It starts like this. The agitator would not move during operation. A little troubleshooting identified that the plastic piece that is under the agitator is on a shaft and the splines on the plastic piece were stripped. Obtained a new plastic piece from parts supplier, which was an newer replacement part than the OEM.

Installed the new plastic piece over the splines on the shaft. Difficult to get on. Pulled it off, cleaned up the rust on the splines and attempted to install. Went on about half way and got stuck.

Attempted to pull it back off and the shaft came up from the bottom about six inches. Not good! Reinserted the shaft into the machine and used a rubber hammer to get the plastic piece all the way one. New part came with a longer bolt to secure to the shaft.

Tested and it worked. Ran about six loads through machine and the agitator locked up. Whith the motor is running, it appears the transmission is frozen. The machine will pump down and spin, just not wash.

I suspect that when the shaft came up, it allowed something else to fill the space in the transmission. I would guess I was lucky to get six loads through before failure.

Here is the decision point. If it is the transmission, and the washer is 12 years old, where is the repair/replace point. I do not think a new transmission will be cheap.

Can you confirm that the problem is most likely the transmission and any estimate on the repair cost.