Warrior SE pumping water but not moving

[Dtkokay]

I have a 3 year old Penntair Warrior SE that isn’t working properly. It turns on but it spends most of the time pumping water through the top of the cleaner and doesn’t move very much. In other words, it mostly just sits in one place and pumps water to the surface.

I’ve cleaned the impeller but haven’t much deeper than that yet. My hunch is worn out gears or maybe the motor? I was hoping someone with a similar issue could point me in the right direction before I start taking it apart. Thanks for any help.

 

[trivetman]

Are the tracks moving but not getting traction on the bottom of the pool, or not even moving?

 

[Killer95Stang]

If you lift it out of the water and push the on button, will the track run? If so, can you stop the tracks with your hand. I had a very similar problem and here is what I found. In my case, I opened up drive unit and pulled the drive motor out. I unbolted the gear reduction drive from (planetary gear drive) from the motor itself. I found that the motor pinion gear was loose and spinning on the motor shaft. Unfortunately, Maytronics does not use a mechanical method of securing the pinion gear on the shaft, like a key way or a flat spot with a set screw. Instead, they rely on an interference fit, that requires the gear to be pressed on. Having dealt with Radio Controlled cars when I was young, I knew that this is a terrible way to secure a pinion gear. This may be good when everything is new and running smooth, but as the rest of the drive bearing, tracks, wheels wear down , they create extra stress that the interference fit can't overcome. As the pinion slips, it wears down the pinion gear inner diameter and it slips even more. In my case, I had an extra motor/ drive unit with a bad motor. The gear was still pressed on firmly, so I was able to transfer it over to my slipping motor assembly. I got another month out of it, before it all died when water continually leaked through the motor packing seal. I got 7 years out of it, so I guess I should consider myself lucky. I know have an Evo 614iq and remove it from the pool every use, unlike the Maytronics that I left in 90% of the time.

 

[Dtkokay]

Are the tracks moving but not getting traction on the bottom of the pool, or not even moving?

Thanks for all the advice above. Trivetman's comment got me looking at whether the tracks were moving, and they were not.

In case this helps anyone in the future, it's very easy to disassemble the Warrior. Just screws hold it together. I removed the drive unit, held it underwater, then turned it on. The motors and impeller appeared to be moving strongly.

I reinstalled the motor and spun the gear for the tracks and noticed that the big gear for the drive side track had shifted. There was play between the motor gear and the track gear, such that the gears weren't engaging.

3D printing to the rescue: I designed and printed a small spacer to hold the track drive gear in place. Robot works like new again. I realize not everyone can 3D print, but I imagine that finding a new axle and drive gear would fix the problem also.