It's hard to tell exactly from where it is coming. I *think* from behind the unit, possibly behind the control panel. It turns out that the time in between attempts is 9 - 12 minutes by the stop watch.

I've been sick, and still am, so I have not been able to try it much, but Monday I have 7 loads that I have to do and cannot put off any longer. I'll be lucky if I get through them all, but on the flip side, it will give me lots more opportunities to see if I can locate the source of the sound.

Would it help if I made a wave or mp3 of the sound so you could hear it?

Thanks!
Dobermann

Tell me exactly when it happens. If it agitated or not. If it is full of water, and if you can throw it in the spin cycle, and it will drain and spin? If the noise is coming from the timer, it could very well be the water level switch, not sending the power message to the timer to advance into the cycle. Let me know. Tom ApplianceEducator.com

I'm going to have to wait a few days until I attempt this, as I do not have the energy right now (I'm still sick) and I need to muddle my way through these wash loads.

Let me ask you this, using this drawing of my model:

http://www.appliancepartspros.c...d=676832&NewWindow=1

what do I need to unscrew to pull off the front panel? Once the front panel is removed, will I really be able to see the motor and tranny pulley from there or will more need to come off?

Dobermann

I finally was able to get out of bed today, and thought that crawling around on the laundry room floor opening up the washer would be oh so much fun!

The motor is trying hard. But, and here is the rub, it had a cold start, spun without any water in the tub for about 15 seconds, then I opened the lid, it stopped (naturally), closed the lid, and it errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr'd, refusing to move. When it did this, I checked and I can still manually move the belt in either direction quite easily (no brake seems to be on). Both the motor pully wheel and the tub's pully wheel that this belt turns also moved freely -- yet the errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr continued.

It is actually getting worse now, with it not always completing the wash cycle without stopping too soon and having to wait for it to restart.

While I was there, I checked the quality of the belt. It's a POS, with an area about 4 inches long missing pieces on the backside of the belt. The rest of the belt is pretty sliced up, with other smaller areas missing. I do not see how to actually get the belt off, but I have not had a look yet at the schematics available here.

Do you still think it is the motor? It does not need to get hot to stop working. All it needs is to stop for any reason (authorized or unauthorized, so to speak), and it craps out.

Oh, one other thing I keep meaning to mention. When it has done its errrrrrrrrrrrr thing a few times and is finally ready to work, it sits quite for a while and it makes no other sounds, no errrrrrrrrrrrrr, no mucking around, no nothing else, then it just starts right out like it was brand new.

I'm going to go look at the drawings and the prices on motors. I hope they are not too expensive!

Piled high in dirty laundry,
Dobermann

Newsflash!!!

It's gotta be some component in the tranny. I laid there on the cold, hard floor with my trusty flashlight and the front panel still off. Set it to spin. After it spun and filled the tank for the rinse, it errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr'd. Then I opened the lid and tried to manually move the agitator. It was stuck. After teasing it left and right, it finally let go and let me turn it counter clockwise quite freely. Once freed, it stays freed in the counter clockwise direction. If I tried to turn it clockwise, it would lock up again. This was repeatable several times. Free it up, close the lid, open the lid and it is locked again.

Okay, so now with it freed up again, I close the lid and lay back down to watch. In theory from above, this has locked it again. This time, when it errrrrrrrrrrrrrr'd, I was able to see that the transmission unit was starting to move about 3/4" clockwise (the direction that it would lock up in when I manually tried it). When it gave up trying to move, it stopped errrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Every time it errrrrrrrrrrrrrd, the tranny unit was trying to spin. This is absolutely the source of the sound.

Now I start to play dirty with it. Two can play this game. With it in its "wait" mode after just errrrrrrrrring out, the lid still closed, I took a long metal file and manually pushed the tranny from under the machine in a clockwise direction (what would previously lock it) until it moved freely. Next time it tried to work, it took right off!

What could it be in the tranny? When it does spin, it is nice and smooth on the actual tranny below judging by how it feels when I manually turn the belt, making me think the bearings are good. But - the empty tank (well, just the empty fabric softener dispenser in the machine, but no water) seems to spin quite lopsided when watching from below, especially when starting out.

Maybe brake pads jamming? There are not that many parts that could (to my thinking) actually be causing this.

Here is the schematic for my model's tranny:

Model LWA80AL

I'm going to go try an actual real load with this dirty trick up my sleeve on it if it *dares* to act up!

Just looked over your postings

Doberman you should change your name to Bulldog or better yet PitBull.
You have your teeth into this machine and will not let go.
Please do not take this as a put down, I mean it as a compliment, you have the makings of one helluva good tech.
The attitude that this S.O.B. is not going to beat me is an attitude I have had over a number of years and it has served me well.

I looked at the parts breakdown and many of them are Out Of Stock often an indication that this unit is getting close to the end of it's repairable lifetime.

If you decide it needs a tranny it looks like about a $200.00 pop and you may have to replace the motor in the not too distant future (another $175.00 pop). It probably does not make sense to do this.

You are probably thinking "Well that was sort of useless" so here is my contribution to your quest
http://www.servicematters.com/m...ary/docs/RS3100005R3.pdf