[mjhenks]

Going to be troubleshooting my neighbors washer tomorrow night. It is agitating them by not agitating. Report is that everything appears to be working otherwise. Water in/out OK. Spins fine. When it comes to agitating it just sits there for the duration of the cycle. Report is there are no sounds coming from the washer during that part of the cycle.

Read another post that suggested some contacts may be dirty but that was for an intermittent problem. This one is all the time and came on suddenly.

Any advice before i tear her down and start looking?

BTW, this site is great for the DIY guy. Have used it many times.

Thank you

[mjhenks]

Anyone have some ideas?

[richappy]

If the motor heats up, it's most probably a bad timer,AP4028325 Remove the timer and pull off the cover, inspect the contacts by carefully prying each up. Sometimes it's the hidden contacts that are bad. Also, sometimes you can see burn marks on the white plastic cam.
If the motor is dead, no current, it may be the water level switch that's bad, but you will need a meter to check it, or per the schematic, you can bypass it with a jumper.

[mjhenks]

Update. Still need advice please.

I checked continuity on every circuit of the timer switch last night. All was fine. Made sure that each circuit (top and bottom) switched as i rotated the dial. Saw some dark areas on the cam but no electrical burning smell. Some of the contacts had some pitting but nothing looked burnt or fused.

Machine goes from water fill to agitate and nothing happens. No sound, no motion. Then goes to spin and all is fine. Basically it seams like the agitate cycle is not getting juice or the signal to tell it to agitate. I do not think it is the switch as all the fabric types skip the agitation.

I did try and rotate the agitator while the drum was stationary. It will rotate about 2 degrees and then binds up. I can not rotate it any more until i put the machine thru the spin cycle. Then i can rotate 2 degrees again and locks. Is that normal?

I pulled off the agitator center hub in the drum but nothing looked bad.


Could not pull the unit from the wall as the H2O valves are not working. Once i replace those i will pull the unit and check the H2O level switch and motor power. Why would that cause this and not stop the H2O from overflowing? Is the agitate motor different from the spin motor?

So where do i look from here? Dirty clothes are piling up.

Thanks.

[richappy]

If any of the timer contacts are burnt badly, (even if they test ok with a meter), they can fail when power is applied. Also, there are links in timers that can fuse open. Usually, I check for voltage coming directly from the timer per the schematic, lack of voltage confirms a bad timer.
I fixed one today with the same problem. Took the water level switch hose off, put a spare one in and blew in it a few times. This fixed it. Sometimes these switches get contamination on them and blowing in them with higher pressure than normal, will fix them, makes the contacts slide a little when closing, which clears contamination.

[mjhenks]

Problem solved. Thank you richappy for the guidance. The Water level switch was not getting pressure.

Switch and hose were fine. First tested switch by checking continuity while i blew into the diaphram with and without the hose. All OK. Then filled the tub with water and shorted the water level switch. The agitation cycle worked so i knew it was switch related. We then found that where the tube is clamped to the tub had rust. The front 1/2" of the hose clamp area had rusted away causing it to leak. We were able to clamp to the back 1/4" of the fitting and wala..... Agitation.

Thank you again. Another one solved.

[richappy]

Very good you fixed it, you would be surprised how many I have fixed with a similar problem.