Bosch Washer I purchase a Bosch 2401 new about five years ago. Has worked great until this past week. The washer fills with water but does not start the wash or spin cycles. The drain motor appeared defective. I replaced it. Problem not solved. The indicator shows an 01 and occasionall a 06. The belt appears good, but the drum turns freely without much effort. I have tried to reset the cycle by pressing the start and quick buttons and then the start button. Upon release of the start button, the indicator shows a 00. I have tried about every combination but the wash and spin cycles do not work. The drain cycle does not work. Any thoughts. B. K. Cruey

Yes, check the brushes. Our 7-yr. old WFK-2401 just stopped spinning and a brush change did the trick. Repair people wanted $350 for a whole new motor, but it was only the brushes. Replacing them is not very difficult if you are somewhat handy with a 1/2in. wrench and have some common sense about mechanics and electrics. Just look carefully as you loosen motor - disconnect its wires first, and think, and study, and try to understand what you're doing. I took lots of photos just in case. In the end it was easy; make sure to get belt off motor and motor will be out in no time; just two bolts to undo. Also, make sure you put brushes in properly - their tips are slanted and need to go in the right way and make full contact with commutator inside. Again, common sense. Bosch sells brushes, also RepairClinic.com, for slightly more but real Bosch parts. I paid the latter $45 with shipping - Bosch part No. 154740. Another option is to take motor out and find local motor repair shop and have them do it. Bosch won't help you. Power to the people - and the motor!

Replacing brushes on Bosch WFK 2401 Washing Machine:
Just to add to the solution in greater detail: Firstly, unplug the washer from the dryer, assuming you have a pair. Remove the screws from the rear metal panel with a Phillips and a T-30. Also have a 1/2" socket wrench, needle nose pliers, and smal flat-head screwdriver. Remove the panel sliding it up & out of the upper slots. Locate motor at the bottom. First, remove the yellow wire plug from the back of the motor (mine had a set of blue wires). I did not cut the wire-ties on the motor...there is enough slack to "pull" them through the ties for slack in which to rotate the motor after you remove it from the housing. You also need to remove the green ground wire on the motor. There is a 1/2" bolt facing you and a 1/2" bolt behind the housing to the right of the motor...facing the oposite direction, you can't see it, so reach behind and feel it...yes, watch your knuckles!! Remove both bolts with a 1/2" socket, then remove the belt. Slide the motor toward you pulling the shaft out of the housing, rotating the motor downward to avoid the housing as you slide, but not too low to hit the frame of the washer. You will not remove the motor from the machine, nor more than a couple of inches from it's permanent location. The plastic housing over the motor need not be totally removed, just one side slips off a tab on the motor, other is held by the wires with the ties. Don't cut the ties. Hints for the springs on the brushes......the brushes are located at the rear of the motor inside small white plastic housings, opposing one another. On each brush, one at a time, please, remove the small electrical wire from the flat brass post. You will notice there are two slots on either side of one end of this small flat brass post on which a copper wire it attached which runs inside the spring. This post is what holds the spring inside the motor housing. (Observe the new brushes for reference. The flat post on the end of the copper wire that runs inside the spring has the slots on either side of one end and the other end is unslotted). Back to the motor....slip that flat post down a tiny bit first to line up the two little slots with the slot housing, then it should slant toward you probably from the spring pressure, then you to remove it sliding the unslotted end out of the brass housing. Again, observe the small slots on either side of the post so you know how to replace the new ones in reverse order...unslotted end first...more later. The second one will go faster, just watch what you do with the first one. With the post out of the slot the spring will pop out....pull on the spring/copper wire to slide the old brush out of the slot...it's a little snug, don't worry, pull gingerly, carefully observing the direction of the slant wear on the graphite brush as it exits the slot. Insert the new brush back into the slot with the slant-angle properly positioned, pushing it the rest of the way into the slot with the small flathead until it stops. The spring with the copper wire inside will be dangling loosly. Now....and this is key...take the pair of needle nose pliers and slide them inside the spring at the base of the dangling brass/copper wire post, sliding the pliers through the spring creating a shaft on which to compress and slide the spring down into the hole of the slot with the point of the pliers penetraing into the slot behind the brush....keeping the brass post and copper wire inside the spring pulled taught all the while. Once neatly on the pliers, you will need to employ the small flat-head screw driver to slide it along the shaft of the pliers pushing the spring into the slot to hold it in place with the head of the screwdriver while you withdraw the pliers. You then slide the flat unslotted side of the post of the wire into the slot of the housing. You'll get the hang of it on about the third try....."boing".... So, again, with one hand holding the spring securely with the flathead behind the little slot in the housing, slide unslotted end of the wire-post at the end of the copper wire into place in front of the spring, lining up the two little slots in the other end of the wire-post with the brass ring now housing the spring inside the white plastic housing, in front of your flathead, which you should now be able to remove, slowly, from behind the post, sliding the slotted end back into the slot on the housing and moving it back up into place to hold the spring. Remember, the slotted end is the end on which the small electrical wire is replaced...as you do, you'll have to hold the other end (unslotted opposite end) in place with the screw driver as you slide the small wire back on the post, needle noses help here, too...you're done...except for the other side. It is extremely important that you hold your mouth just right at all times. After the second brush is replaced, re-mount the motor sliding the shaft back into the housing replacing the bolts finger tight.....replace the belt on the motor and large drum wheel, then use the flathead to placing it between the motor and the housing for leverage on the motor to tighten the belt, but not real tight, just snug. Then tighten the outside bolt first then the rear bolt. Replace the yellow wire plug into the motor, replace the green ground wire and secure the plastic over the metal tab in the motor. Adjust the blue wires back to their original slack position inside the plastic ties. Replace the back panel into the slots at the top, replace the screws, plug it back in, slide it in place.....load it with dirtly cloths, put it on the wash cycle (I use the quick wash, red 2, 39 minutes....long enough for a glass and 1/2 of Pinon Noir, Picket Fence, Russian River, 2006. P.S. Don't write any explanations at this point....they tend to ramble. Have fun.

Hello,

I also have a Bosch 2401(over seven years old) and just fixed the same problem. Motor brushes were replaced by me. They cost $34 total for the pair from a local repair parts store with BOSCH brand parts. Winslow17 gave an excellent description. I want to add a couple of items:

1. Access is from back panel.
2. Brushes can be replaced from the outside of motor (I disassembled it before i realized this). Should not take more than two minutes.
3. Need two zip ties to replace ones i had to cut.
4. Lots of carbon dust on everything. I used compressed air to clean.

Daldenm, I also have amoeba-like carbon deposits all over the control panel, and it does not seem to matter. My dad has the same model as well, with carbon deposits on the control panel. We think the carbon deposits are a result of the openness of the washer, lots of fine carbon dust from the motor brushes, and static. This is not affecting performance. Or, not yet...

I'll just repeat what others have said I guess. winslow17's post was spot on for me. Here's the situation:
My 10 year old wfk2401 just sort of stopped spinning. I don't know if it gradually happened or if it just happened all at once (I was out of town for a while.) However, my wife pointed out that the clothes were still wet after a load of laundry. Suffice to say, the drum would spin with nothing in it, but with a load of any real size, it wouldn't spin.
So, I called our (apparently formerly) high-end repair place to come fix it. He arrived, said it was the motor (I'm not sure he even opened anything up) and said it would be $350ish to order the new motor and install it. (He also told my wife that these small washers were only for apartments and that we had plenty of room for a "real washer." Grrrrr.) And then he charged us $100 for the pleasure of his company for 5 minutes.
Anyway, I was busy so I didn't even check here (or anywhere for that matter). But when you punch in the model number, this is the first page that comes up on Google. Surprise!
I ordered the part from repairclinic.com (there was another place with cheaper shipping in google, but I'd passed their shipping deadline for the day whereas repairclinic's was later). Part #154740 was indeed correct.
I appreciated knowing a few more details from bennard, so I figured I'd post a few things that I would have liked to have known prior:
• The "back panel" is indeed the large silver panel on back. You need a phillips screwdriver and a T-30 to remove it. • The motor does indeed come out with only two bolts. You cannot see the head of the 2nd one, so be careful not to trash your knuckles loosening that one. Both bolts are 13mm. • I had no idea what the brushes really were. You don't have to disassemble the motor at all to replace them. Basically, you detach two clips (the only clips with wires attached to them) on the motor. Getting the old brush out isn't rocket science. Move it around a bit and you'll figure it out. • PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to which way the magnet is facing when you remove it. If you don't, you can figure it out (for example, put the magnet in, and whichever way it will go down farther into the hole is the correct way) but it's easier to just look at the magnet coming out. The spring looking part is indeed a spring, and you're going to have to cram it into the hole. I'm sure some people can do it in 2 minutes, but it definitely took me nearly 10 minutes to get both of them to what I felt was "just right." • Our washer is in the middle of its first load of laundry with the new brushes. It does indeed seem a bit louder than it did, but I've gotta believe that that will either get better or I'll get used to it. It's not much louder though... • I didn't have any carbon deposits (or whatever) in the dial of the washer at all. It just didn't spin. • The belt is easier to re-fit if you attempt to attach it by spinning the drum and putting it on the large wheel last, not the small motor shaft.

We had the exact problem with our washer. My husband took everything apart and cleaned it and it worked for a while then stopped again. I came across this site, and the solution posted by winslow17 solved the problem easily. It saved us about $500.00 in repair costs, and his inclusion of the part number and other information made the repair very simple. The washer's working great now. Thank you very much.

Thanks for your suggestion. I have not checked the carbon brushes.

Have you checked the carbon brushes of the main motor. Most likely they are worn and need replacement. I already replaced mine twice. Found the replacement parts on eBay from a British supplier.

We seem to have a similar problem (I think).

Our 2401 washer is about 8 years old and has worked flawlessly. We did laundry on Sunday and all was well. Today, Friday, we wen to do a load and when we opened the washer door, water started gushing out. The washer was probably half full of water.

I don't think I have any carbon like others have posted. We also don't have any error messages.

Could this be the brushes everyone is talking about that need to be replaced or is it a drain problem?

Any ideas any one?

I replaced my brushes per Winlsow17's recommendation and that did it (I also was seeing black accumulating in the selector). Thank you! I opened the top and using that stuff you use to blow dust from PCs, blew the carbon off the control board.

However, I also took the armature in to have the commutator turned and did not tell the machinist that the magnet at the commutator end is part of the speed sensor. After undercutting, he machined the magnet down by more than 1/4" form the diameter, thinking it is a dust shield. Oh NO! As a result the motor runs too fast. I fixed that by gluing steel blocks on the sensor stator poles, but as a word of caution, if you have the commutator machined, warn the machinist not to alter the magnet.

My machinist picked up on the high-speed bearings and replaced them with the same. The motor turns at something like 15,000 rpm, so high precision bearings make a difference.

The solution that winslow17 provided was SO ACCURATE!!!
Thank you! My husband was sooo happy that I fixed the Bosch washing machine. It was amazing to see how worn out was the carbon brushes... Thank you ! Thank you!!