Help me Diagnose my Broken Washing Machine

In My Humble Opinion
21

I bought a house (the house I’m in), three days later the garage door opener stopped working so I did it manually until I could figure out what was going on. Finally got a few minutes to work on it…no power. After some testing I found out the moron who installed it wired it into the front porch lights which I had turned off. A few weeks later I saw the old homeowner and mentioned the story to her (leaving out the moron comment) and she said “Oh, well you could have just called me” Yeah, like my first thought was that the garage door opener might be on a switch in the living room and I just needed some help finding it. Idiots.

Also, written into the purchase contract was that I got to keep the washer/dryer in the basement. A few days before I moved in, at my lawyers request, I did one last inspection. When I did that I found that there was a brand new washer and dryer in the basement, still in the box, with a bow on top. They called it a housewarming gift. I called it an insanely ballsy move. They said they wanted to keep the old one because it was a gift to them, but they just gave me a bottom of the line one (no big deal, cleans clothes, works fine, brand new instead of 7 years old)…but if I was having any kind of remorse, I could have walked out on the contract for that. The washer and dryer I bought had been removed from the house. If I knew of all the problems I was going to have with the shoddy workmanship the idiot did around the house that I had to clean up, I’d have hired an electrician and a plumber to hook up the washing machine and dryer up and sent them the bills for their gift. I wonder what his plan was if I didn’t know how to rewire the outlet for the new dryer.

22

Here’s the full trilogy:

A month ago my washer wouldn’t perform the final spin - the spin cycle that occurs after the clothes are washed and the water is drained. As a result, all the clothes would still be extremely wet and the washer would just sit there (the final spin cycle helps dry the clothes to a considerable extent).

I found that it was likely the lid sensor or the water level sensor. Other suggestions included a faulty timer, or a clogged water pump.

I ruled out the lid sensor because if the lid sensor were faulty, the washer wouldn’t be agitating (it did agitate). I tested the water level sensor with an ohmmeter and even brought a new one, and replaced the old one with the new one. I also cleaned out the water level sensor’s hose. Nothing changed.

I also cleaned out the water pump as some people said it could be that there was something stuck inside the water pump. Nothing changed.

I did try testing the timer, but I never got done with that. I couldn’t quite jam my voltmeter’s leads into the necessary spots …

All of a sudden, my washer starts working again. Fill, agitate, drain, *and * spin. This lasts a few weeks.

Now, my washer is broken again. This time, when I found it, there was a burning rubber smell emanating from it. I popped open the front lid and found the motor (that brown heatsink thing) to be rather hot. I’m not sure if this is normal.

I’ve checked the belt, and found the belt to be clean, with no significant amount of residue rubbing onto my hands.

I’ve tried running the washer again, and it runs through every step except the final spin. It’ll just sit there draining water continually. I’ve disconnected the drain hose and it’ll just keep pumping even when no water is coming out the drain hose. So looks like we’re back to the original problem - the washer wouldn’t exit the drain cycle and enter the final spin cycle.

23

A) I’m pretty sure I didn’t bump anything important.

B) No the front panel was removed all this time. But there’s nothing on it; it’s literally a sheet of rusted metal. It hooks into the washer very simply (I don’t think it activates any switches).

C) Well, the washer won’t spin, so that’s a major problem.

D) Pretty sure.

Should I run the washer again and check for these things?

24

I really doubt there’s any kind of sensor on the front panel, just thought I’d toss that out there.

What I’d suggest you do, from here…With the front panel removed…Turn it on, get it running.
Does it agitate?
Does it spin?
You can just let it get filled and start agitating, then move the timer to the spin cycle, you don’t have to wait it out.

If it agitates, the motor is fine. I’m going to, for now, say you can ignore the heat build up from earlier. Motors get hot, usually to hot to handle.

Watch it while it’s agitating, does the motor spin? That should confirm that it’s in working order.
When it spins, watch what happens? Anything, does the motor spin?
The fact that you said it did nothing at all last time worries me. I’m almost wondering if some insulation burnt up somewhere on a wire. Be it on a sensor for the door switch or on one of the other speeds for the motor. It’s just such an odd coincidence that you noticed a burning smell, usually associated with a bad belt and now the motor isn’t working in the spin cycle.

25

Thank you Joey for bearing with me.

The washer agitates just fine. I haven’t monitored the motor when it agitates but I will later.

It’s just the final spin cycle that doesn’t happen.

26

I missed your “Trilogy” post somehow. It provides some insight.

Regarding this, if it’s a connector with holes that are to small to push the leads into, sometimes it’s easier to put them in through the back where the wire enters. There’s a metal clamp that comes pretty far up the back. You can usually make a good enough connection to get some testing done. One of my multimeters has a alligator clip for one of the leads. It’s nice to clamp that onto a ground and be able to prod around with the other one and use my (now) free hand to be able to turn things on and off.

Okay, regarding the trilogy you posted. Kinda sounds like the timer. If you nudged it forward a bit, would it move to the next part of the cycle. For example, if the draining never stopped and you moved it forward, would it advance to the spin cycle?

27

Never tried that .. I guess I’ll try it now.

Anyway, it does seem to be the timer, as the motor can apparently agitate normally. But I’m still confused regarding the burning rubber smell.

28

OK I’ve nudged the timer forward after putting it in the drain cycle and nothing happens. I nudge it step by step until the washer shuts off and the washer never enters the spin cycle, never mind that it has already drained all its water.

:o

Very interesting note: If I push the knob halfway down, the washer will make spinning noises - it appears to spin just fine. Further investigation needed. (Note: Pushing the knob all the way down turns the washer off; pulling it out turns it on; I never knew that pushing it halfway down had a function …)

29

Oops false alarm the washer started agitating when I pushed the knob half-way down, not spinning … problem still not solved.