Can't figure out if this washing machine needs a timer, clutch, motor couplings or something else. The machine was not spinning and/or draining properly, and at the end of the load clothes were wet, and the washer had a little standing water at the bottom. This was happening for the last 3-4 loads of clothes.

So I inspected the drain lines, and found no clogs. I removed a mini, yellow lighter and a quarter from the bottom of the tub.

Then I tried to diagnose it...

While running through a normal cycle with no clothes in the machine I noticed that the agitator worked during the wash phase, so I manually moved the knob to the end spin (high spin) phase, and it did not spin. The motor was on, the agitator moved fine during the wash phase, but during the end spin (high spin) the agitator wouldn't budge. The pump was working, but no spin. The lid switch must have been working, because if I opened the lid more than an inch, the pump would stop working. Eventually the pump removed all of the water from the tub, but still no spinning took place. This made sense because of how the clothes were coming out at the end, they were soaked and would have retained some extra water that the pump couldn't remove.

Then I tried again...

Same thing, a cycle with no clothes. I thought I would just test it one more time, to make sure I noticed everything I might need to notice. Now this time...it spun! I essentially did the same thing, manually moved the knob to the end after the tub was full and the agitator worked during wash phase. I may not have moved the knob to the exact same place, but still very near the end of the cycle. An now it spun at the end, perfectly. Really fast, as it should have. Was it a miracle? I didn't replace a single part, or use a single tool. I know enough to know that things don't usually magically fix themselves, so I'm waiting for the problem to reappear.

Then I tried again...

This time with a "small" amount of clothes, and everything still worked! I actually stayed for the entire cycle, didn't touch the knob during the cycle and noticed that it spun during the "rinse" phase, and then it added more water and spun again during the "high spin" phase at the end, to perfection. Clothes were spun properly and tub was empty.

So, did Jesus fix my washing machine? Any ideas what this might be where a spin cycle doesn't work consistently, then all of sudden does? I'm guessing timer...but I'm in no way a pro! Also the timer is expensive so I'd like to hear it's something else :) All I really did was fiddle with the knob while moving it from rinse to spin and whatnot while diagnosing, and I set the load size to "small", though it was also set to "small" the first time when it didn't work, so I'm not sure if that matters.

Any help appreciated! I have a feeling I'll still be fixing this at some point :)

Scott