DC 41 Mk 1 Motor Replacement - Advice needed

[fishy]

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Hi all,

My wife has been using a DC 41 for 7 years & swears by it no major issues from new so I thought i would gain some brownie points buying her a secondhand one for upstairs, so £50 later got one off Gumtree which lasted 3 days before starting to give off the dreaded electrical smell of a bad motor it lasted one more day before cutting out completely, brushroll still turning but no suction motor, I read through the excellent stripdown thread of DC 40 by Beko 1987 and was just wondering if anyone could help with more DC 41 specific directions or is it exactly the same process, Parwaz7862 seemed to say on the stripdown that the DC 41 was a lot easier though I wasn't sure if that was a tongue in cheek remark 

Basically I just need to strip the machine to access the Motor & see what it needs to get it working which will 99% probably be a replacement motor I would just like to pick a few experienced brains on here as to what is the minimum parts required to come off to access the motor ie; can I leave the Pcb board attached & to the side also is there anything else I should be thinking of replacing when I am this deep in the guts of the machine ??,

Anyway all comments & suggestions will be gratefully received.

Cheers - Fishy

[MVacs]

There's a DC41 strip down topic >>here<<. 

[fishy]

Thanks to Admin for the link I did look at that but was unsure if the Erp model was a similar design internally to the Mk1, I have tried searching motor change & replacement motor without success.

Ideally if there is anyone out there who has replaced the bucket (suction) motor on a DC 41 Mk1 who could chip in with a basic procedure of what they had to remove to access the motor for inspection/removal surely someone must have had to change a motor without going through the complete stripdown method ?, but perhaps not, if no replies I will just soldier on & hope for the best 

Thanks for a very helpful forum............ Fishy

[beko1987]

Hi.

The overall procedure is the same between ERP and Non ERP, the main changes being the red slider and head design, and the lower wattage motor used (ERP is post EU changes, non ERP Pre, be sure to check when finding motors for it)

You've still got a list to get through to get the motor out:

Bin/Wand/Hose/Floorhead off
both ball shells off
Post filter off, then the panel behind it
Yolk slider cover off, pcb cover off
pcb unplugged and removed
yolk assembly off
wheels off
suction duct off
motor cover off
motor out

then in reverse! The problem I have when documenting these things is it's easier to go full on then you can pick what you need out of it. Hope this helps, and the best of luck!

Sam

[fishy]

Thanks Sam

Thats exactly what i was needing a specific list of parts to remove to access the motor even though i don't know what a yolk slider cover is, I guess I soon will I would have preferred not to disturb the pcb wiring however if it can't be avoided will just take loads of photos & get on with it, the torx driver set arrived today so no more excuses I will attack the job tomorrow, hopefully I don't screw anything up but will post progress in a couple of days.

Cheers..... Seumas

[fishy]

Well folks thats the motor out i struggled with the lower suction cover/pcb cover but got it eventually, next problem was extracting the motor as it seemed to be melted into mounting case it came out after much levering which has marked the case edges turns out it was the rubber motor mounting that was holding it, is it advisable to renew this also or will a rub of fairy liquid suffice for refitting ? as obviously it will need to fully seat down in housing, another question is the white cog on the yoke cover does it need to be lined up in a particular way to mesh with something what does it actually do ?, as you will see the commutator is well worn out, also the replacement motors I have looked at do not have pigtails to connect to main power leads will the original leads be long enough to connect to the spade terminals on new motor or will I need to swap old motor white armature connector onto new motor again any hints recommendations welcome for the rebuild
Apologies for the pics not up to inserting them in the correct placement in the thread.

Cheers....... Seumas

[fishy]

Sorry messed up resizing last time hopefully these show more detail

Cheers........ Seumas

[Parwaz7862]

Hi this video should cover all steps required for a stripdown and reassembly

[fishy]

Parwaz 7862,

Thanks for the helpful video ref motor change, thats the new motor here now & as expected it arrived as you can see without connecting leads & with a different Ref code 16K24FA instead of 16K24F is it common practice to change the old contacts from the original motor by removing the small phillips screw is it just connected to the motor by spade terminals ? also what does the small Green box do is that a resistor or relay of some sort & does it normally outlast the life span of two motors ?

Cheers........ Seumas

[MVacs]

also what does the small Green box do is that a resistor or relay of some sort & does it normally outlast the life span of two motors ?

It's a thermal cut out. They seldom fail.

a different Ref code 16K24FA instead of 16K24F is it common practice to change the old contacts from the original motor by removing the small phillips screw is it just connected to the motor by spade terminals ?

You swap the thermal cut out complete with the wires from old to new by undoing a screw, yes. On our motor listing, we tell people this. 

[fishy]

Thanks for all your input & help with this task, I will dress up the motor housing lightly with a file tomorrow as I had to lever the motor out due to swollen mounting rubber bush, also the separating bit between the grommets on the Pcb housing broke during removal but I am hoping a bit of duct tape will seal that on rebuild.

Cheers..... Seumas

[ryevac]

The thermal cut out is under the plastic squares above the screw, will be silver metal bodied and usually has two wraps of thick clear heatshrink.
The grean item is a suppresion capacitor, 220nf 300v, if this fails the motor will still work, even if it goes short circuit it would burn out, and not catch fire but would stink.

[fishy]

Thanks for that info Ryevac, when it failed the first indication was a strong smell then after couple of minutes the motor stopped, I assumed it was the motor due to the condition of the armature however by what you are describing it could possibly be the thermal cutout is there any way to test it (TCO) with a multimeter as I would hate to rebuild the machine & then find it still has a fault which could possibly damage the new motor

Thanks again for all your input.

Cheers...... Seumas

[ryevac]

They look fine, your motor failed due to armature contacts, smell was probably the motor, not the cap or tco.
As Stu says they rarely fail, if you want to test it just set meter to ohms and measure each side of the wires connected to it - it should be short circuit when cold.
when caps fail you can tell visually, it will look like a fat bird thats been locked in a cake shop.
I personally wouldnt bother, just fit it and job will be done

[fishy]

Had to laugh about the fat birds  none in sight when I checked it, finally got round to rebuilding it, after a couple of tries I found it easier to fit the motor housing gasket onto the body & with a smear of liquid soap round top of gasket the housing seated first time just had to check it seated round the suction outlet, next issue was the trigger lever for the recline microswitch which fell off & had to figure out how the small spring was orientated, a bit of a faff with getting the white toothed gear on the yoke to mesh correctly with the body the video gave a helpful pointer to loosen it slightly prior to fitting, so all good & fired up as it should however there is still an electrical smell is this likely to be residual odour from the motor burn out in the vacum system or is it common for a new motor to give out a smell for first few times its used as the lacquer in the windings is exposed to power ??.

Regardless of that I want to thank you all for your support & advice in giving me confidence to delve into the innards of the machine & I hope successfully repair it.

Cheers....... Seumas