Is your washing machine noisy when it spins? If so it is probably the drum bearings collapsing and as a result oil is escaping from the bearings and into your washing normally dotty pattern of oil on your clothes. Call an engineer.
Or if you use liquid detergent all the time and wash at low temperatures all the time it could be that your machine is gunged up and requires a service wash to remove undisolved detergent. Wash some old rags at 90 degrees without detergent but instead use a bout a mug full of soda crystals, you may have to repeat this depending on how manky your washer is.
Hope that helps.
Neil, September 2009
