Dolphin Supreme M3 moves for a short while then stops but fan still runs

by Sally

Recently we realised that the pool cleaner was not cleaning the pool properly so we watched it one day to see what it was doing. Basically it was running for a few minutes, as normal, but after it had climbed the wall and dropped down again, or hit an obstacle that required it to change direction, it was just stopping. The fan was continuing to run but the brushes weren't turning. After we picked it up (underwater) and manually turned the brushes, it would start moving again sometimes even changing direction, but after a couple of minutes it stopped again, fan still running for a while, but not moving. We thought that perhaps something was stuck in the rollers so we have taken the whole thing apart and cleaned all the parts - cover, side panels, main structure, motor and reassembled it. There was some stiff plastic one side (not the side that drives the brushes) and a few insects etc. but nothing else. We reassembled it and put it back in the pool and it set off with much more intent and climbed right to the top of the wall (4 feet) but as soon as it dropped back to the bottom, it stopped (fan still moving) as if it was trying to decide where to go. After a while the fan stopped then after a minute or so, fan started again but it didn't move. Is this a motor problem with driving the belt (but if so, it is intermittent) or is it a problem with the transformer getting confused? Any advice?