Customer Support 7 days a week

Welcome Guest! To enable all features please Login or Register.

Notification

Icon
Error

New Topic Post Reply
Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
NANLDAD  
#1 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 9:32:50 AM(UTC)
Quote
NANLDAD

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 4/11/2009(UTC)
Posts: 4

I have a Sears 90 Seies washer. It has intermittant issues the past 3-4 months. It will fill, spin and refill. It would agitate after resetting and moving the timer. Now it does everything except agitate. The lid switch has continuity. The switch has been by passed with no change. We have installed a new timer (NO CHANGE). It will fill, and is completely silent during the agitate mode except for either switches in the timer tripping or possibly a relay trying to set. At the end of the wash cycle it spins and rinses with no problems. Is the switch on the side of the motor a relay style switch? Would this fail intermittantly for a while?
Sponsor
See inside of your appliance - diagrams and part photos for virtually every model.

powered by AppliancePartsPros.com
 
sidfink43  
#2 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 1:06:23 PM(UTC)
Quote
sidfink43

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Senior Expert
Joined: 3/29/2009(UTC)
Posts: 11,699

Two quick questions to help us

1. Will it agitate during the rinse cycle?

2. If you lift the lid durng the spin cycle does the spinning come to a quick halt?

This will help narrow it.
NANLDAD  
#3 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 2:22:11 PM(UTC)
Quote
NANLDAD

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 4/11/2009(UTC)
Posts: 4

It does not agitate in any cycle.
The spinning stops when the lid is raised; not immediately
sidfink43  
#4 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 3:21:00 PM(UTC)
Quote
sidfink43

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Senior Expert
Joined: 3/29/2009(UTC)
Posts: 11,699

OK This is potentially very good news.

Your most likely (but unfortunately not only) problem is agitator dogs. This is about the cheapest part you can buy, and it is a pretty easy fix.

Search this site and others for replacing agitator dogs (these are plastic pieces which cause the agitator to, well, agitate when the motor turns the transmission). It will involve removing part of the agitator. The best way to learn how to do this is to search this site (and others) as this is a very common problem and there is plenty of info on how to get to the dogs. (I cannot tell you exactly because even within the same model sometimes the agitators will be slightly different. Don't worry you will figure it out.)

Anyway, if your dogs are damaged this is likely the problem, and since the fix is so cheap you should do it as you will not be harmed even if it turns out to be something else as this is good preventive maintenance. Just inspect them, order the new parts from this site and you should be back in business.

If this works you will have saved a $100+ repair bill with less than $20 and tome time. If this does not work, or if on inspection your dogs are ok, post on this site with any more info you might have and hopefully myself or others can further diagnose the problem.

Good luck
NANLDAD  
#5 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:11:09 PM(UTC)
Quote
NANLDAD

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 4/11/2009(UTC)
Posts: 4

Thanks it is worth a try.
Why is there no motor noise in the agitate mode? (at least a hum?)
sidfink43  
#6 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:27:04 PM(UTC)
Quote
sidfink43

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Senior Expert
Joined: 3/29/2009(UTC)
Posts: 11,699

At least two possible reasons

1. Motor is spinning, but with such low resistence you cannot hear it. (good thing)

2. Motor is not spinning in agitate cycles and that is why you do not hear it. (possible but not necessarily a bad thing)

Let's see what your inspection of the dogs looks like
sidfink43  
#7 Posted : Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:35:34 PM(UTC)
Quote
sidfink43

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Senior Expert
Joined: 3/29/2009(UTC)
Posts: 11,699

Also, if the dogs are not it, when you post pack can you say why you replaced the timer?
NANLDAD  
#8 Posted : Sunday, April 12, 2009 11:23:00 AM(UTC)
Quote
NANLDAD

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 4/11/2009(UTC)
Posts: 4

The dogs look to be in great shape. When you move the agitator back and forth they grab and hold even with resistance on the lower agitator. With agitator removed the shaft did not turn with the lid switch bypassed.

The problem started 2-3 months ago. 90% of the time it would agitate and some times not. Turning the timer knob several times and pulling and pushing the knob in and out would get the cycle started again. I removed the control panel and checked for loose leads and cleaned all the connectors at that time. Reassembled everything and it has worked well for 50 -60 washes with only 7 -10 misfired since that time; and then the agitate cycle has stopped.
After installing the new timer nothing. Following the same routine the agitator engaged once and ran the cycle since then nothing. I have also tried all the various agitate cycles on the agitate switch. None work.
That's why I was inquiring on the function of the motor switch. Does it switch to different sets of windings for the different agitate speeds?
sidfink43  
#9 Posted : Sunday, April 12, 2009 12:15:32 PM(UTC)
Quote
sidfink43

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Senior Expert
Joined: 3/29/2009(UTC)
Posts: 11,699

Well, sorry it was not the dogs, always try the most likely/least expensive fix first and hope for the best. Dogs tend to be the problem in a large proportion of agitate problems.

I can think of three other reasons why the machine might not go into agitate mode.

1. The water level switch is not telling the timer that the machine is full of water and ready to go. This is not likely since the timer advances and stops the water from coming in.

2. The timer is not sending a start signal to the motor. This would be very likely except you have a new timer, which should rule this out.

3. The motor is not coming on in the agitate mode. The way this machine works is that in agitate mode the motor turns counter clockwise, engaging the transmission which causes the machine to agitate. When the machine goes into rinse mode the motor turns clockwise, causing the tub to spin. It sounds like your motor is turning clockwise in spin mode but not counter clockwise in agitate mode, particularly since you say you do not hear it run in agitate mode. (On newer machines with circuit boards the control will detect this and shut down, and display an error message on the LCD).

Starting from easiest/least expensive here is what I would check.

1. Connection of wire harness to timer. Take off the wire harness, look for corrosion, bent pins or anything that would not make a good connection.

2. Connection at motor start switch. Do the same check.

3. Broken wire. Test all of the wires for continuity and inspect for a break.

If you have the wiring diagram pay particular attention to the wires that cause the motor to start in the agitate mode if you can determine which they are.

4. If none of these solve your problem (try the machine after each fix attempt) then your likely problem is the motor start switch. One is available for your machine from the nice folks who operate this site. (no connection to me)

You might want to post the results of your checks before you buy any more parts to see if any others on this site have an idea which will not cost money.

Good luck, and post how it turns out.
Quick Reply Show Quick Reply
Users browsing this topic
New Topic Post Reply
Forum Jump  
You can post new topics in this forum.
You can reply to topics in this forum.
You can delete your posts in this forum.
You can edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You can vote in polls in this forum.