Miele w524 drain light problem( drain is clear)
Hello, I’m looking for some advice regarding a 10 year old Miele w524 which has a flashing drain light, I have been through all the posts on here and tried all the things mentioned, the machine has been taken apart by hubby and all pipes and hoses and the white box at the back cleared of a lot of gunk everything is now clear , taken off pump, all clear, still have flashing drain light at the rinse cycle , it worked on the wool cycle but this morning on a easy iron cycle same problem , it’s possible it works only with a light load , we also live in a very hard water area, I have it draining into sink now and the pump does work , so my question is really what next could it be and is it worth getting someone to repair as I can buy a new Miele basic model for £600 , and would Miele still be the recommendation of a new machine thankyou
update
Just doing a bit more research , could it be the brushes ? Although everything I’ve read suggests that the rinse light would flash if it’s the brushes , it would seem to me that the problem is with certain programmes I just tried a wool cycle again and it seems to be completing , I also forget to mention that it’s not been spinning fast if there is a normal load on a 40 cycle but if I take half out and spin it will spin normally
washing machine will run on a wool cycle, doesn't always spin fully requiring me to put on spin cycle after,
If I'm going to replace I've narrowed down to a Siemens with 5 year guarantee in johnlewis For £449 or cheapest model Miele for £599 with 2 year guarantee ,
sam
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.
Miele W524 flashing drain light and poor spin resolved after cleaning pressure switch trap and replacing motor brushes
- The problem
- A 10-year-old Miele W524 showed a flashing drain light during the rinse cycle despite the drain path, pump, hoses and rear white box having been cleared. It would complete a wool cycle more reliably than other programmes, and with a normal load it often would not reach full fast spin, leaving washing very wet unless the load was reduced or an extra spin was selected.
- Likely cause
- Confirmed as more than one issue. The flashing drain light was cleared by cleaning the pressure switch trap that had initially been missed. The remaining poor fast-spin problem was ultimately resolved after the motor brushes were changed. Earlier forum advice noted that half-worn brushes would not usually cause a fault if still making good contact, so the exact mechanism was not fully proven beyond the successful repair.
- What fixed it
- Clean the pressure switch trap to cure the drain-light fault. For the remaining spin problem, the motor brushes were replaced, after which the machine was reported to be working normally.
- Checks to try
- Drain pump removed and found clear
- Pipes and hoses cleaned
- Rear white box cleaned of debris
- Machine tested on wool and easy-iron cycles
- Observed that full spin was better with a lighter load
- Motor brushes inspected and found about half worn
- Carbon dust in motor discussed and cleaned up
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Motor brushes
- Pressure switch trap
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
6 Answers
There are many things that could cause a washing machine not to start. I've covered the general issues in this article - Washing Machine Won’t Start
If carbon brushes are worn you will normally get a strange noise when the drum turns. Not when you turn it by hand, but when the motor is running. It will often give a sort of crackling, grating noise.
In theory if your Miele is only 10 years old then it should be worth repairing. My own Miele washing machine is about 12 years old and if something went wrong with it I would be happy to spend money having it repaired. However, unfortunately some of the prices of Miele repairs can be extremely high. So if we are talking hundreds of pounds then it may well be better to replace it. However, if it came to spending £200 on a repair to my 12-year-old Miele washing machine or £300 buying a cheap (ordinary) washing machine I would say that there is just as much if not more likelihood of the Miele lasting as long or longer than a cheap washing machine.
Regarding the potential replacement washing machines you mention I would personally definitely favour the Miele. The Siemens will no doubt have far more "features" but it will not be a match for the build quality of a Miele.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Thankyou for your reply , we have managed to clear the drain light problem by cleaning the pressure switch trap which we had missed but we are now still not getting full fast spin ,so washing is very wet , brushes are only half worn but we are going to replace and see if that makes a difference otherwise I think I’ll get another Miele as I’m expecting the problem to be a more expensive one if it not brushes
Hello Sam. Replacing the brushes won't make any difference if they are making good contact. Brushes are either making good contact and working perfectly okay (no matter what size) or they are not making good contact and the motor will not run properly, again regardless of size. Washing machine carbon brushes diagnostics
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Ah ok our brushes are very sooty maybe another problem in the motor
Hello Sam. It is normal for a fair amount of carbon dust to accumulate inside the motor. It can cause electrical shorting if it gets too bad because all of the dust of course is made up from the carbon in the brushes and is a good conductor of electricity. The picture you show doesn't look too bad. Just clean it up as best as you can. If you have one of those cans of air duster used for cleaning out computers it might do a good job. However do not breathe in the carbon dust. Otherwise use a nice long clean paintbrush or similar. A proper engineer would put an insulation test meter on the main motor casing and touch each connection and the motor plug to ensure there is no insulation leak.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Thank you for your help and just an update , hubby changed brushes and all seems to fine now, looks like it was a case of more than one problem, hopefully get a few more years out of it yet .
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