The short answer
Most noise complaints on this roster resolve to foreign objects, transit bolts or a machine that is not standing level. Transit bolts left in after a move produce a violent, metallic noise from the first spin onwards. Run one empty spin and most of this page resolves itself.
What the machine does
- A grinding that is present even on a slow wash — Something trapped against the drum or the pump. Worth investigating before the next cycle.
- A squeal or a chirp from the back of the cabinet — A belt or a motor bearing rather than the drum. It usually tracks motor speed rather than drum speed.
- Banging and walking across the floor on spin — An unbalanced load, or a machine not standing on all four feet. Not a component fault.
- A violent clang from the very first spin after a move — Transit bolts still fitted, or the drum resting on its packing. Stop the machine before it damages itself.
- NEAR MISS — the noise came with water on the floor — Then the leak is the urgent part and the water page for this family comes first.
What it turns out to be, in order
- Foreign object between the drums — First on this roster. Coins, bra underwires and small buttons pass through the perforations of the inner drum and cannot get back, so they stay in the gap and announce themselves on every rotation from then on.
- Machine not level, or feet not locked — Second, and free to fix. A machine standing on three of its four feet turns every spin into a percussion instrument and will walk across the floor given a long enough cycle.
- Unbalanced or badly distributed load — A single heavy item, or a load that has knotted into one mass, throws the drum out of balance. The machine tries to redistribute it and bangs while it does so.
- Pump obstructed by an object that got past the filter — A rattle or a grind during the drain stage only. It is reachable on most of these through the filter access at the front.
- Drum bearing worn — Last, and the one that costs. A rumble rising with spin speed, getting worse month by month, usually accompanied in the end by rust-coloured water. It is a major repair on this platform.
Locate it in this order
- Empty the drum and turn it by hand — A rattle you can produce by hand is an object, not a bearing, and you have just found it.
- Run an empty spin and listen — Removes the load as a variable. A quiet empty spin means the noise was the load or its distribution.
- Check all four feet are on the floor and locked — Rock each corner. A machine that moves on one diagonal is not level and will bang on every spin.
- Open the pump filter at the front and look inside — Coins and buttons collect here, and a noise confined to the drain stage is usually found at this step.
- Grip the drum and try to move it in and out — Noticeable play, with a rumble on spin, points at the bearing and at the end of owner diagnosis.
What to do before the panel comes off
Safety
Isolation comes before inspection here. Unplug the appliance or trip its breaker, and assume every capacitor inside is still holding what it was holding.
Models in the MAV family — This profile generalizes over every listing in the roster below, and stops where the roster stops.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| MAV160-A2402PS/01FM-US | artt:washer:mav |
| MAV180-A2804PS/01FM-US | artt:washer:mav |
The line between a fix and a call
Try an empty spin and a levelling check before calling anybody: between them they explain most noise complaints on this roster. Call when an empty, level machine still rumbles on spin.
Nearest pages of this class
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
