Anyone here have a washing machine go bad and attempt to repair it yourself? What was your experience?
Define “go bad”.
I have replaced the valves when they stopped being reliable. That job was fairly straightforward.
Depends.
heres 5 common problems and fixes
youtube has quite a few how to’s for washing machines.
I’ve repaired my machine a couple of times. Combination of YouTube clips and a repair manual that a local appliance store carried.
I got the cover off and cleaned bits of rubber that had come off the back of a bathmat and had clogged the tube to the water level sensor. The hardest part was getting the cover off. Mine (a Maytag from the late 1980s) had a nice little circuit diagram on a piece of paper inside the unit, but I didn’t really need it.
I repaired my first washing machine a couple of times. I figured out how to get the front off (use a screwdriver or putty knife in the gaps to “spring” the clips holding the front on), took it apart, and got spare parts from the appliance store. I had to use Vise Grips to get some screws out, and when I re-assembled it I used grease to coat them so they wouldn’t corrode again. Eventually, though, we had to get a new one.
Swapped out the belt in mine, pretty straight forward, but I’m pretty comfortable at taking things apart and it involves some elbow grease to get it back into place since there’s a tensioner that you have to bend out of the way.
On my parents, I replaced the door switch. Again, it was an easy job, but I’m good at tracking down electrical issues so it was easy to figure out what was going on. I also fixed their air conditioner yesterday…bad start capacitor on the compressor.
Is there something wrong with yours? Other than the motor and transmission, most of the parts are cheap and not terribly difficult to get at.
I’ve replaced the drain pump (baby sock stuck in there, breaking off the vanes) and replaced the coupling from the drive shaft to the agitator. I wasn’t excited about it, but I managed to do it and felt pretty darn accomplished!
I let someone else fix the dryer though!
I repaired my first washing machine at age 16 when my dad was out of town. Mum was summarily impressed.
I’ve replaced water pumps at least three times, a motor once, the agitator dogs once, drilled a new hole in the frame to replace a spring that broke the original hole out, bypassed a broken lid switch and replaced a drive coupler. Six of those were on the same machine over a ten year period for a total cost of maybe $175.00.
I replaced the control board on mine once. I am electronics expert in general but had no prior experience with such a thing. It took about ten minutes and still works fine to this day over ten years later. Washers are fairly simple machines. The Maytag repairmen of yesteryear were never geniuses and did not have Youtube or online tutorials. I have learned how to do everything from replace garbage disposals to repair roofs based on nothing but those with great results.
My washer and dryer are now being used by my sons family. I bought the pair in 1976 and they still work fine. I have replaced nearly everything on them at one time or another.
My mother fixed her washing machine herself. The cap on the agitator, which keeps the tub from just floating in the water without agitating, had somehow worked its way loose and stripped its threads. The tub just floated in the water and wouldn’t agitate. So she took the cap off and wrapped a twist tie around the shaft, which gave it “threads” for the cap to grip to. Worked a treat!
I replace the entire drum assembly in my front loader washing machine when the main shaft bearings died. When I was done, I looked up the bearing numbers online and found them for about $45. If or when they go out again, I will order new bearings and press them on the drum shaft. Much cheaper.
My first washer stopped working some years ago. I googled the model number and found that door switches and motherboards were what stopped working. I bypassed the door switch and it didn’t fix it. The motherboard cost more than a new low efficiency top loader and nearly as much as a new high efficiency front loader so I bought a new high efficiency front loader.
One day while watching Teen Mom I realized the aforementioned HE front loader was super loud. It sounded grindy, or crunchy. I googled the model number and “bearings” and found a helpful YouTube video with part numbers and everything. It looked like a super involved repair; the bearings are literally at the very center of the machine and it needed to be broken down into just a pile of parts and rebuilt completely. The part was about $100 compared to the new $2000 set the Mrs had picked out. If it didn’t work it only added 5% to the cost of a new set. I took the gamble and I managed to repair the machine and the $1900 savings has been converted into a motorcycle.
Washers aren’t too complicated. With the help of the Internet and YouTube I can fix nearly anything. Just search for the model number of your appliance and the problem you’re having. Like mine was “Kenmore xx-xxxx won’t spin.”
My not spinning problem turned out to be the lid switch that detects when the lid is closed. It was a 5 or 10 minute fix once I figured out how to open the washer up. It was very surprisingly easy. Pull off a trim piece on each side of the control panel. 2 screws hold the control panel down. Hinge the control panel back, unplug one electrical plug. Then remove 2 clips and the entire front and sides of the washer will hinge forward. That let me get access to the switch. It’s that easy.
Usually the only thing that messes me up is some simple thing that I over-complicate. Like the clips that hold the body of the washer on, I was trying to reinstall them and had them backwards. That was good for a few minutes of sweaty frustration.
Heh, you didn’t really save $1900 then. 
SHHH!!
I just got the LCD on my tv replaced under warranty and I’ve got my eye on another bike! 
I’ve fixed several washers.
I even coated a rusting inner tub with rubber to give it a few more years of service.
But, the last time we had a washer fail, it was clearly the transmission (huge, loud grinding noise, and then total lock-up), and when I looked at what a replacement transmission would cost, I just decided to get a new washer. That was clearly the right decision - the new washer is much, much, much quieter, and more energy-efficient.