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Walked into the laundry room and was greeted by an odor and white smoke coming from the washer. The tub will spin and all the water drains, but there is smoke coming from the back side of the washer. I opened the cabinet and checked the pump, it wasn't stuck. left the pump off and started the spin cycle, it smoked again and spun. Tried it again without the cabinet covering everything (put a wire jumper in the lid switch connector white to grey). now the washer just hums loudly and doesn't spin. Please help!
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Sounds like maybe the start capacitor for the drive motor went bad. It is mounted on the inside rear cabinet. You can check it to see if it looks/smells bad. May have crack/split/melted area on it. You can do a static test on it if you have a multimeter. If capacitor is bad, it may have been caused by a bad motor switch. Eric 
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Sorry for the late reply, I did not notice any cracks in the capacitor, how do I do a static test? Also if the capacitor tests bad, would I buy a start motor switch also along with the capacitor? Also another question, should I be able to manually spin the basket, because I can't.
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To do a static test on the capacitor, remove it and short it out with a screwdriver across the terminals for a few seconds. Set meter to read ohms and place leads across terminals. Meter should initially show a low ohms reading and gradually increase to a very high reading. Some multimeters have a capacitance function for testing the capacitance value in microfarads. Pull the pump off from the motor and see if it will run without it to rule out a bad/obstructed pump. If it still won't run, remove motor and set it on the floor and try it there. You can take the cover off the motor switch to check the condition of the contacts. It is normally difficult to rotate the basket by hand as the brakes are applied when not driven by the motor.
Eric
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Well, I got a new capacitor and installed it. Ran the washer and it ran and spun. everything was going fine then a loud pop and it sounded like air whistling for a second. Kind of sounded like a blow-off valve of some sort. And then I got the white smoke or steam again. Smoke or steam was coming out from under the washer and in the tub. New capacitor was warm to the touch. I may have screwed up. I ordered a motor switch also, but it wont be here till Tuesday next week. Did I just blow the capacitor again?
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I would say so. The start winding contacts in the motor switch may be stuck closed. Once the motor gets up to operating speed, a centrifugal mechanism in the motor operates the lever on the switch to open the start winding contacts. The start winding and capacitor are only for starting and if left in circuit will damage the capacitor and possibly the start windings. You can take the cover off the switch and check the contacts. Eric 
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Thank you so much Eric. After removing the motor switch I can tell that the white arm that rides the motor is pretty much worn down to nothing. So now my dilemma is. Do I get another capacitor, install the motor switch and hope damage hasn't been done to the motor, or do I go looking into replacing the washer? Because a new motor is $200 and replacing the washer would probably be more feasible then.
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I would guess the motor is probably ok, it did start/run with the new capacitor.
Eric
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