Broken Belt Help

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

Zanussi washing machine with snapped belt and stiff drum

The problem

The washing machine stopped, the drum appeared to drop, and the drum was very stiff to turn by hand. On inspection, a snapped drive belt was found at the back.

Likely cause

The accepted reply states the stiff drum likely caused the belt to come off or snap, rather than the belt causing the stiffness. Suggested causes were an obstruction jamming the drum, a broken drum, or collapsed drum bearings. If the machine had also been noisy, bearings or the drum itself were considered more likely.

What fixed it

Replacing the belt alone was not supported as a fix. The advice was to diagnose the cause of the stiff or jammed drum first, as the underlying fault is likely in the drum, bearings or an obstruction. Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.

Checks to try

• Back removed and snapped belt found on the floor
• Drum checked by hand and found very stiff to turn
• Consider whether the belt has tangled around the pulley
• Consider whether there is an obstruction jamming the drum
• Consider whether the drum is broken
• Consider whether the drum bearings have collapsed
• Check whether the machine had been noisy before failure

Parts or tools mentioned

• Drive belt