Washing Machine Fixer Needed
 

The Old Maytag is misbehaving. :(

For a while now, at the beginning of a spin cycle, it will get very much out of balance, clang, bang, thump, move around quite a bit and shut down. I would re-arrange things and the wash would continue normally. :lol:

Today, I noticed it shuts off just as it starts the first spin. Pumps the water out but won't spin. :evil: It just progresses to the next cycle. :roll:

I don't want to do anything, much less open it up and root around looking for problems in a machine I know next to nothing about.

Any suggestions?

for the price of a service call and parts, you might be better off buying a new one...

https://www.gassavers.org/showthread....machine+advice

Ours did the same thing, also a Maytag.

Take the cover off the bottom front of the machine. Look at the belt that drives the tub to spin it. It has a tensioner pully that is spring loaded to keep tension on the belt.

On ours the outer portion of the pully slipped off the hub and fell down which makes it impossible for the belt to be tensioned properly.

UN PLUG THE MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

Slide the outer portion back on the hub in it's proper position. Then you can reposition the belt in its proper location by applying some pressure to counteract the tension spring.

Its been working for a few months and thats all I did. If it keeps messing up I might put some epoxy on the pulley to keep it from happening again.

regards
gary

Pay attention fellers.
I said it skips the one rinse.
Does it have seperate gearing for each speed? :)

Shatto, your description is exactly what was going on with ours, which is also a Maytag. Pull the front bottom cover off and look at the belt.

What have you got to loose?

It was a simple repair.

regards
gary

Washing machines aren't intimidating at all. Open it up and get your hands dirty. It won't fly apart into a million microscopic clock gears.

lol agreed, their simple, motor, transmission/gearing of some sort, and a drive to the tub.

The parts are cheap enough, I recommend just replacing the belt and tensioner. I did that one a friend's washer a few months back. I think I spent $30 in parts.

FYL- my 10 year old fridgidaire gave out a month ago (transmission was making a clunking sound during wash cycle) and I took it apart.

I was surprised to see that when the motor runs one direction, the transmission runs the agitator, but when the motor reverses direction you get the the spin cycle- the transmission just locks up and the whole gearbox assembly spins.

Not that it relates to your problem, but I thought I might include this info in case someone in the future with fridgidaire washing machine trouble finds this thread with a search.

Most top loaders do this... It makes it simpler to build.

-Jay

One can save serious cash learning to repair their own appliances. The Kenmore Elite washer that we replaced with a front loader was ridiculously easy to figure out.

There are really just 7 basic elements involved:
- The motor
- The transmission
- The spin drive
- The agitator
- The drum
- The drive clutch
- The drain pump

Maybe I'm missing something, but that's about it. All the fancy dials do is determine when to run the pump, which inlet valves to open, and what direction and when to run the motor. The out of balance shutoff mechanism is little more than a momentary switch that gets bumped when things get out of hand.

And front loaders are even simpler... They don't even have a transmission! They're direct drive. Then if you get into electric dryers... Belt, idler pulley, motor, timer, heating element, thermal circuit breaker. Nothing else to go wrong.

-Jay

I've never had to work on a washing machine, but I had a drier quit drying on me once. I had never been inside one before, but as you guessed off came the back. Found the heating element, replaced it and used the dryer for several more years until we needed a new washer so I just bought both new. The old one is still sitting in the garage just in case.