During 1200 rpm spin, machine made horrible rattling noises. Turned off and inspected.
Found :-
1. Hairline crack at bottom of outer plastic drum - approx 2-3 inches long - water leaking out.
2. Water leak (just dripping) from where water fill goes into lower part of plastic drum - looks like a gasket/seal failure.

Test - Ran another full cycle and a short-spin cycle, catching the leaks. everything else still works ok.

Replacement cost of outer drum itself £123 + all the work in dispmantling and fitting. Could do the work myself but is it worth the trouble ?
Am trying to seal over the leaks with Bath Sealant to see if that works under vibration. Feel that the drum crack will grow though.
Is this a basket case ?

Glenn, February 2010

Just had water pouring out of the bottom of my Hotpoint closer inspection i notice a small metal object poking out of the drum and i was 50p better off now i am going to try and get some thing that hardens like plastic and then smooth down. Let this be a lesson to you always check your pockets before turning washing machine on

Mark Chancellor, May 2010

I had a similar problem and after taking the drum out and shaking it for a while a rather battered 1p piece dropped out.
I'm going to try super glue gel and glass fibre matt, to fix the little hole in my case, if this fails I'll try milliput.

Mart, March 2010

Update - Main outer drum leak repaired using Milliput.
However during fast spin, on each revolution, there is a knocking noise, which gets extremely loud at 1200 rpm, like a machine gun going off !
Is it possible that there is some 'alien' object in between the inner and outer drums ? e.g. a coin ?
If so, how can access be gained to remove such an item ?

Glenn, February 2010