Miele W1918 Bearings

[launderess]

Am Sorry To Hear....

By contractual obligations Miele USA will not render service, advice, sell parts to etc anyone in Canada, and vice versa for the Canadian Miele. I know this because once called the later about ordering some parts (back when the USA was high against the CDN $), and was promply told the lay of the land.

Was also told if you purchase a Miele appliance in either country and move across the border, don't look for warranty service etc in your new home, if anything. Again see above.

Miele Canada probably never had many of the spiders and or drums to begin with, and as the series went out of production, no further orders were placed. It could also be the parts were ordered as needed from Germany for a warranty repair (the only way Miele does this sort of work down here), and now with the series out of production they don't bother anymore.

Do feel your pain and am that sorry you went into all that effort only to be let down at the last moment.

Whilst ordering the spare bearings and seals from Europe *may* be doable, I'm with you on forgetting about the drum/spider. They are too large, heavy and would have to go probably via freight. This would not be inexpensive.

 

[limey]

And The Moral Of The Tale Appears To Be:

Don't buy a Miele in North America unless you really know what you may be letting yourself in for.

 

[launderess]

Er, Not Exactly

I'd add "used" to that phrase, and even there it doesn't apply here.

OP stated upthread when he purchased the unit the seller explained there were some "issues" with the washer, but didn't know all of them. Many persons do not realise when bearings are going, and simply continue to use the washer until things get bad, such as rust and or other stains on laundry, and or the final certain "jet taking off" sound of bearings totally shot.

If the unit was new back in it's day and under warranty, Miele would have been contractually bound to either fix the problem, or offer a solution. Usually the later involves simply replacing the entire unit with a new one.

 

[3beltwesty]

How old is that Miele?

I thought your used Miele was a decade or more older; thus probably it served a decent lifetime?

Most folks do not have bearings replaced on a washing machine once a seal leaks and ruins them. Then replace the washer.

Here is a June 2010 link of a person who has owned a Miele W1918 for a decade:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t5020983-miele_w1918_washer_worked

 

[GrahamW]

To reiterate, I knew there was likely a bearing/mechanical issue given by how the drum felt. It was purchased for the door seal, electronics/timer (the front door seal alone was worth the price I paid for it) but I figured that I might as well disassemble it to see what the issue was. I have the tools so it cost me nothing but a few evenings out in the garage. If it was simply $200 worth of bearings to restore the machine to perfect condition, I honestly wouldn't have hesitated.

To put everything in perspective, I own a W1903 and T1515 which were purchased used for $150 a few years ago. I paid $50 for the machine and I now have a box of spare washer parts that should keep me going for a while. I also have a spare dryer belt and motor. I couldn't buy anything comparable on the market for $200

We do 1 load of laundry every evening (diapers at 95C every other night) and a couple 'catch-up' loads every weekend.

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice along the way and I hope the photos/descriptions provide insight to anyone else considering such a repair.

 

[3beltwesty]

Grahm; when you pull the elctronics you might spot some 4 digit electrical data codes on IC chips etc and find a clue as the rough date the washer was made. ie a 9803 date is 3rd week of 1998

 

[bertrum]

Hi Graham,
You have done really well in removing the bearings carefully and not damaging the bearing collar. Also I would have given up when the bearings did not come out with the cross piece and got stuck on the shaft!.

Just seems you have done so much, to not complete the job now is to do yourself a big misfavour.

As for cost you can buy good quality bearings from anywhere at a tenth of the cost of getting them from Miele. The only genuuine Miele part I would insist upon is the bearing seal.

Go on finish the job!!

 

[launderess]

Parts Spare Machine

Not a bad idea, considering the motor alone will run $1500 USD or more.

Am dreading what will happen when my 1070 gives up it's motor or bearings.

Lots of the 19XX series are being got shot of down this way as well. Methinks now that Miele offers larger sized washers,many consumers so inclinded feel they can trade up and not suffer "Miele Withdrawal".

 

[sudsmaster]

I purchased a used 1918A off Craigslist for $200 about five years ago. They had two for sale at the time; I wish I had gotten both! It's an excellent machine, and has given me no problems. I generally run one load a week in it - whites, at 160F. It does a great job with them.

I also have three W1065 washers. Only two are hooked up, though, and sometimes I'll run one of them along with the 1918A if I have extra stuff. The main washing goes on with a Maytag Neptune 7500 - which can handle larger loads and more bulky items, and is fine for things like colors and perm press that don't need high temps or high spin speeds but do benefit from more drum space to "spread out" in. Shop duds with metal chips or dust on them go into one of the W1065's, so as to try to keep that stuff out of the regular laundry cycle. The W1065's were even cheaper. I got two for $50 each, and another one (rip off in comparison) for $200. One of the $50 ones also included a stacked dryer, also not hooked up yet.

Anyway, aside from bragging about my Miele collection, yes, you can find them used for $200 or less on Craigslist or other venues. As usual, caveat emptor, but for that kind of money you're not going to be too far in the hole if they don't work out.

I do wonder, however, if it's not possible to get the bearings from a place like Grainger or other supplier. My understanding is that bearings are standardized, and if you have the right dimensions/specs you can get a generic version that might do the trick. Don't know about the seal, though. The damage to the shaft is more problematic. I suppose if it's not too bad it could be turned and polished but that would require a rather large lathe.

 

[3beltwesty]

Bearings are easy to find; it is the water SEAL that is the

.

 

[cfz2882]

seal

depending on design,seal may or may not be easy to get from non-miele
sources-when i did a bearing job on a 1998 "frigilux"i was able to get a
suitable seal from my local "carquest"auto parts store,it had the same
double lip design as original-cost around $13.00
Frigilux used 6306 and 6307 bearings-plenty stout.

 

[3beltwesty]

Washing machines have a special lip design

Seals in washing machines have a different lip angle than say a wheel bearing seal.

 

[limey]

Seals, Lip Angles

To 3beltwesty.
Re your post # 501112
You are one up on me there. Do you have any other details, websites with details etc.
Any info gratefully devoured.
Thanks

 

[3beltwesty]

Seal design

.

http://www.rlhudson.com/shaft seal book/sample-industry5.html

 

[limey]

Many Thanks

To 3beltwesty.
Great info. really apreciate that.

 

[combo52]

MIELE SEAL AND BEARING FAILURE

This has been an interesting disassembly and tear down. This problem was caused by a failure to use enough detergent for water conditions which caused the heavy mineral buildup which caused fast seal ware and resulted in bearing failure when water got past the seals. I have seen this hundreds of times. The solution is not so much periodic washer cleaning as just doing laundry properly in the first place. If you pay attention to what is going on in your washer or dishwasher it should never be necessary to run cleaners through them. Doing laundry improperly and then trying to clean up the mess periodically would be like not changing your cars oil for 50,000 miles at a time and trying to flush out the mess afterwards, the damage is already done its largely too late.

 

[3beltwesty]

Combo52; the old 1976 Westy here was always used with a the minimum amount of detergent to do the job. One of out its two 6205 bearings had it's cage break in 2005; after 29 years of usage. It started to get noisier in the spin cycle about 1999; thus its seal was probably leaking then to cause the corrosion.

Thus with a machine that used the opposite of your claim of "This problem was caused by a failure to use enough detergent"; it ran 23 years until the seal leaked enough to cause a noisy spin cycle; and another 6 until one bearing cage failed; ie 29 years.

It is just you opinion that "failure to use enough detergent" causes seal failure.

Most folks use too much detergent ; and most washers at some have the seal fail.

Here the water is so soft that if another who vists and washes their clothes; one really needs no soap at all if they are from a hard water area.

All it takes is some sand to get on that seal and one can get massive wear.

I think the point you are trying to make is if one had really no detergent at ALL; one would have just water as a lubricant. Thus your theory is the seal wears less if one has enough soap, and the typical seal failure is thus due to lack of detergents?

The 1976 westy has a brass surface/ring where the seal contacts. Westinghouse used his design for over 50 years.

 

[limey]

Seal & Bearing Failure, Which Came First?

To COMBO52
I believe the photographs in this thread give sufficient evidence that there is a deposit on the spider and the centre area of the back of the drum. I further believe that using the dictionary definition of ‘mineral’ as ‘anything not animal or plant’ then these deposits are ‘mineral’. (Using that definition it could also be applied to the ’crud’ shown in the photographs of a machine I worked on shown in threads 29110 and 33198, therefore, my apologies for saying they were not ‘mineral’).
Now how have you deduced that the deposits in this Miele case are caused by too little detergent?
Bearing in mind your faulty diagnosis of seal failure leading to bearing failure in the case of the machine I worked on described in thread 29110. How have you deduced that in this Miele failure case the initial failure was by the seal and not the bearings? Quite honestly how can you be so adamant is beyond me.
I look forward to your comments

 

[pierreandreply4]

your lucky to be able to have it fix

your can consider yourself lucky to be able to have it fix as most repair comp today would say to buy a new machine 1 of my aunts had to have a tech come to fix something on her fridge is it was not for her recipe and warrenty papers the tech would of told her to buy a brand new fridge well i do hope that you will be able to have it fix all i can say is good luck

 

[limey]

Above Post

Sorry folks above post, #503030 should have been in thread 33198.