Possible drum drive belt rubbing against something due to misalignment of the drum drive wheel.
I have recently been involved in the attempted repair of an Indesit w113 machine. The first repair was after only 18 months of family use, and the drum would not rotate.
On inspection, the drum bearings were found to have disintegrated due to an ingress of water. This allowed the drum to sag, and eventually jamm in the tub, causing the drum drive wheel to carve a groove in the back of the plastic tub. Fortunately it did not break through the tub otherwise water would have escaped into the electrics.
A replacement shaft/spider and bearings were obtained for about £40. On commencing disassembly prior to replacing the parts, it was found that the large nut holding the drum shaft in the tub bearings was loose, allowing in and out movement of the shaft and drum. This in turn meant that the shaft was not making a good seal, allowing water to enter the bearings. This was the probable cause of the bearings disintegrating.
I have since become aware of another Indesit machine which has just been scrapped for the same reason.
If the bearings in your machine are begining to disintegrate, your symptom of burning rubber might be the first warning.
Either check the bearings yourself, by testing the in-and-out movement of the drum with no load, or have this checked by a competent w-machine engineer.
If they are damaged, and depending on the extent of the damage, you might get away without having to replace the shaft. Check for signs of scouring on the running and sealing surfaces of the shaft. Any mior scouring might be removed with fine emery paper. Deep scouring means a new shaft.
In any event, you will have to remove the whole tub assembly, and then split the tub and remove the drum and shaft assembly in order to gain access to the bearings.
Bearing replacement is then a task of CAREFULLY driving out the old bearings, and CAREFULLY replacing with new ones AND A REPLACEMENT SEAL. Its a plastic tub, and can easily be damaged by injudicious use of force!!!!
If the belt was rubbing, REPLACE IT. It's false economy not to.
It is my opinion that the root cause of this type of problem is a failure during the manufacturing process to lock the nut on the drum shaft to prevent it from spinning loose. There was no locking washer present on either of the machines encountered.
David Clark, February 2006
