The freight train's a coming down the tracks.. How long have we got??

[dustin92]

Our Maytag Neptune (5000 series I believe) appears to be on it's way out.. It's been in our lower level apartment for about 4-5 years now and 2 different tenants who have loved it, and I've been noticing it getting slightly louder on spin cycles lately (can hear it in our bathroom above) but today the noise is much louder, roaring and knocking. I've attempted unsuccessfully to replace bearings in another machine, so I'm not getting into that. How long do we have before the machine "dies" and what will be the likely mode of failure? I got the machine for free 6+ years ago so I can't complain there, and I'm not happy enough with the current tenants to replace a working appliance. They haven't said anything about the noise it's making... So.. Advice?

 

[cfz2882]

it's gone...

...probably about 20 more runs before it grinds to a halt.

 

[combo52]

Noisey Bearings On A FL Washer

With just noise they will sometimes last even a year or so, but once you start developing much bearing play or looseness you usually don't have very long.

 

The machine will tear up the plastic outer tub and the front tub cover, you should warn the tenants that the machine may tear clothing and possibility leave rust stains on clothing as well.

 

John L.

 

[dustin92]

It's been sounding a little scratchy for the better part of a year, I considered replacing it before the current tenants moved in but it was still reasonably quiet then, and they will be here a year on Halloween. Last I used it about a month ago to wash a mattress pad (we have a top load Speed Queen in our part of the house) it was getting a little bit of play in the inner drum.. Doesn't sound like we have long. I'll warn them of potentially damaging clothes but they will probably just shrug it off...

 

[henene4]

Depends

Sometimes, you can get lucky and get dozens of cycles out of truly broken bearings.

These don't fail suddenly until they do.
If a bearing fails, it starts with one ball beginning to no longer roll properly.
That play damages the neighboring balls and puts more strain on them.

Gradually, damage spreads to all balls.
This means that the inner ring dosen't ride on all balls anymore and has play.
That play grows larger and larger.

That then leads a few possibilities.

The bearing might seize completely. The drum stalls, motor cuts out.
That might happen during a wash or if you are unlucky a spin.

The play might get so large that an unbalanced load causes the drum to hit the tub and damage it.
That might just cause some leaks.
Or that impact is so hard that a cascade happens and it violently destroys the entire tub unit.

Or it might get louder and louder.
At some point you will hear the typical metal on metal screeching sound.
That is usually the last thing before the bearing seizes.

You might just return to a machine not doing anything.

Or worst case you can return to something like this (even though this particular case probably wasn't caused by a bearing failure):