Ryobi cordless drill burning smell

To Short carbon brushes or the electric field is not in balance look if one of the brushes is shorter then replace the electric field but if its on both brushes the same blue and burning smell then the armature has gone , beware of the price and great differences between the kind of hammers.

You may have damaged the brush holder, broken some tabs off that hold the field in place or knocked the armature out of alignment. All of these parts work under very close tolerances and if out of alignment will lock the motor up. If you pull the trigger the light will be able to work but since the armature can't turn, heat will build up in the motor very fast and you'll get the burning smell. You may get away with replacing the brush holder or housing but if the burning smell is actually coming from the armature, you'll have to replace that.

I would bet the armature is shot for sure and possibly the field. When an armature shorts out it usually gives off excessive sparking from the brush area. When a field fails it will usually run very slow if at all.

Some debris, even sand or dirt, probably got into the motor, causing damage to the armature. If this is the case, you will need to replace the motor. The burning smell from the motor is generally a sure sign of a bad motor.

if it smells, like a burning then the motor is burnt and needs to be replaced.

probable not worth repairing, if it smells then it got hot and might have melted the windings on the armature or field,, but take a look inside the handle area for any signs of burning and check the condition of the brushes before buying new one.

It all depends on what is burning I'm afraid. When in use, run your hand around the back of the machine and handle area to see if anywhere in particular is getting hot. On the older versions of these (DW988) the leads leading from the switch to the brush holders would overheat and burn, also causing damage to the brush holders themselves. Is there any smoke coming from the rear vents, if so you wil probably find it is a motor problem and the smell would be the insulation burning off the armature. The only other thing to check would be to make sure the battery isn't shorting and getting hot, as this could also cause damage to the switch and vice versa.

you have either a bad brush or a brush hanging it is getting hot becouse it is realy only working off one brush

Run the drill at about 1/2 speed for an hour to seat the brushes. This will clean the armature and prevent arcing from the new brushes.

The problem could be the brushes and if so it is be quit easy to replace them by pulling the drill apart and slipping the old ones out of there sleeves on the armature and slipping the new ones back in there place . you can buy these brushes at any good tool shop . all you will need is the model number of the drill which you can locate on the side case of your drill . hope this helps.