One more interesting fact. I took the motor off (left it all wired up), turned on the washer, it hums, but if I spin the motor shaft by hand, it spins up and starts running on it's own. I couldn't find any loose wires or anything, so it's almost as if the capacitor just keeps getting power until it blows. Anyone know if there's some other part that should send power to the Capacitor, but then know to stop sending power to it? And where would that be on a washing machine?

The capacitor is there to asist the motor under start-up There is no switch that turns it on and off. Any electric motor uses a lot of power (AMPS) under start up so the capacitor (a device that that stores a charge) boosts the voltage to the motor to assist it. in this case your motor is 115v and your start capacitor boosts it to 125v. Sometimes if you have a bad motor it can cause a capacitor to blow but rarely because all it does is store a charge and a bad motor using alot of amps would drain the capacitor of its charge. I have had a motor short out internaly but still complete a circuit and try to run, however, because of the short there wasn't much resistance in the motor windings and it did blow a capacitor. I've only seen this once in seven years.

With the power off ( as it should be when you have a unit apart) and the motor out inspect the motor to see if there are any discolorations on the casing. This could be a sign of a hot spot and would indicate a short. Also with any electronics sniff it and if you smell a smokey smell or sulferic smell this would indicate a short or arc and its a bad motor.

Make sure that your replacement capacitor is rated the same as the old one. You can go higher in voltage but not uf or mfd rating. IF you get a new motor you will probably need to get a new capacitor with it because these are hardly ever rated the same as the original. The motor will have a capacitor rating on it or the box it came in or paper work, if any, that came with it.
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I got the new capacitor, washer started fine. I left the cabinet off this time so I could see the capacitor and motor. There was a burning smell from the motor (even though everything was running fine) and then the capacitor blew again. Any ideas? My original repair had nothing to do with the motor or electrical work, just the switch out of the clutch assembly and coupler. Thanks!

Hi - this was my first washing machine repair and not going too well so far. The washer was working fine and then just stopped doing the fast spin cycle to get the water out of the clothers. Everything else was fine, it got to the spin cycle, and it never spun. Clicked over and made some noise, but the spin never kicked in. So I replaced the Drive Coupler and the Clutch kit and started it all over again and everything stated working. I moved it over to the spin cycle and that thing spun just like it was brand new.

Wow I thought - I Did it!!!

Then two minutes later a sweet electrical burning smell started and the whole thing stopped. I looked over everything and the start capacitor mounted on the back panel blew and all that paper stuff inside blew out. It's whirlpool part # 357021.

So did I screw something up in putting it all together? Any thoughts? I have no idea - I could replace the capacitor I guess but will it just blow again?

Thanks anyone for any ideas.