[jzawacki]

Earlier this week the washing machine was making some noise everytime the motor would turn on. There was a slight burning smell and it my wife says it was shutting off.

I unplugged the unit, opened the front panel and found that there was some water around the lip on the top of the pump. I also noticed the belt was extremely worn and cracked. Without any laundry in, I cycled the machine to see if I could identify if the leak was purely the pump or something else. The machine ran fine and I could not see any leaks at all while running. I did notice that the motor seemed to labor a bit to get started (ie. it makes a pretty loud moan as it starts).

Based on these observations, I ordered the pump and belt and replaced those last night. When putting the new pump on to the bottom of the motor shaft that it was a little difficult to turn the pump to align it with the shaft before pressing it on.

When I went to cycle the machine, the motor will not go at all. I just moans loudly (obviously, I only let it do that for a split second not wanting to burn it out). With the machine unplugged, I tried spinning the drive pulley and it is very difficult (couldn't move it much with my fingers, I needed plyers). I don't hear/feel any grinding when I do get it so move.

I am wondering if the new pump is bad. Should it have been very easy to spin right out of the box?

or

Is the motor bad? I would think a 1/2 horsepower motor would have plenty of power to spin that pump even if it was a little tight. Is there a way to test/verify that?

Any help would be greatly appreciated before I go spending close to $200 on a motor.

[libertyappl]

HI
If you have an ohm meter you may want to check the motor switch on top of the motor, Those tend to go out and are a lot cheaper than a motor.

[jzawacki]

I do have an ohm meter. Do you know how or where I can find instruction on how to check that?

[libertyappl]

You may want to double check your connections to make sure everything is getting good contact.
If you decide to check the motor switch, unplug the conntector and check for continuity to the switch. If there is continuity then test the motor itself.
Let me know what you find.

[jzawacki]

I took it all appart again. I completely removed the motor. I can spin it by hand by grabbing the pulley and turning it but it stops as soon as I stop pushing (it won't continue at all on its own).

I checked with and ohm meter all the different contacts. I am not sure what I'm looking for though. The brown and red wires have continuity to each other and the last pin on the connector. The other wires in between the brown and red have continuity to the white wire. Is that how it should be?

How can I test the motor?

[libertyappl]

With the motor out, if you can't spin the shaft and it keep spinning then unfortuneately the motor is shot. part #AP3672573
That was probably shot when it started groaning in the first place, which may have locked up and what made the pump leak a little.
Hope that helps you a little.
Nat