WM714145W carbon brush burning

This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.

WM714145W burning smell and melted carbon brush housing

The problem

During the final spin, the WM714145W became louder than usual and produced a slight burning smell. Inspection found one motor carbon brush had melted its plastic housing slightly, although the brush still had plenty of length left. The machine had been unused for around eight months and this happened on the second cycle after being used again.

Likely cause

The accepted reply says this level of heat is unusual and could indicate either a stuck brush causing heavy sparking and heat, or the motor armature beginning to burn out if the smell was strong and pungent. The exact cause was not confirmed.

What fixed it

The accepted advice was that a new set of carbon brushes might cure the fault if a brush had stuck, but the contributor also warned that armature burn-out was a possibility. No confirmed repair was documented in the discussion.

Checks to try

• Observed louder-than-usual spinning at end of wash
• Noted a slight burning smell
• Inspected the carbon brush and found slight melting of the plastic surround
• Checked the part of the motor the brush connects to and found no obvious issue

Parts or tools mentioned

• carbon brushes