Of course I could be wrong but your problem sounds like the one I had, and fixed, with my Zanussi.
It's most likely the big capacitor (which assists the motor) and it's cheap (~12GBP inc VAT) and easy to replace.
Take a look at my postings:-
http://www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=28819
http://www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=21937
Good luck.
Jonathan Leak, May 2006