19 replies to this topic

[wweasel]

First, thanks to everyone who has already posted good information on this nightmare of a washer.

Symptoms: black marks on clothes. occasional splotches.
First hypothesis: dreaded bearing seal failure

Rear Bearing evaluation:
I took off the rear bearing outer seal, cleaned it with solvent and compressed air, and everything was bright and shiny and quiet. I put the washer back together.

Result: There are two bearings, evidentally. I cleaned the outer. The inner is inaccessible unless you open up the whole outer tub. The inner bearing continues to leak grease on the clothes.

Conclusion: Frigidaire/Electrolux sucks. I called cust svc and got the normal reply: After you fork out for a service call, we'll consider giving you a rebate on a new purchase, or prorate the parts cost, you pay for the labor for the repair.

Thanks guys..... Rob

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Rob, this has been a horrendous problem with these washers and I completely agree that Electrosux has completely dropped the ball on this. Interestingly, we have the older version of the washer (Gibson brand), been used daily without single problem. Sometime in the late 90's they made a design change to the rear bearing that's causing all these problems.

I'm tempted to say this is designed obsolescence except this would be ascribing too much skill to the Electrosux engineers; I think instead it's another example of engineering incompetence in the appliance world (a la Maytag Neptune).

FWIW, I'm attaching a pdf file that someone made on how to replace the rear bearing.

Attached Files

•  Frigidaire FL Washer Rear Bearing.pdf   482.99K   316 downloads

[wweasel]

Staber here I come...thanks for the help.

[edwardh1]

strange when something is working, usually the company will change something - like get a cheaper vendor, or move production to mexico or china, two words not associated yet with quality.
Have they done another redesign yet to fix it? Or is it even recognized as a problem?

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

[user=27]edwardh1[/user] wrote:

Have they done another redesign yet to fix it? Or is it even recognized as a problem?

 

It is weird that they couldn't leave well enough alone.  Friggidaire has expressed no recognition of this problem and I've not seen a service bulletin on it.

[denrayr]

The nuptunes are also having bearing failures. maytag is saying that the seals are failing due to oversudsing.

[wweasel]

I called Frigidaire and they said the best they could do was some sort of coupon towards another defective washer.  No thanks.

[rollingm]

My 5 year old Frigidaire FL washer is making a roaring noise on the spin which seems too loud. For years it lived in a basement so the noise issue wasn't bad but now it is in the kitchen. I had to replace a broken shock which was evident by a bumpiing noise but the machine still seems loud. Is it on the way to bearing failure? Thanks Mike

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Sounds like it to me-- I can hear from here!

One visual check in advanced cases is to remove the rear panel and look for the brown goo emanating from the bearing.

[rollingm]

No brown goo yet, It seems tight with no play.  Just some vibration and noise on high spin. I wondered if I should replace the other shock or the springs to reduce the vibration. I tried leveling the beast but also wondered since it ran unlevel due to the feet being squashed for so long that it doesn't like its new position kind of like a rotated tire. Thanks Mike 

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

If it is the bearing, there's nothing you can do to mitigate it-- it would just have to be replaced at some point. I would just keep using the thing until it breaks reeeeal good.

[ApplianceTerminator]

Thats like a 4 hr job on the frigidare   ... I did alot of them   and I really think just like the Maytag it is an oversudsing issue   ..... HE SOAP people  HE SOAP .....   and 1/4 of a cap .... Please  .... Maytag is changing the seal    Electrolux  I dont see a damn difference at all   ... Even had a HE3  Fail  also   ..... TECH TIP    if you hear the HE3 knocking in spin tighten the pulley bolt very hard and most every time it cures this issue

[LLD]

I've had this exact same problem with my 4 year old washer - made roaring noise during spin for 6 months then oil stained a whole load of cream towels.
the repair people told me not to bother repairing it - because the job was to big.

I'm loooking into a new washer now - I will definatly call frigidare to complain.

Hss anyone had luck getting anything form frigidaire in terms of compensation?

[Crouching Tiger]

FYI up here in the land of eskimos and hockey frigidaire is supplying complete tub assemblies for $150 CDN.  All you need to do is remove the bellows and cement from your old tub and put it on the new one.  This is good exercise for any grasshopper looking to get their hands dirty.  Give yourself at least 2 hours because you will still need to remove motor, shocks, sump hose and remove speed board so it doesn't get damaged.

[dpath]

I'm experiencing the same loud knocking noise on high spin that others have mentioned but I haven't seen any staining on clothes.  Does this mean that the pulley bolt is loose or the shocks need replaced?  Or can the rear bearings fail without leaking grease into the washer?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[BLTH15]

d- open the front bottom kick panel look for shocks broken. remove rear panel be sure pulley is tight.  also could be something in between tub and basket. if nothing then bearing startin to go

[dpath]

I've already removed the kick panel.  The shocks aren't broken but is there an easy way to determine if they are worn out?  My next step will be to check the pulley bolt as you've suggested.  Thanks. 

[AccApp]

I've yet to see anyone wear the shocks out. Try to shake the inner tub up and down in relation to the outer tub to see if the tub support spider may be broken.

[mcook55]

I have a leaking tub seal (clothes stains) and would like to replace it without buying the whole assembly but cannot find a vendor that sells the seals or bearing seal kit separately. It looks like a standard double lipped metric oil seal. Frigijunk Front loader FWT647GHS0 Thanks.
Mike Cook
Senior Engineer, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source

[RegUS_PatOff]

[user=1]Samurai Appliance Repair Man[/user] wrote:

  Frigidaire FL Washer Rear Bearing.pdf