[krinton]

Washer quit spinning, agitating, and draining.
It made a loud buzzing noise for about 90 seconds and started to get hot/smell, then shut off.
I opened her up and found an obstruction in the pump and saw that the impeller was shredded, but when I took off the motor, saw that the coupler was fine - no crumbled bits of rubber, no visible fatigue in the two plastic pieces.
I bypassed the lid switch so I can operate the machine without the housing attached, and better diagnose the issue.
Now when I switch her on in spin or agitate, the buzzing starts but nothing happens in the drive motor (except it gets really hot).
When I manually give the drive shaft a slight twist, that seems to get things going, and the motor starts spinning as it should.

SO... do I have a bad drive motor? It looks like those will run around $150 - better to just plunk down $400 on a new unit?

[Gene]

Hello,

The motor has gone bad and has to be replaced. But, if the washer is in good condition it's probably worth to fix it.

Whirlpool does not make such washers anymore due to government regulations so, you can not buy a new machine with the same design. This design has been proven for almost 30 years and most of technicians will tell that this washer (direct drive) is one of the best American washers. It's also does not have any electronic parts which makes this machine more reliable.

- The motor Part number: 661600

Gene.

[fairbank56]

The start capacitor may have been damaged as it is only meant to be energized for less than a second as the motor starts. After that, it is switched out of the circuit by the centrifugal switch in the motor. With the motor jammed by the pump, it had power to it continuously, long enough for the motor overload to trip. Since you can start the motor by hand, the motor may be ok. I would try replacing the capacitor first. They are usually mounted on the motor but looks like on this model, it is behind the control panel. You might also check the resistance of the start winding of the motor to make sure it wasn't burnt open. Unplug the wiring harness from the motor and on the motor switch check between the black and yellow wires. It should read between 4-7 ohms. If it's ok, try a new capacitor. You can get a perfectly suitable substitute at Grainger for $6.31 Part number 2MDR5 I agree 100% about spending the money to fix your washer vice buying one of the new pieces of junk they are selling now.

Eric