The drum in the Bosch washing machine does not spin

The washing machine, having filled the tank with water, stopped dead in its tracks? This means one thing you need to urgently look for the reason why the drum is not spinning. It is not at all necessary to call a specialist for this; you can try to figure out the problem yourself, and we will tell you where to look for the problem and what to do.

Description of the breakdown, possible causes

Let's define this breakdown more precisely in order to limit the range of possible faults.  In this article, we will keep in mind those cases when the washing machine, having filled with water, does not start washing, the drum does not spin. In this case, the pump drains water and operates normally. But if you listen closely, you can hear a sound similar to a crack. This is the sound of a motor that either rotates and does not transfer the rotation to the drum, or does not rotate at all.

The reasons for this may be the following:

• The drive belt has fallen off the pulley or is torn,
• The brushes and lamellas of the engine are worn out,
• Tachometer or engine burnt out,
• A foreign object has entered the drum and has jammed the rotation of the drum.

Engine problems

The drum in a Bosch brand washing machine may stop rotating if the motor does not turn it. Everything seems logical, but in practice you still need to understand what happened to the engine itself and why it does not turn the drum. It is very important to find out whether the engine does not turn under load or not at all . If the engine is running and rotates the shaft, but as soon as you attach the belt to it, it stops rotating it, then the problem is in the brushes and you need to change them. What are we doing?

• We remove the service hatch of the Bosch car, which is located at the rear.
• Remove the drive belt.
• Disconnect the wires from the engine.
• Unscrew the mounting bolts and remove the motor.
• We check how the motor shaft rotates, then unscrew the small bolts holding the brushes.
• We take out and check the brushes.
• If they are worn out, then we replace them; if the brushes are intact, we continue to look for the cause.

If the brushes are intact, it means that the drum of the Bosch washing machine does not spin for another reason; it is very likely that the tachometer, which is attached to the motor housing, is to blame. This is the same element from which you previously removed the wires when you dismantled the motor.

 

We take a multimeter, set it to check resistance and check the tachometer. If the tachometer is working properly, we continue to look for the reason why the washing machine does not spin its own drum. At this stage, you will have to disassemble the engine housing and inspect the lamellas or, as they are also called, collector plates.

If the lamellas are intact and look as shown in the figure above, the motor winding may be broken. You can check this as follows:

• Switch the multimeter to ohmmeter mode,
• We place one probe on one of the lamellas, and the second probe on the second,
• Look at the display indicators (should show 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 ohm),
• We check the values ​​​​on all pairs of lamellas, if everything is normal everywhere, then the problem is not in the winding.

Replacing the drive belt

You can tell if the belt has broken in the washing machine by turning the drum by hand. If there is no resistance during rotation and the drum rotates easily, then the belt has either fallen off because it has stretched or has broken.

Replacing the drive belt in an automatic car is easy. To do this, remove the back of the case using a hex screwdriver. Then remove the drive belt by pulling it towards you with one hand and turning the pulley with the other. Now put the new belt on the engine pulley, and then on the drum pulley, turning the pulley with one hand. This job requires some skill, so don't despair if you don't get the belt on the first time, try again.

Foreign objects

When the drum cannot be turned by hand when the washing machine is turned off, the reason for this is a foreign object caught between the tank and the drum of the washing machine. You can try to remove such an object from the tank through the hole under the heating element. Need to:

• Unscrew the back cover, thereby providing access to the heating element.
• Disconnect the terminals from the heating element.
• Loosen the nut on the central bolt that holds the heating element in the socket.
• Using loosening movements, pull the heating element towards you and move it to the side.
• Look into the nest under the heating element using a flashlight.
• If a foreign object is visible, try to get it out with something.
• Reassemble the car in reverse order.

If you cannot get the item out using the method described above, then all that remains is to disassemble the Bosch washing machine and remove the tank. Then remove the drum from the tank. Detailed instructions on this topic are in the article How to disassemble a Bosch washing machine.

So, almost all malfunctions that cause the drum to completely stop in a Bosch washing machine before washing can be eliminated independently. Except when you need to disassemble the tank. Such work requires skills, space for repairs and time. This kind of malfunction does not happen often. Happy renovation!