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Hey guys! It's been a while since I last visited. Life is going pretty smoothly and I have a new engineering job with a cool company. Actually happy and am going to stick with it this time.

Anywho, my motor on the Fluval FX5 has started making terrible noises. Like a weird, rattling noise that sounds like the motor is getting ready to die. I tried taking the housing apart and cleaning the impeller as the manual said to do, but when I put it all back together it is still making the awful noise! I can't stand it so I have turned the filter off. They sell a replacement motor housing that retro-fits the FX5 that's for the FX6: http://www.fluvalparts.com/fluval-fx5-fx6-replacement-motor-assembly-a-20201-replaces-a20200/ but it's a little pricey. Definitely cheaper than a brand new FX6, but still a little up there.

My questions are this:
* Should I try getting the motor out and looking at it? Can it be fixed?
* Is there another filter I could buy that's comparable to the FX5, but cheaper than a brand new FX6 or the same price as the replacement motor?
* Or should I just say forget it and buy a new motor?

Thanks!
Erica

I will get back to you asap. Tired long day!

The only time I really hear weird noises in a canister is when there is no prime or there is air in the system. I'm not sure how the FX do, hopefully Stacey gets back to you later. And congrats on the new job

There are several things you can try. Is it under warranty? Have you called customer service for advice? It could be that your impeller needs replaced. Take it out and run the motor. Does it still make the noise? If not its your impeller. Hope this helps.

Well, I got the motor back out again and tried cleaning the impeller. Apparently the motor won't come on if it doesn't have the magnetized impeller inside, so I couldn't really test that. I could have gotten the motor out of the housing, but I was a little paranoid about messing with something that was magnetized (big capacitor? could discharge maybe I'm not sure how impellers work... time to read some engineering stuff online). So maybe I will disassemble it later just for fun.

When I plugged it in again, same bad noise, so I bit the bullet and ordered a new motor because I don't trust myself to fix it. lol. I'm going to try to do manual water changes until then.

Thanks for the advice.

There is a video on YouTube about an impeller that's bad. If I had to guess what's wrong I would say impeller. Cost about $70 or so. Just for the heck of it when you get your new motor please test my theory by putting the new impeller into the old motor and see if it still makes noise. I didn't realize they wouldn't run without the impeller.
Edit ~ I was just thinking that the impeller is probably moved by electrical pulses. If that's the case the only moving parts would be the impeller itself. Its basically just a prop mounted on a magnet. When its charged it spins. This is just me sitting here thinking about it. I have not done any research to confirm this. So in my mind, I would say the only part that would make noise would be the impeller. I would sure like to hear more from someone that knows more about how these motors work.

I did find this
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5655247_ma ... works.html

Also you can try I quick fix if its just impeller noise. Try rubbing some Vaseline or food safe silicon oil on the magnet and metal shaft if the impeller comes apart. I realize you already bought a new motor. I'm just trying to figure this out as I also own Fx's.