Unusual motor failure in an Amana VMW washer

[maytaglover68]

Got in an Amana NTW4516FW3 top loader (made on 36th week of 2019), they said it stopped spinning their clothes out. Thought it maybe be a shift actuator, the pump, or even a locked up gearcase, but it turns out the motor has locked up. Spin the drum and heard weird noise. Took it out and spun the motor by hand and I heard it grind and I was able to press it in and out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a VMW do this before. Yep, a bad motor.

Apparently this person on YouTube had found a washer with the same issue as the one I got in. Spun the drum by hand and heard the same squeaky and grindy sound.

Link to Redo’s YouTube video:

This is the exact symptom that the washer I got in had, belt cover melted, same motor issue. This motor part number is W10623547 and it’s a Welling brand. Never seen a motor fail this way (at least don’t remember) throughout all my years of being an appliance technician.

Glad I have a Whirlpool WTW4800XQ4 washer and Amana NTW4650YQ0 in hand with a roaring gearcase and bad suspension rods but a good motor, although the transmission bearings and suspension rods are bad on these two machines the motors are good, I also have several other scrap machines with good motors so I can put it on this and be good to go. This isn’t a Maytag so it doesn’t have the 10 year warranty for the motor.

2016 Maytag MVWC565FW0 washer I got in, this person said it had a belt issue due to it not spinning and they said it shoke violently before it stopped spinning, although I rarely get VMWs with belt issues. The actual issue was bad suspension rods, a bad basket hub and a wallowed out tub sleeve, now it’s fixed. I’d be interesting if it was just a belt but it wasn’t. A lot of people seem to think their issue with the washer is just the belt.

Or I can maybe part out this Amana NTW4516FW3 washer since it’s got many good parts. The belt cover won’t be saved because it’s melted due to it overheating. But I can get the gearcase, the suspension rods, the drain pump, the lid lock, and the agitator out of this one and use them on another machine.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

SMH!

 

[cfz2882]

WP should have stuck with Emerson motors instead of China junk...Bearing probably did not get greased during manufacture.Old VMWs,at least the washplate versions,have Emerson motors with a radial fan on top.I have an Amana agipeller VMW of just about the same vintage as the subject washer you mention in storage,waiting for evaluation

 

[gelaundry4ever]

WP should have stuck with Emerson motors instead of China junk...Bearing probably did not get greased during manufacture.Old VMWs,at least the washplate versions,have Emerson motors with a radial fan on top.I have an Amana agipeller VMW of just about the same vintage as the subject washer you mention in storage,waiting for evaluation

Who makes these motors now? What about GE?

 

[maytaglover68]

The brand of this motor was a “Welling’ which I’ve never heard of and turns out it’s just a Chinese brand of motors appliance brands tend to use, I believe Midea, Frigidaire, and possibly even Samsung might use this motor brand on some of their washers as well.

Although not sure about Samsung since I don’t see Welling on those motors but they sound like a Welling.

Some of them from what I heard were Nidec or Broad Ocean, those have a bit different sounds and I believe they were first being used on the agitator models but now they’re used on washplate/agipeller models.

I believe the agitator VMWs were first made with broad ocean, only the washplate versions had Emerson motors.

Some newer VMWs use Welling and others use an unknown brand

Some use the different brand of motor, and I think the Emerson motor VMWs had motors that looked like this, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these fail so they must’ve been good quality motors.

I believe Maytag used Welling motors for all their top loaders at one point, as Maytag used it for even their Centennial washplate machines from 2013-2015, then they switched to the other Chinese brand. I believe the Bravos and Bravos X VMWs still used the Emerson motor until the MVWX655DW came out, the big tub VMWs like that one used to use Welling but they used the unknown motor after. I believe the WTW5000 used the Welling motor throughout its whole manufacturing, but all the big tub VMWS from Whirlpool for other companies used Welling and then the other brand of motor.

In 2011, these other brands of China made motors were first found on the VMWs with the agitator, and this was the case until 2015, and Kenmore and Maytag still used Welling motors but I do hear some older Maytag agitator VMWs with different sounding motors so they probably switched to the Nidec (or whatever brand of motor) at one point. Now the agitator ones and commercial units use Welling and the impeller/agipeller ones use the other China brand of motors.

Another change I’ve seen in VMWs is the drain pumps. In 2010 to 2013, all VMWs had a drain pump that would pulse (WPW10276397) is the part number and I believe it’s still used on the commercial units. In later 2013 they put the W10614033 on their machines, which is essentially the same pump but it did not pulse, instead it just did the continuous grind like the newer pumps. It was replaced with part W10661045 which sounds like all the newer pumps. Whirlpool has then switched to using W10775446 (replaced by W10919003) on their machines and is still currently used, and those also have the newer pump sounds. GE’s water pumps do pulse and I believe the LG ones and some of the newer Samsung ones also do.

The big tub VMWs, and the VMAX units used pulsing pumps for a while and I believe some of the VMAX units do, the newer VMAX’s have a different part number of pump and they do less pulsing, the older versions of the new new VMWs had the same pumps as the new VMAX units, all newer VMWs use W11399437 whcih sounds the same as the pumps on the residential units. It was first used on the models like WTW5000DW3, MVWC565FW2, and MVWX655DW2, and a couple Kenmore models and a Crosley model. It was then used on the extra large capacity VMWs with the newer user interface and the finicky controls.

Whirlpool also used three generations of tubs on their smaller washplate VMWS (interestingly), the first Gen tub was used in VMWs made from 2010 up to mid 2013, then they used the second generation tub (used on 2013 to 2018 machines), then they now use the third generation tub (which is still used today on their machines). The third generation tub models have a smaller balance ring for the residential versions. The agitator ones still use the tubs they’ve always used although they have made the balance ring bigger on those than the really old ones probably because the older agitator models had a bad habit of going off balance so they made it larger to ensure it stayed balanced although those still seem to go off balance a lot and those also take longer suspension rods than the older ones I believe, The really old washplate VMWs had the same tub design as the first generation Cabrios. They put the second generation tubs on the newer F&P-based Cabrios as well as the washplate VMW.

I don’t think the very large VMWs and VMAXs ever got a new generation of tub design although they did change the balance ring to a smaller one like on the smaller ones.

Also, the newer agipeller VMWs with the third gen tub DO NOT use Emerson motors, they use the unknown brand of motors from Nidec or something else. If your Amana has the second generation tub (model NTW4755EW0) then that’s actually an older model and some of the older versions of those made before later 2015 use the Emerson motor. But any model made in mid 2015 or later will not use the Emerson motor, but instead either the Welling or the unknown brand motor.

Whirlpool also had three generations of gearcases, each had sounds during agitation. The first generation had a sound during agitator, the second generation had a different sound but it still had a noise and people often don’t like the noise that those made, then they went to third generation where the motor is really only the noise you hear rather than the transmission.