[Wayjer]

My 7 year old Kenmore washer started acting up 2 years ago. It sometimes wouldn't start the 1st spin cycle. So we figured out to just open and close the lid to start the 1st spin cycle and then it would work fine the rest of the cycles. But one day it quit spinning completely and nothing seemed to work so I replaced the timer. That fixed it back to where we had to open and close the lid to start the 1st spin cycle which is where we still are today. If we do not open and close the lid, the water will still drain out of the washer, the timer will still move, the rinse cycles will still spray water, but it just won't spin on its own until the last spin cycle. I never checked the lid switch but if that were it, it seems like the washer wouldn't work at all. Any ideas? Thanks!

[sidfink43]

Well this is weird.

Your machine probably has a neutral drain. What this means is that the transmission is in neutral when the drain function works. After several minutes the timer will stop the motor, which causes the transmission to shift into spin mode.

If the timer is not doing this stop the transmission never shifts. What you are doing when you open the lid is pausing the motor, causing the transmission to shift and then it will drain.

Replacing the timer should have fixed this, that's the weird part. I would check the connector pins and seating on the timer, clean everything with a good contact cleaner and then see if that fixes things. Probably will not but worth a try.

I would then try replacing the timer again. If you buy from this site and the part does not fix the problem you can return it.

Other than that, no good ideas.

[Wayjer]

Oh,ok..I'll.do.as.you.suggest..Thanks!

[One Washer]

Hi, I am new to this forum.
Our washer was given to use so I don't know how it went through its' wash cycles when new. One day I noticed the washer was humming but not doing anything except pumping water out, after several minutes it would go into spin cycle itself. If I opened and closed the lid during the humming duration it would make a clunk sound and then start to spin, but then after it was done spinning it would stop and then spin again. I did not know if this was a normal cycle or if I was just forcing it into a spin cycle because I stopped the motor.

I decided to replace the clutch, lid switch, and motor to transmission coupling. After that was replaced I tried the wash cycles again and it still did not spin.

I remembered seeing a timer chart inside behind the timer control unit, the chart did not indicate that there are 2 spin cycles back to back which is was it would do if I opened the lid . It read fill wash agitate, drain, spin, fill agitate, drain, spin, stop for the normal wash cycle. And fill agitate, drain, spin, stop for the extra rinse cycle. Could it be that there is really nothing wrong with the machine and that I was just paying too much attention to it Thanks

[sidfink43]

Your machine may have a neutral drain, which requires the machine to stop to force it to shift into spin. Your timer may be bad, and not doing the requisite stop.

[One Washer]

Thanks, I will go through the cycles again to see if it the motor is actually stopping.