Friend of mine has a leak in her washing machine and before she bought a new one I told her I'd take a look at it to see if it was something simple like a bad hose or something. Took it apart today. Leak is not from the hoses. When the machine starts filling, it begins leaking after about 30 seconds or so somewhere up near bottom of the tub itself, not down near the pump or hoses. My opinion was that it wasn't worth attempting a repair so I'm just checking here to see if anyone thinks it's something simple. I'm thinking maybe the tub itself has rusted through or something like that. It's about 20 years old. Pump and drain hose are at the left side and leak is at the right side front above the motor. Not a huge leak, but a steady drip.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

BTADT. it's the drain motor on the bottom of the tub. the casing is made out of plastic. It will cost about $100 to fix.

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

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Drain assembly seems to be on the left, this is on the right. There's open space between the left side motor and the tub and the water is dripping down on to that motor.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Trust me my man, it's the drain pump motor.

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

The other thing this COULD BE is the pressure-switch hose connection. Most washers that I've had apart (PITA) have a hose that's just below the water line as the tub just starts to fill up enough to wash its smallest load. As the water hits/covers the hose and continues to rise, the resulting pressure behind the hose compresses the trapped air and as that air is further pressurized, its other end operates the switch that's on the control panel, that you've set, to trip off the water-valves, when the right amount of water is in the drum for the size load you're intending to wash.

Those hoses/connections will/do leak. That, maybe, is your area of concern. You'll just have to tear the the hell out of it to get to it.

GL!

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Pressure switch thing sounds more likely since I can see the drain hose/pump housing and it has no evidence of leaks. Also, the leak does not start immediately even though the drain hose has water in it. To get to it would require completely disassembling the washer near as I can tell. Not worth it when free ones come up on Craigslist pretty often.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Twenty years old I was thinking centre shaft seal. This is fairly common as well. Depending on brand this is a typical life span time frame for a washing machine. May even be a little higher than average.

My mother's front loader had an interesting problem and this mention here reminded me WHY I ALWAYS CHECK TO BE SURE ALL CHANGE IS OUT OF THE POCKETS BEFORE ANYTHING GOES INTO THE WASHER...

My mom's washer started dribbling like what Kerry is concerned about. I tore into the thing and what I found was this...

A dime had somehow gotten out of the drum and down into the housing of the drain water-pump. The way the dime "hung up" in the housing was unique...it was on the I/P side of the pump, just before the impeller. The way the inside of the housing was shaped, it caused the dime to "spin" on the two contact points with dime and the walls of the housing. This "spinning" action eroded away a tiny bit of the plastic housing's walls everytime the pump impeller was engaged (the ridges on the outer edge of the dime caused the "eroding") and eventually, a "leak" developed. Taking the housing apart and removing the dime was easy compared to finding the right kind of "glue" or sealant that could weather the vibration and the massive quantity of water passing through that small area all the time. My fix involved laying a small piece of tin foil over the holes (one hole fixed per try) and melting model-car plastic onto the area and "blending" the two types of plastics together along the edges with my modeler's heat-knife (soldering iron with a "cutting blade").

Eventually, my mother bought another washer (6 kids, one adult and the resultant dirty laundry WAITS FOR NO ONE!).

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~