DIY LG washing machine engine repair

On older LG belt-driven washing machines and relatively new direct-drive models, the electric motor sooner or later fails. No matter how carefully you handle the “home assistant”, whatever preventive measures are taken - wear of parts, wear of parts, there is no escape from it. If a breakdown occurs, you have three main options: remove the engine to fix it with your own hands, take the engine to the workshop or change it to a new one. We offer the first option!

What breaks down in the motor?

The new LG washing machines are equipped with so-called inverter motors. They have a whole lot of advantages: no brushes and other rubbing parts, they break extremely rarely, they accelerate instantly, they keep stable speed, and besides they work very quietly. Manufacturer of modern washers LG trusts inverter motors so much that it boldly gives a guarantee for them for 10, and in some cases even 15 years.

If you have a washing machine of the LG brand with an inverter motor, then you would hardly be interested in this topic and read this article, since the engine is the last thing that breaks down in such machines. So you have an old LG model with a collector engine and something with this engine is clearly out of order. To understand what is wrong with the motor, you need to remove it, disassemble and check it, but first you need to determine what to look for, that is, indicate a list of possible malfunctions. So what can happen to the collector motor of an LG washing machine?

1. The brushes were erased, and the engine significantly lost power.
2. Perhaps the winding pierced.
3. The lamellas were worn out, which leads to unstable operation of the engine and also affects its power.

Note! Most often you have to change the engine brushes, this is the most common breakdown. In second place in frequency, there are problems with the winding and only in third place is the wear of the lamellas.

How to remove a part?

Removing the motor from an old LG brand washing machine is fairly easy. First of all, take a Phillips screwdriver and remove the screws that hold the back of the machine. Since our LG washer has a belt drive, the first thing we will see when we remove the back cover is the drum pulley and drive belt. We remove the drive belt and pay attention to the space under the tank bottom of the washing machine - under it is the engine.

To remove the collector motor of the LG washing machine, we will be prevented by wires, mounting bolts and bushings on which the engine is actually suspended. What are we doing?

• First, we photograph the location of the wires, and then remove them from the engine.
• We twist the screws with a twist and a 12 mm head.
• We push the engine a little forward so that it "jumps" from the bushings, and then gently pull it out of the housing.

Changing brushes

If there is a malfunction of the collector motor of the LG brand washing machine, a probability of 85% is the fault of the brush. On such engines, the brushes wear out quite quickly, after about 3-5 years of operation of the motor. If the operation of the machine is intense, then changing the brushes may be required after 2 years. Perhaps this is precisely why the Korean company refused to install commutator motors on its washing machines and switched to inverter motors, although they are more expensive.

To buy suitable new brushes, remove the old ones from the engine and go with them to the store - you will not lose.

You need to change the brushes with your own hands. This is a “trifling” work, which with proper dexterity takes 20-30 minutes from the average person and this, together with the removal of the engine. The master can do this work faster, but he will take a lot of money for it. Changing brushes in Moscow costs about $ 40, and this despite the fact that you buy new brushes yourself, giving another 8-10 dollars. Total change the brush you will cost $ 50.If you are not sorry for this money, then please pay it to the master, but remember that you can do this repair yourself.

How to change brushes you can read the collector motor of the washing machine in one of the publications on our site. On the motor of an LG brand washing machine, the brushes change the same way.

Winding

If the brushes are in order, then you need to disassemble the engine housing and see what's there. Winding or lamellas may need to be repaired. A sharp unpleasant burning smell emanating from the motor housing indicates that the winding is possibly defective. In this case, before carrying out repairs, check the resistance of the winding. Do the following:

1. Take an ohmmeter or multimeter.
2. Set the minimum resistance value on it.
3. Check the operation of the device by closing the probes with each other.
4. Lean one probe against the lamella, and the other against the winding, the resistance value issued by the device must be recorded. If the difference in values ​​is half Ohm, then there is no short circuit in the winding between the turns.
5. Next, we check the closure of the winding on iron, we lean one probe to the lamellas (in turn), and the second to the case. If the device gives a very large resistance value, then everything is in order, if not, the winding is faulty - repair is needed.

Now we will discuss the following question: is it possible to repair the windings of the collector motor of the LG washing machine at home and how practical is it? Experts say with one voice - repair in this case does not make economic sense. The average person will not be able to rewind the engine on his own, but in the workshop they do it for quite a lot of money - $ 40-50 in the regions and $ 70-90 in Moscow. In this situation, it is better not to do the repair, but to buy a new engine.

Note! The new collector engine will cost about the same money as the repair, while the manufacturer will give a guarantee for the unit for at least 1 year.

The lamellas were worn out

Having disassembled the engine of the LG brand washing machine, and having checked the winding, we made sure that everything was fine there and that no repairs were needed. So, one thing remains - wear of the lamellas. On the Internet, various forums and information sites write a lot about how to visually check the wear of the lamellas. Like, it’s enough to disassemble the engine and inspect the collector, as everything immediately becomes clear. In fact, everything is not so simple.

When the lamellas are so worn out that their abrasion has become noticeable to the “naked eye” here, and repair is impossible. There is only one recipe - the old engine in the trash and ran to the store for a new one. But it often happens that the lamellae exfoliate quite a bit, literally a fraction of a millimeter. These fractions of a millimeter can cause the engine of the LG washing machine to break down, but are we really going to throw the engine out of them? Of course not, there is a chance to bring the motor back to life!

You can try to grind slats on a lathe, return them to their original size. Only a turner-professional of high qualification can do this for relatively little money. He will pierce the lamellas, then you will carefully remove the chips, assemble the engine and test it - everything should work.

In conclusion, we note that repairing the collector motor of an LG brand washing machine in about half the cases is either useless or only a master can do it. But in some cases you can fix it yourself. The main thing is to initially diagnose a breakdown, then to make the final decision to repair or not to repair! If you are interested in information about repairing the LG inverter inverter motor, see the video below.