LG Motor overheats and smells
Hi
I have an LG WD-80481TP that have served me well for the past 9 years without any problems.
Yesterday during a regular wash cycle we noticed a burning smell so we stopped the wash cycle and later i tried making a quick spin cycle to dry out the clothes but the cycle failed, the machine simply shutoff after 20 minutes of attempting a 10 minutes spin cycle. after investigating it the motor is overheating, its spinning the drum but only at low speed it seems not to reach high spin speeds and it appears to find it hard to start the spin, when the machine shutoff it kinda went crazy the time was going down one minute every 5 real minutes and then eventually it kinda turned off and on in a split second extending the cycle time to 17 minute and then on and off again to shutdown with a burning smell coming from the motor. I have checked the following:
- Drain pump is OK, it successfully pumped the water out of the machine.
- Belt seems OK as the motor is successfully turning the drum, the belt seems in good shape and moves the motor rather easily when manually spinning the drum, its also cold to the touch.
- Motor is noisy and burning HOT in minutes after operation, i could also see electrical sparks coming out of it, its kinda trying hard to start then it spins a little bit and stops.
- I suspected Motor Brushes were worn out, However after taken them out they have a good 3cm+ left on them.
- I checked the motor sensor with a multimeter and i got around 5 Ohms, 7 Ohms for the brushes and 1-2 Ohms for the the 3 motor wires, as i understood these values should indicate a functional Motor.
- The drum bearing should be OK since the drum moves freely without noise.
From your experience could you tell if this means the Motor is faulty or perhaps some logic board controlling the motor is at fault?
Thanks alot for your advice
Note: I have already checked troubleshooting section https://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/washing-machine-not-spinning/ however the burning smell in addition to the sparking are leaning me to think its a faulty motor rather than something else, wanted an experienced view if its most likely the motor then apparently the machine is not worth fixing.
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
LG WD-80481TP motor overheating with burning smell and poor spin
- The problem
- A 9-year-old LG WD-80481TP developed a burning smell during a wash. On spin, the drum would turn only at low speed, struggled to start, and the machine eventually shut off after erratic timing and brief on/off behaviour. The motor became very hot within minutes and sparking was seen at the brush/commutator area.
- Likely cause
- The discussion supports a fault in the motor, the control PCB, or both. A brush fault was also considered because sparking was seen at the brush tips, but this could not be ruled in or out without inspecting whether the brush contact faces were charred or burnt.
- What fixed it
- The accepted advice was not to guess between motor, PCB or both. If a brush face is charred/black instead of shiny, replacing the brushes was suggested as a possibility. If the brushes are shiny, the recommendation was to seek an engineer or replace the machine. The exact repair was not confirmed.
- Checks to try
- Drain pump confirmed to pump water out
- Belt checked and found intact; drum could be turned manually
- Motor observed overheating quickly with burning smell
- Sparking observed at the brushes/commutator area
- Motor brushes removed and found to have about 3cm remaining
- Resistance checks taken: sensor about 5 ohms, brushes about 7 ohms, motor wires about 1-2 ohms
- Drum bearings considered OK because drum moved freely without noise
- A full cotton cycle was tried and the machine briefly turned off and on repeatedly
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Motor brushes
- Multimeter
- Motor
- PCB
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
4 Answers
It could be the motor, or the PCB - or both. It's possible for a brush that's otherwise got plenty of wear left in it to stick or jam - so if one of the brushes is charred and black instead of shiny where it runs on the armature you could try replacing the brushes. But if the brushes are both shiny I wouldn't risk guessing whether it's the motor, PCB or both. I'd get an engineer or new machine.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Hi
I investigated the Motor while running the electrical sparks are originating from brushes touching the motor, u could see the sparks at the tips of the brushes where it contacts the motor. Is that normal? and the Motor is heating in matter of minutes with a burning smell, could these electrical sparks form the brushes cause such heat and burning smell?
I have also tried a full cotton cycle instead of only a spin cycle, the machine started and after a couple of minutes it started turning on and off like someone is disconnecting it from electricity and back in in split seconds.
Can we rule out the brushes as a root cause and blame either the motor or the PCB? If this seems like something easy to fix i want to call an engineer if it seems something serious i would rather get a new machine.
Thank you very much for the help its much appreciated.
Small sparks from the brushes are normal. Ideally they would only be very minute. If they are big, and especially if they flash and run around the commutator that's bad. If it is the brushes then one or both will be charred and burnt where they contact with the commutator as described here carbon brushes diagnostics
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Thank you very much for your help.
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