I have an old Whirlpool clothes washer that was given to me. Has worked fine for 3 years, only having to replace water valve. A few montshs ago, I noticed after the agitator starts in wash cycle, washer kicks out of agitate and goes into drain cycle for a few seconds then goes back into agitate. It will do this off and on for the first half of the wash cycle. Has not been an issue till lately, still had enough water to effectively wash clothes. More recently, washer has been staying in drain cycle for longer period of time, that by mid wash cycle, more than half of water is already drained out of tub.

I would like to repair it myself if part does not cost too much. Would this be the timer assembly or would it be something completely different?

Also, washer squeals when starting into spin cycle. Squealing stops after it gets up to speed. Is this a simple belt repalcement?

Any advice would be well appreciated