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Bearing R&R on an AEG Washing Machine |
IntroductionMy nine-year-old AEG 6350 washing machine suddenly started making a loud rumbling sound during its spin cycle. I did a bit of research on the web and found that this was almost certainly a failure of the front bearing due to the seal leaking and allowing water and detergent to wash the grease out of the bearing. What I couldn't find on the web was a description of how to replace the bearing. I have the Haynes washing machine manual (very useful actually), but it's full of information about Hoovers and Hotpoints with barely a mention of AEG, Bosch or Miele. Anyway, here's my suggested method for bearing removal and replacement on an AEG. Is it the bearing?Start off by proving that it's the drum bearing that's at fault. Open the hatch at the back, slip the belt off the drum pulley and spin the drum. If it rumbles, or if you can feel any play in it, it needs to be replaced. Another give away is that there is a bleed hole in the spider to allow the (rusty) water to escape from the bearing housing. This will probably have stained/rusted the the bottom plate of the machine. With some machines, you have to remove the outer drum, open it up, drift out the inner drum and then try to remove the bearings from the bearing housing in the outer drum. Not so with AEG (there had to be some reason why they cost so much!). The AEG has a three-legged removable cast iron spider which contains the bearing housing. R&R of the bearing requires removing four screws to take off the inspection hatch at the back, removing two screws to take of the top, removing two bolts to remove the motor, removing one bolt to take off the pulley and removing three bolts to take off the spider - in fact, it can take longer to disconnect the machine from the utilities and pull it out from under the work surface than it does to remove the spider! AEG bearingsThe roller bearings that are used in this AEG are not cheap. I got a bearing and seal kit (and lots of free advice) for £40 from my local appliance spares shop. You could get a similar kit for £32 from http://www.sparesrus.biz/ol-catlg/wm-bearing-05.php. Bearing kits for normal machines (Hotpoints, Hoovers etc.) are usually about half that price. Step-by-step breakdown
I must say, this job was much easier than I expected. Knowledgeable friends had advised me to get a new washing machine. I'm glad I didn't listen to them! History of my AEG 6350I've had the AEG 6350 for nine years. For the first seven years, we were doing between 15 and 20 washes a week (babies' terry nappies and lots of squash kit). That's 6,000 washes! For the last two years, it's dropped down to about 10 a week. That's another 1,000 washes. So, what's gone wrong in that time? Well, at about 3,000 washes, the motor failed. It didn't really want to spin, made a funny noise, and the brushes were producing LOTS of sparks. I cleaned up the motor, filed down the commutator, fitted new brushes, and it was just as bad. I had to buy a new motor at a cost of £200. I wasn't impressed! It's possible that it was partly due to the washing machine being in an unheated damp garage at the time. At about 6,000 washes, the pump started leaking. The seal between pump and impeller had gone. The correct replacement pump (with the drain hose at the bottom of the chamber) was about £70, so I bought a similar model (with the drain hose at the side) for about £40. And of course, now at 7,000 washes the seal has given up causing the front bearing to fail. Would I buy another AEG washing machine?Yes! They're well engineered, and if we were a normal family with 5 washes a week, the 6350 would have lasted 12 years before the first breakdown, 24 years before the second and a staggering 28 years before the third. I'm quite tempted by the sound of the new AAA-rated 6kg 1600rpm Fuzzy Logic models (AEG OKO-LAVAMAT L86741 Washing Machine etc.) which are going for about £550 at the moment. I'm also tempted by reports of incredible reliability from Miele machines. They're rather pricey though! |
| ©Copyright 2004 by Paul Heneghan | Last modified: 21 March 2004 01:03 |