Washer repair.

[Jay H]

I have a 1999 Frigidaire, basic washing machine that got water up to the 3/4HP electric motor on the bottom. Works, at least I did 1 load since the flooding but it emitted a really loud screeching sound, the sound like when water washes all the grease away in bearings. So I took the front panel off and hooked it up to the water line and power so I can do a load tonight and see if I can pinpoint what is the source of the loud screeching. There is a drive belt that connects the motor to the tub which looks to be in OK shape. Do the pulleys and the hub the tub spins around greased? I have to see whether it's the pulleys that are screetching or the motor itself. Obviously, I hope it's the pulleys but I'm thinking it's not.

Any experience with this kind of problem and any tips to share?

Motor works, it's just loud as hell.

Jay

 

[jqgs214]

Sounds like the brearings got wet and are now rusted and making the screech. Not much you can do unless you can put together a rebuild kit for it. Sounds like new motor time to me.

 

[begreen]

pull the belt. then run the motor without a load. if it's screeching, you could try saturating the motor's bearing felts via the oil cups. (not too much oil, maybe 10-20 drops at each end). if the motor is quiet, check the drum pulley bearing, if it's stiff, it may be the belt that's squealing. In that case, see if the drum bearing can be lubricated?

 

[Eric Johnson]

There's probably an idler somewhere on the belt train. Could be that bearing surface is a bit rusty and all you'll need is a couple drops of oil.

 

[keyman512us]

Jay..
..If you think it's the belt making the noise....wash all the surfaces off (don't know how nasty that flood water is)...and apply belt dressing. Take a trip to a fairly decent local hardware store or supply house...tell them you got a a squeeky rubber belt...and you need "a can of belt dressing spray". WD40 is basically the same thing...you just gotta "lightly apply WD40" or the belts will slip.

 

[Jay H]

Just a heads up. I haven't had time to run a test run and babysit, maybe I'll try tonight but just wondering, should a washing machine NOT be transported on it's side? Should it always be shipping right side up? knowing that mine tub is balanced using springs whereas others might be weighted, I'm just curious how bad it would be to bring a washing machine home in my Subaru on it's side, as it wont fit upright.. and I don't have a trailer yet.

Jay

 

[Eric Johnson]

I don't see what it could hurt. Be aware that if there's any water left in that machine, it's going to wind up in the Subaru. You might want to turn it upside down before loading it just to be sure.

If you're worried about something getting banged up from the tub springing around on its suspension system during the trip, stick a towel or something in between the tub and the inside wall of the washer to keep it under control.

 

[Jay H]

Well, ran some linens in a small load with the front access panel open.. The screetching sounds like mostly the tub's axle along with the tranny so the motor is fine, one of the belt pulley squeeks a bit but I just lubed that. The screetching is not bad until the final spin cycle in the wash where the tub is probably spinning the max. rpm of the motor. I guess I will live with it now. I was told that removing the inner and outer tub to get at the bearings there is not an simple thing to do though I haven't looked at it. I guess there is no grease port...

Jay

 

[Gooserider]

I would probably try applying a bit of oil to anything I saw that looked like a moving part, including the motor bearings and any bearings I could reach in the tranny. Check to see if there is any easy way to get into the tranny and lube the bearings in it. I have also found a great many useful sites on the web that have good diagnostics and instructions on how to take appliances apart and service them - they want to sell you parts (and the prices are reasonable) and have figured out that they can sell more parts if they tell you what to do with them...

Appliance411.com Impressed me the most when I was working on a dryer problem. I also found...

cheapapplianceparts.com
partselect.com
repairclinic.com
applianceguru.com The home of the "Samurai Appliance Repair Man" - good humor on this site along with the info, sends you to one of the other sites for parts
(broken link removed to http://www.american-appliance.com/catalog/)
(broken link removed)

There may be others as well, but these were the ones that looked good enough that I bookmarked them for future reference...

Gooserider

 

[Jay H]

I would probably try applying a bit of oil to anything I saw that looked like a moving part, including the motor bearings and any bearings I could reach in the tranny. Check to see if there is any easy way to get into the tranny and lube the bearings in it. I have also found a great many useful sites on the web that have good diagnostics and instructions on how to take appliances apart and service them - they want to sell you parts (and the prices are reasonable) and have figured out that they can sell more parts if they tell you what to do with them...

Appliance411.com Impressed me the most when I was working on a dryer problem. I also found...

cheapapplianceparts.com
partselect.com
repairclinic.com
applianceguru.com The home of the "Samurai Appliance Repair Man" - good humor on this site along with the info, sends you to one of the other sites for parts
(broken link removed to http://www.american-appliance.com/catalog/)
(broken link removed)

There may be others as well, but these were the ones that looked good enough that I bookmarked them for future reference...

Gooserider

Thanks, I was told about repairclinic and I emailed them, they suggested that my problem is what I suspect and they did mention that it's not one of the simple repairs.

I am definitely going to be lubing everything I can see that is moving and see if that does anything before I start thinking about taking it apart...

Jay