele noise from worn belt

[mrboilwash]

My faithful old Miele made a grating noise while washing not too loud but it annoyed me for a long time.
Spin cycle was fine, it was only noticeable while tumbling but I still couldn`t rule out a bad bearing for sure.
Eons ago I had a loose slipping belt on an Indesit and can tell it sounded totally differently.
Noisy as hell, only present on fuller loads and only at the start of each turn. So the belt was not the first thing to look for when I decided today to investigate the problem.
At first I thought the drum might rub on the door boot but it wasn`t the case.
As far as I understand it this model is not serviceable from the back.

 

[mrboilwash]

So I had to take the front and one side panel off to take the belt off to check the bearing and motor separately.
Both were fine.

 

[mrboilwash]

The belt was covered with loads of abrasive dust which felt like oil, so I decided to give it a good scrub in the bathtub.

 

[mrboilwash]

No idea why you can "only use drive belts tested for high voltage"

Maybe someone with more insight could shed some light on it?

 

[mrboilwash]

Anyway, the noise is gone now and I`m so happy I finally did something about it.
Didn`t have high expectations. LOL

One of the friction dampers which I changed not too long ago seems to leak oil which is a bit disappointing but it still does its job.

And of course I forgot to put the emergency door latch in the right place for reassembling so I had to take the front panel off again after I was done. LOL
But things like these always seem to be part of the game on my "projecs"

Here we are on our test run.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Miele - Immer Besser

Hello Stefan

Great to see you sorted out the Miele issue, looks in great nic and glad its not something like bearings or spider etc.

Oh yes if you have wrangled the front panel back on , thought you had slipped the orange pull hanger through the panel , took your time to fit the front panel securely and then realise the pull rod isnt there "Dont Worry" its not just you Lol.

Do you have a pic of the plumbing connections , looks interesting ?

Cheers, Mike

 

[mrboilwash]

Hello Mike

Good to know I`m not the only one who`s sometimes a bit absentminded.

The good thing is when I had to reattach the wire around the door boot again I had already enough practice to do it right immediately. Lol

You mean the "Aquastop" valve?
I assume it`s a German only thing and pretty much a well established standard here. Those valves with a hose in a hose would usually attach directly to a water pipe and so it would give a maximum of protection against floods.
If the hose bursts which I think is unlikely because it`s not under pressure all the time the second hose would fill the washer`s floor pan with a float switch which shuts off the double(?) valve and activates the drain pump.
Lots of extra technology which of course adds to a washer`s cost but absolutely worth it if you live in a flat.
Of course it`s pointless if a washer is located in a basement with a floor drain so we still have plenty of washer models with a regular fill hose available.

 

[brisnat81]

Has anyone else had issues with the plastic sheath on the aquastop hoses disintegrating, or is it just our harsh Aussie light that causes it. All of my 2xxx and 3xxx machines have now had it crack and crumble. Miele don’t sell the sheath, it’s it’s $400 for the whole assembly to replace.

I tried using flexible corrugated electrical conduit to replace, but even with wiring lube, I couldn’t get the hose and the cable through, so in the end I got split corrugated AV conduit just to cover it up and protect the wiring.

 

[gizmo]

Hi Nat

Best way to get hoses through conduit is to put something light through (like fishing line, or nylon cord) then pull the hose through.

I might have a suitable outer hose here? Possibly off a Bosch dishwasher?
I definitely have a couple of these flood safe fill hoses here, I don't think any of my spares are Miele though.
I am missing the cover for one fill valve on my Miele - the plastic shroud over the solenoid valve itself. It still functions fine.

If I see a dead Miele in my travels I will try to salvage the fill hose, I will keep the plastic shroud and send you the rest if you like. No idea when that might happen though.

 

[brisnat81]

Thanks Chris, let me know what you find. The issue I had with the electrical conduit is that the corrugations are very square, whereas the Miele hose they're a lot finer. The Square electrical plug on the end of the cord would keep getting stuck regardless of how I tried to fish it through.

 

[mrboilwash]

Turned out that cleaning the belt was only a temporary solution, the noise is back.
Well, it was worth a try and now I know for sure the bearings and spider are still ok so it`s nothing too serious going on.
However I will not invest in a new belt (and another new shock absorber).
Even though the Miele aged much more gracefully than I did myself (it still looks like new) I don`t consider it a collectible and it will be replaced with a new washer when its time has come.
On one hand I love the control and flexibility it gives me, it`s almost like having a washer with a mechanical timer, on the other hand I`d prefer a modern brushless motor design.

 

[mrboilwash]

So I investigated again and can tell I was totally wrong about the belt.
No idea why the noise seemed to have disappeared on the test run after I cleaned the belt. Might have been a psychological phenomenon like if you perceive something just because you expect it to happen.

Anyway, this time I decided to take the carbon brushes out and then the motor when turned by hand made exactly the kind of noise I didn`t want to hear.

Since rebuilding a motor clearly exceeds my skills I decided to just oil the motor shaft with sewing machine oil.
Hope I didn`t do anything stupid which might harm the motor and it might be just a temporary solution but so far it seems to do the trick. At least if I turn it by hand.
Also thought while I`m at it it wouldn`t hurt to invest in a new set of "Miele compatible" carbon brushes as they are only 10 Euros shipping included.
This will hopefully tune down the motor noise too.
Still waiting for delivery and admittedly I`m a bit nervous that something might go wrong at reassembling.

 

[mrboilwash]

We`re up and running again.
I returned the cheap "Miele compatible" brushes. The quality was so bad that the machine displayed an error code.

The old ones showed some wear but were not worn out. There`s still life in them for a couple of more years. However they were a bit splintered at the longer edges so I decided to carefully smooth them out with a nail file and put them back in.
At first the sound of the motor and the electrical smell was terrible but it took only three long cotton cycles with max spin to bed them in again.

The sewing oil on the armature still does its magic (knock on wood). The sound that I wrongly thought to come from the belt did not come back so far.
I suppose the motor bearings are ok because they are sealed in and the oil could not possibly have reached them so the noise must have come from the bearings gaskets if that makes sense?

Kudos to anyone who restores a real vintage washer!
My Miele is just barely vintage so there are plenty of Youtube videos available which makes a repair super easy and fool proof. It was still hard work for me because I haven`t had any practice in a long time.