I have a problem with my washing machine. Over the past couple of months my wife says the machine is acting weird. The latest problem is as follows: When you try and run the machine, it immediately reverts to the drain cycle even before any water has been added. The door automatically locks (which it is supposed to do). The only thing I can do is turn the machine off. Restarting it (also unplugging it) does not change where the cycle is. My concern was that since there is no water in the machine draining and letting the pump run indefinitely could cause harm, the only work-around I could do was pour about 2-3 gallons of water into the detergent dispenser. Apparently that did the trick because I was able to turn the machine off and unlock the door. I have never received any error codes on the machine which makes troubleshooting for a novice even more difficult. Any suggestions? I looked at the price of the control board and based on my wife's overall bad experience owning this machine, I don't think it is worth fixing it if that is the issue. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Appliance Ninja, I took the top of the machine off and began looking for the small hose. I immediately noticed that the machine has several hoses on top. Most of them are for the dispensing of bleach, softener, detergent. However I did come across one black hose that was disconnected on one end. I looked around and found the nipple that it should have been connected to. The connection point is a white/opaque canister that looks to have a good deal of black on the inside. I am not sure if this is sediment from the waste water (like you would see in a p-trap under a sink) or if it is mold? I know the machine smells of mold and am not sure if replacing this part along with the cleaning the discharge line would be worth the time to help with the odors. I am unsure of the function of this part but it is in-line with the drain line. It appears that the water will go into this (from the machine just prior to being discharged into the house plumbing).
I realize the door seal is a culprit for the mold but lately the smell has gotten significantly worse. I reconnected and am currently putting it through a cycle. So far so good. Thanks for your quick and accurate diagnosis. You managed to save me some big coin on buying a replacement machine.

I attempted to run the washer through a cycle and it started doing it again. This time I left the top cover off and watched it run through its cycle. The problem seems to be that when the machine drains (multiple times throughout the cycle) when it finishes draining the water the drain continues to run even though there is no more water in the machine. As a result the machine will not advance to the next cycle (fill, spin or stop). I would assume there is some type of water sensor in the machine (or float) that alerts the machine when there is no longer water in the machine? I am thinking I either have a faulty water sensor or possibly the main control Board? Any thoughts?

I removed the switch and I can blow into it and once the air hits the switch I hear a click and I can no longer blow air into the switch. I am assuming that means the air switch is working properly?

Yes I did.