Just wondering if there are any washing machine experts out there. Our 7 year old Bosch 1400 Express machine has decided to stop working. On selecting a washing programme it will fill with water, turn the drum and drain. This lasts for a minute or 2 so all initially seems well. It then just sits with a mechanical whirring noise ( normal sounding) going on but nothing happening and then shuts down and resets. No error codes show up. I have cleared the drain pump, a couple of small items but nothing significant, checked the exit hose which are all clear. It does seem to drain.

Bit stuck, I replaced the heating element about a year ago with a cheapy one from eBay. So I am guessing it could be this but, if I selected spin or drain which would I believe would not involve the heating element it still does not work properly and makes the mechanical whirring noise then shuts down?

Any ideas?

Sounds like a problem with the motor or bushes. If it needs new bushes you can do that yourself pretty cheaply.

If it’s the motor you will probably be able to get a newish one from Ebay. Our 5 year old AEG washing machines motor packed up recently. I got a nearly new motor on Ebay from Germany for £50 delivered which works a treat.

Thanks for the rely. It still turns so is this more likely to be the bushes? There is a little carbon scoring around the motor area, also my wife put in a very heavy load just prior to it stopping working.

Don’t think the bushes have ever been replaced.

Its the brushes – deffo .
Easy to replace, should be less than a tenner if you DIY.
Dont be tempted to try and do insitu. power off, remove motor and fit brushes.
Ignore all grateful advances from wife …

On the downside i have had the odd Bosch machine blow the board due to shorting the motor when the brushes are mega-shot but youll be lucky….

Brushes bet you ….easy job take motor out and do it ….also they are chamfered left and right so need to go in correct side ….it is obvious when you take the old ones out
Bosch are great products

Yes taken one bush out and its under a cm long. Pretty sure it’s supposed to be a lot longer than that!

Thanks for the advice I think you have hit the nail on the head.

Cheers

U will see a lot of carbon dust around it ….and they are about 35mm new !

They’re also really easy to break. Spring loaded brush, thwacks into side of motor, shatters. Take your time.

Make sure the new brushes slide freely in the holder – some holders have a leaf spring cut down one side designed to quieten the brush rattle. Bend it out of the way with a small screwdriver …

Great thanks. Which way should the angle go, there was so little left it was difficult to tell!

The holders are offset so look at it logically and youll get the idea ..

Sorry to drag up this thread. New bushes fitted however although it is now turning more than it did and doing about a 1/5 cycle it is still stopping mid cycle. They were non original brushes but from espares who seem fairly coacher. I do seem to get a bit further each time I try a spin cycle although it cuts out as the speed increases. Any other thoughts?

Perhaps you have a loose connection – I had this on an old Hotpoint washing machine – it vibrated the control board components so much that the board had to be re soldered (but then again this was the only washing machine i’ve had that hated water and vibration). It used to start spinning and then cut out as soon as it got above a certain RPM and then kept on repeating ad nauseam. I’d check your connections first.

Ps Its kosher (pedantic i know :-))

Oops sorry about the grammar! The thing that would put me off the loose connection is that it wouldn’t spin at all before replacing the connections, now at least it will spin up the first spin cycle.

We had a Bosch 1400 Express – replaced when the extended warranty thing finished.

I dont know if this helps but when the engineer came out he always pressed two buttons on the front – or a button and turn the dial – then this displayed a 2 digit code so that he knew what to replace.

Were the old bushes worn to the max? Ours had about half a cm of carbon left. Did you clean the carbon dust off the rotor?

You can probably tell I’m no expert on fixing washing machines, but I do remember on ours “a control board” blew about a week after the bushes were done. That was an audible POP and a smokey smell though so probably not related to yours.

I would find a independent repair guy who knows what he is doing

I can recommend someone in the NW

Sounds like a brush MAY be sticking – did you check they slid freely in the holders as you replaced em ?? – emery them if tight or tease out the leaf spring as mentioned earlier .
Also check the motor block is making good connections – pull on each lead, ive had loose/broken wires in the block before now ..

to get new bushes to bed in you should run the machine empty on the highest speed cycle

this causes a low load but high speed which means the bush should wear in to the commutator shape better

if you’ve not done this yet recheck bushes and do a couple of 30 degree max spin speed cycles

Just cleaned the commutator, used clear alcohol. Now doesn’t seem to be working at all!!

My only other thought us that although it was close to needing new bushes it might actually be the board pcb that might be at fault? As it a 7 year old machine it’s not really economic to call out a repair man.

Commutator isnt the problem – check brushes as mentioned above and make sure theyre seating the right way around on the commutator – must be TOTALLY free to move on the spring. Might be worth ensuring the spade connectors aint loose either … 😉

We had a 1400 Express and the bushes went on it. Used Bosch Home to arrange a repair man who pushed the buttons and turned the dial to obtain the fault code which showed up knackered bushes. He whipped them out and they were so worn the sprins ad scored the motor. Apparently the springs are so strong and the spin speeds so high that once your bushes area gone there is a good chance your motor is gone too.

[*]Just taken the motor back out. There are about 12 score lines running at right angles to the long face of the brushes. In addition one of the original brushes had worn down to the metal electrical wire, so I am thinking that the motor may be shot?

You’re not gonna get a decent connection to the commutator,time for a new
motor methinks,Try smaller shops they sometimes have decent second motors
that they’ve taken off trade in washers.

check the gaps between the commutator segments as they might have a build up of carbon in them shorting out the segments. If you have some electrical contact cleaner you can carefully spray it though with a straw or use a cotton but with some on and spin the motor.

Or if you can get good access clean out the slots with a pin and cloth.

Getting really confused now. Had it working like a dream just before lunch. Six full spin cycles to bed the brushes in after cleaning carbon off the brush tips. I also got a full wash cycle complete.

I came back this evening and nothing. It won’t even turn. I hate erratic problems!