I can't disagree with any of those suggestions to keep on working on the problem. But I've already been working on this out of action washing machine for a week now and I have far too many other things around the house that already need fixing.

(the local appliance repair people that we've tried in the past have been unreliable and if I call out one of the larger national companies I'll easily end up spending a significant proportion of the cost of a new machine)

I ordered a new £300 machine yesterday for delivery today

And yes, the old machine really is built like a tank. But also built to be a real pain to work on. I reckon it would take me a good couple of hours to strip it down enough to remove the door seal/bellows. And I fell at the first fence when attempting it, you need a hex socket with wafer thin walls to even undo some of the first bolts, they are so tight up against the metal work that none of my many 8mm sockets will fit on them.