Home Repair forum - Non-reversing washing machine motor

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Non-reversing washing machine motor

hr(bob) hofmann@att.net

2008-02-27, 9:25 am

My 3-year old Admiral washing machine (made by Maytag)sometimes fails
to drain and spin at the end of the rinse cycle. It has been doing
this about 10% of the time for the last year.

If I rotate the timer back to the final spin position, it always works
ok. Today I happened to be in the laundry and see the machine in the
middle of what should have been the rinse drain/spin cycle and the
machine was still agitating. I opened the lid and then reclosed it,
and the machine immediately went into the drain/spin cycle.

As far as I know, the motor direction determines if it agitates or
pumps out and spins. I am assuming that there is a relay somewhere
that failed to operate/release and put the motor into the correct
direction to drain and spin. I know there is an appliance repair
group, but can't seem to come up with it.

Help!

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

Joe

2008-02-27, 1:26 pm

On Feb 27, 8:41=A0am, "hr(bob) hofm...@att.net" <hrhofm...@att.net>
wrote:
> My 3-year old Admiral washing machine (made by Maytag)sometimes fails
> to drain and spin at the end of the rinse cycle. =A0It has been doing
> this about 10% of the time for the last year.
>
> If I rotate the timer back to the final spin position, it always works
> ok. =A0Today I happened to be in the laundry and see the machine in the
> middle of what should have been the rinse drain/spin cycle and the
> machine was still agitating. =A0I opened the lid and then reclosed it,
> and the machine immediately went into the drain/spin cycle.
>
> As far as I know, the motor direction determines if it agitates or
> pumps out and spins. =A0I am assuming that there is a relay somewhere
> that failed to operate/release and put the motor into the correct
> direction to drain and spin. =A0I know there is an appliance repair
> group, but can't seem to come up with it.
>
> Help!
>
> H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

Repairclinic.com is your friend. HTH

Joe

hr(bob) hofmann@att.net

2008-02-27, 8:25 pm

On Feb 27, 1:18=A0pm, Joe <jbob...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Feb 27, 8:41=A0am, "hr(bob) hofm...@att.net" <hrhofm...@att.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
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> Repairclinic.com is your friend. =A0HTH
>
> Joe- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanx. It did the same no-reversing thing while I was watching it
tonight, found a schematic inside the top rear plate, will study the
wiring to see if it is the timer, as that is where the reversal of the
motor is accomplished. If so, a big hammer lightly applied to the
timer may be the next step.

Don Young

2008-02-27, 9:25 pm

"hr(bob) hofmann@att.net" <hrhofmann@att.net> wrote in message
news:b646a15b-27ca-4db0-97ff-681ba97310c1@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 27, 1:18 pm, Joe <jbob...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Feb 27, 8:41 am, "hr(bob) hofm...@att.net" <hrhofm...@att.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Repairclinic.com is your friend. HTH
>
> Joe- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanx. It did the same no-reversing thing while I was watching it
tonight, found a schematic inside the top rear plate, will study the
wiring to see if it is the timer, as that is where the reversal of the
motor is accomplished. If so, a big hammer lightly applied to the
timer may be the next step.
It seems possible to me that the problem is that the lid switch is not
always actuating properly. Most washers will not go into a spin cycle with
the lid up, but they will agitate. Lid switches are a fairly common problem
area.

Don Young

hr(bob) hofmann@att.net

2008-02-27, 9:25 pm

On Feb 27, 8:33=A0pm, "Don Young" <no...@nonesuch.com> wrote:
> "hr(bob) hofm...@att.net" <hrhofm...@att.net> wrote in message
>
> news:b646a15b-27ca-4db0-97ff-681ba97310c1@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Feb 27, 1:18 pm, Joe <jbob...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
[color=darkred]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanx. =A0It did the same no-reversing thing while I was watching it
> tonight, found a schematic inside the top rear plate, will study the
> wiring to see if it is the timer, as that is where the reversal of the
> motor is accomplished. If so, a big hammer lightly applied to the
> timer may be the next step.
> It seems possible to me that the problem is that the lid switch is not
> always actuating properly. Most washers will not go into a spin cycle with=

> the lid up, but they will agitate. Lid switches are a fairly common proble=
m
> area.
>
> Don Young- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Don:

You are right, it will fill and agitate with the cover open. The
thing is, it always spins out the first/wash portion of the cycle, it
is only the 2nd spin, after the rinse cycle, that does not work
properly. and no one has touched the lid or the lid switch during that
time..

I just finished looking at the wiring diagram, and pretty well decided
that it probably is a sticking contact inside the timer, so I will run
another load of wash tomorrow, and when it gets to the point where the
rinse cycle spin should be starting and if it doesn't, that's when the
hammer will be applied gently to the timer. If that works, I'll check
to be sure my local parts place has a replacement timer, and then
proceed to take the timer apart to see if anything is repairable. I
like to tinker so it is a good excuse to have some fun for less than
$75.00 - the cost of a new timer.

Bob Hofmann

2008-02-28, 9:25 am

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:33:43 -0600, "Don Young" <notme@nonesuch.com>
wrote:

>
>"hr(bob) hofmann@att.net" <hrhofmann@att.net> wrote in message

By "rotate back", you mean rotate all the way around, 350 degrees,
until you are back, right? Washer timers generally don't like to be
rotated backwards, and doing so would make things worse. And might
have caused the problem in the first place.
[color=darkred]

Don't know about Admiral but on Whirlpool, the motor only goes lin one
direction and solenoids determine the details aobut what happens.
[color=darkred]
>Thanx. It did the same no-reversing thing while I was watching it
>tonight, found a schematic inside the top rear plate, will study the
>wiring to see if it is the timer, as that is where the reversal of the
>motor is accomplished. If so, a big hammer lightly applied to the
>timer may be the next step.
>It seems possible to me that the problem is that the lid switch is not
>always actuating properly. Most washers will not go into a spin cycle with
>the lid up, but they will agitate.

But isn't that when the timer is in the agitate position? When the
tub is spinning and I open the door, the washer just stops doing
anything, whereas his is agitating.

>Lid switches are a fairly common problem
>area.
>
>Don Young
>

hr(bob) hofmann@att.net

2008-02-28, 1:25 pm

On Feb 28, 9:12=A0am, mm <NOPSAMmm2...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:33:43 -0600, "Don Young" <no...@nonesuch.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
[color=darkred]
>
s[color=darkred]
>
> By "rotate back", you mean rotate all the way around, 350 degrees,
> until you are back, right? =A0 Washer timers generally don't like to be
> rotated backwards, and doing so would make things worse. =A0And might
> have caused the problem in the first place.
>
>
>
> Don't know about Admiral but on Whirlpool, the motor only goes lin one
> direction and solenoids determine the details aobut what happens.
>
>
h[color=darkred]
>
> But isn't that when the timer is in the agitate position? =A0When the
> tub is spinning and I open the door, the washer just stops doing
> anything, whereas his is agitating.
>
>
>
>
>
> - Show quoted text -

The Admiral/Maytag machines have a reversing motor and no relay, the
power to the motor is supposed to be shut off for several seconds at
the end of the wash or the rinse cycle before power is reconnected in
the opposite polarity to change the direction of the motor spin and
thus start the pump out and spinning action.

I have watched it go thru the fill, wash-agitate, pause, drain/spin,
refill, rinse-agitate and keep on agitating right into what should be
the second spin cycle without ever pausing two different times. So,
that means the timer is not removing power to the motor like it should
be doing for the second pause, so time for a new timer. Took the
current timer apart, couldn't see the specific contacts involved, but
wiggled everything to see that the various spring leaves did move,
will try it again as soon as I can dirty some clothes.

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