Older LG belt-driven washing machines and relatively new direct-drive models sooner or later have motor failure. No matter how carefully you treat your “home assistant”, no matter what preventive measures you take - wear of parts, there is wear of parts, there is no escape from it. If a breakdown occurs, you have three main options: remove the engine to fix it yourself, take the engine to a workshop, or replace it with a new one. We offer the first option!
What breaks in the engine?
New LG washing machines have so-called inverter motors. They have a whole lot of advantages: no brushes or other rubbing parts, they break extremely rarely, they accelerate instantly, maintain stable speed, and in addition they work very quietly. Manufacturer of modern washing machines LG trusts inverter motors so much that they boldly give a guarantee for them for 10, and in some cases even 15 years.
If you have an LG washing machine with an inverter motor, then it is unlikely that you would be interested in this topic and read this article, since the engine is the last thing that breaks down in such machines. This means you have an old LG model with a brushed motor and something is clearly wrong with this motor. To understand what is wrong with the motor, you need to remove it, disassemble it and check it, but first you need to determine what to look for, that is, identify a list of possible faults. So, what can happen to the commutator motor of an LG washing machine?
The brushes were worn out and the engine lost significant power.
Perhaps the winding has broken.
The lamellas are worn out, which leads to unstable operation of the engine and also affects its power.
For your information! Most often you have to change the motor brushes; this is the most common breakdown. In second place in terms of frequency are problems with the winding, and only in third place is wear of the lamellas.
How to remove the part?
Removing the motor from an old LG washing machine is quite easy. First of all, take a Phillips screwdriver and remove the screws that hold the back wall of the machine. Since our LG washing machine is belt driven, it means that the first thing we will see when we remove the back cover is the drum pulley and the drive belt. We remove the drive belt and pay attention to the space under the bottom of the washing machine tank - the engine is located under it.
We will be prevented from removing the commutator motor of the LG washing machine by the wires, mounting bolts and bushings on which the motor is actually suspended. What are we doing?
First, we photograph the location of the wires, and then remove them from the engine.
Using a 12mm socket and a socket, unscrew the screws.
We push the engine forward a little so that it “jumps” from the bushings, and then carefully pull it out of the housing.
Changing brushes
If there is a malfunction of the commutator motor of an LG washing machine, there is an 85% chance that the brushes are to blame. On such engines, the brushes wear out quite quickly, after about 3-5 years of operation of the motor. If the machine is used intensively, the brushes may need to be changed after 2 years. Perhaps this is why the Korean company refused to install commutator motors on its washing machines and switched to inverter motors, even though they are more expensive.
To buy suitable new brushes, remove the old ones from the engine and go to the store with them - you can't go wrong.
You need to change the brushes yourself. This is a “trifling” job, which, with proper skill, takes the average person 20-30 minutes, and this includes removing the engine. A master can do this work faster, but he will charge a lot of money for it. Changing brushes in Moscow costs about 40 dollars, and this despite the fact that you buy new brushes yourself, paying another 8-10 dollars. In total, changing the brushes will cost you $50. If you don’t mind this money, then please pay it to the master, but remember that you can easily do this repair yourself.
How to change brushes You can read about the commutator motor of a washing machine in one of the publications on our website. On an LG washing machine engine, the brushes are changed in exactly the same way.
Winding
If the brushes are in order, then you need to disassemble the motor housing and see what’s there. The winding or lamellas may need to be repaired. A sharp unpleasant burning smell emanating from the motor housing indicates that the winding may be faulty. In this case, check the winding resistance before making repairs. Do the following:
Take an ohmmeter or multimeter.
Set it to the minimum resistance value.
Check the functionality of the device by connecting the probes to each other.
Place one probe against the lamella and the other against the winding; the resistance value produced by the device must be recorded. If the difference in values is half an Ohm, then there is no short circuit in the winding between the turns.
Next, let's check the short circuit of the winding to the iron, lean one probe against the lamellas (in turn), and the second against the body. If the device produces a very high resistance value, then everything is in order, if not, the winding is faulty - repair is needed.
Now let's discuss the following question: is it possible to repair the winding of the commutator motor of an LG washing machine at home and how feasible is it? Experts unanimously say that repairs in this case do not make economic sense. The average person will not be able to rewind the engine on their own, but in the workshop they do it for quite a lot of money - 40-50 dollars in the regions and 70-90 dollars in Moscow. In this situation, it is better not to do repairs, but to buy a new engine.
For your information! A new commutator motor will cost about the same money as a repair, and the manufacturer will provide a minimum 1-year warranty on the unit.
The slats are worn out
Having disassembled the motor of an LG washing machine and checked the winding, we were convinced that everything was fine there and no repairs were needed. This means that only one thing remains - wear of the lamellas. There is a lot written on the Internet on various forums and information sites about how to visually check the wear of the lamellas. Like, it’s enough to disassemble the engine and inspect the manifold, and everything will immediately become clear. In reality, everything is not so simple.
When the lamellas have worn out so much that their abrasion has become noticeable to the naked eye, then repair is impossible. There is only one recipe - throw the old engine in the trash and run to the store for a new one. But it often happens that the lamellas peel off just a little, literally by a fraction of a millimeter. These fractions of a millimeter can cause damage to the motor of an LG washing machine, but will we really throw out the motor because of them? Of course not, there is a chance to bring the engine back to life!
You can try turning the lamellas on a lathe and returning them to their original size. Only a highly qualified professional turner can do this for relatively little money.He will machine 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 commutator motor of an LG washing machine in approximately half of the cases is either useless, or only a specialist can do it. But in some cases you can fix it yourself. The main thing is to initially diagnose the breakdown, so that you can then make the final decision to fix it or not to fix it! If you are interested in information about repairing the inverter motor of an LG washing machine, watch the video below.
Older LG belt-driven washing machines and relatively new direct-drive models sooner or later have motor failure. No matter how carefully you treat your “home assistant”, no matter what preventive measures you take - wear of parts, there is wear of parts, there is no escape from it. If a breakdown occurs, you have three main options: remove the engine to fix it yourself, take the engine to a workshop, or replace it with a new one. We offer the first option!
New LG washing machines have so-called inverter motors. They have a whole lot of advantages: no brushes or other rubbing parts, they break extremely rarely, they accelerate instantly, maintain stable speed, and in addition they work very quietly. Manufacturer of modern washing machines LG trusts inverter motors so much that they boldly give a guarantee for them for 10, and in some cases even 15 years. 
You need to change the brushes yourself. This is a “trifling” job, which, with proper skill, takes the average person 20-30 minutes, and this includes removing the engine. A master can do this work faster, but he will charge a lot of money for it. Changing brushes in Moscow costs about 40 dollars, and this despite the fact that you buy new brushes yourself, paying another 8-10 dollars. In total, changing the brushes will cost you $50. If you don’t mind this money, then please pay it to the master, but remember that you can easily do this repair yourself.
Having disassembled the motor of an LG washing machine and checked the winding, we were convinced that everything was fine there and no repairs were needed. This means that only one thing remains - wear of the lamellas. There is a lot written on the Internet on various forums and information sites about how to visually check the wear of the lamellas. Like, it’s enough to disassemble the engine and inspect the manifold, and everything will immediately become clear. In reality, everything is not so simple.
Where can I buy an engine for LG?
I have.
Need 4681FR1194D.
Excuse me, what kind of engine? And where are you from?
At what price is the LG 4681FR1194D brand engine?
Is it possible to replace the engine on the LG WD-10108N, 5 kg machine with the engine from the LG WD-10302TUP, 6 kg machine?