[guermo]

I am trying to repair a Frigidare WDM - l1 top loading washing machine. It fills and washes normally but at the end of the wig wag cycle it stops and nothing happens. I suspect that this is when the drain cycle is supposed to start, but nothing happens. Then the machine trys to go into the spin cycle and some water is forced out of the drain hose, but some kind of clutch kicks it out of spin. The next thing that happens is that it blows the GFI that it is plugged into. If you reset the GFI nothing happens and it trys to go through spin again.

I have the motor and pump out of it, but can not figure out if the pump spins all the time the motor is running or if there is some kind of disconnect between the top (Pump end) and Bottom (pully end.) There is an electrical connection where the wiring harness plugs into the side of the motor and then a series of wires that go up to a electro - mechanical relay on the top of the motor. I have not figured out how to test that.

I cant figure out if the problem is in the timer or in the motor / pump actuator.

Thanks,

Bill

This machine is in a cabin and while it is old it has not been used hardly at all.

[sidfink43]

This has the look of a very old Frigidaire, maybe even when they were made by GM

I suspect the pump is the issue, but if it has set idle in a cabin the wiring may be an issue.

I don't think you can get parts, and a nice used machine may be your better option.

[guermo]

Thanks Sid.

I would be happy to get another one, but to remove this thing which is in a basement, the door, trim and jam to the laundry room has to come off and then the same thing for a bathroom door and then there is a set of steps to get it up to the main floor and several sets of steps to get it up to the street level and finally I am by myself. Next if the decision is made to replace the washer the dryer is also going to go. That is the main reason why we are trying to fix such an old machine - though it is like new.

I was just trying to figure out a way to tell which of the components it is that failed, and if the shaft that runs the pump is one piece all the way through the motor to the drive pully. The motor in the wigwag cycle runs fine and when I disassembled the pump, it was clear and looks new. The pump impeller is hooked directly to the motor shaft opposite the drive pulley and it feels like one piece. I guess the grand mistake I made was not to have checked the operation in the two cycles - regular and permanent press as I now understand that the pump may work on one quadrant of the timer but not in another. I am going to have to put the motor back in and try that.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Bill

[sidfink43]

Well I can understand your need to repair rather than remove the machine from a difficult area.

The pump is really the prime suspect. If the cabin was unheated and subjected to freezing temperatures some water in the pump may have frozen and damged it.

I would suggest you put it back together, see if it works in other cycles and go from there.

Getting parts for this is going to be difficult, but there are parts suppliers for very old machines on the internet

Good luck, let us know what happens.