9 replies to this topic

[Tim M]

.      Need to see if I'm on the right track.  At a veterinarian's office, which means overloaded washer with lots of towels, I suspect.  They said it wasn't spinning or pumping, coupling and lid switch OK.

 

.    Spins sluggishly.  I hear a click every second or so from under the machine.  I reach in and the basket doesn't turn as easily as I expected.  Even with no load (other than water) I hear a louder click and the whole thing stops.  Overload protector, probably.  Starts back up in half a minute or so.

 

.    Then I notice the overload protector tripping on agitate cycle, too.

 

.    My assumption is bad clutch, but I don't know.  I guess it could be something between the basket or tub, though nothing was visible through the clear, but murky, basket.

 

.   I look forward to any and all insights.

[fairbank56]

  Maybe something jammed in the pump. Remove the pump and see if it will agitate/spin. If that's not it, pull the motor and set it on the floor still hooked up and see if it will run in agitate/spin. Clutch would have no effect on agitate. Make sure there's nothing jammed under the agitator.

 

Eric

Edited by fairbank56, 31 January 2013 - 05:07 PM.

[Tim M]

Got it.

 

.     Back today.  Runs fine as I got there.  Pumps out (slowly maybe?) with no spin but basket turns easily by hand.  Reaches end of cycle and I hear (the usual) clunk from under the machine.  Basket still turns by hand.  I restart it on the spin cycle and it takes off spinning.  They report it has been starting and stopping.

 

 

.    New load.  Move from Heavy to Normal.  Agitates 10 seconds then time out for 30.  On for 10 off for 90.  On for 10 off for 120.  Switch to spin (with pump removed) and spins OK, stopping test after a few minutes.  Pump turns easily by hand.

 

.    Try again set on Heavy.  The thing seems to run fine, and I end test after a few minutes.  Remove motor and test on floor.  OK on Heavy, but it times out after 10 seconds on normal, even when the motor is disconnected and has no load.  So fairbank56 pointed me in the right direction.  I wouldn't have thought the motor would time out for 2 minutes under no load.

[RegUS_PatOff]

with the Motor removed and disconnected, try turning the Motor Shaft by hand.

Does it turn easily, smoothly ..

OR may be bad Contacts in the Timer ..

[fairbank56]

  Sounds more like the timer. When doing normal cycle and it quits, advance the timer right away to see if it starts back up again. If it does, it's the timer as it would take a little longer for the motor overload to reset if that was the problem.

 

Eric

[Tim M]

.

 

.   I believe motor turns easily and smoothly, though I don't have it in front of me now.

 

 

.   Advancing timer by hand did not start the motor back up.  Everything was completely dead once a loud click was heard from the motor (though it still would fill with water, which is not motor dependent).  The motor would sometimes time out for two minutes or more and nothing would bring it back until a loud click (not a clunk) was heard from the motor.

 

.    Having it more likely to happen in Normal than Heavy, could have led me to a timer issue, if it hadn't happened in Heavy at all.  Given that it is a two speed motor, which I think the machine says can run at 4 different speeds, I thought there could be differences in how the motor runs in these two settings, which would make it show up more often in one than the other.  If it were bad motor bearings, for example, might they not cause as much problem when more force is applied.  I'm afraid I'm getting away from the point here.

 

.   Point is, I guess, that the whole motor shuts down, regardless of timer setting.  What else could it be aside from motor, except maybe the motor switch.

[Budget Appliance Repair]

My bet is on the timer, possibly one of the contacts welded together for one speed then when operated in the other speed it tries to run the motor with both LO/HI windings energized at same time causing overload to trip or possibly just contact points fried so badly they sometimes stick/weld together then other times don't make good contact so can't care the load.

 

You need to put an amp meter on the power cord and see the amperage draw during the 10 seconds it runs before the overload kicks out, your probably going to see very high, (12+ amps), for the complete 10 seconds.

 

Each time it runs for the 10 seconds and trips the overload the motor is getting hotter and hotter thus longer periods to cool down to reset thermal overload each time.

 

Without looking at it, everything you have described points to timer contact problems, especially the works OK sometimes part.

 

It has one of the newer style white/cream color plastic timers which are pretty much junk.

[fairbank56]

  That makes sense. In normal cycle, it first agitates low speed for a period of time and then goes to high whereas in heavy cycle, it only agitates in high speed.

 

Eric

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Timer part link ==> http://www.repaircli...8579446/1201637

 

[Tim M]

.     Budget was right.  The machine was continuously drawing over 30 amps until the motor kicked off.  Once the new timer was installed, it would level off around 8 amps right away.  I had assumed a start winding was staying engaged, and it didn't occur to me that it was both Low and High running together.  Someone had mentioned that turning the timer around a lot sometimes fixed it, but I thought maybe they were just killing time while the overload protector reset itself.

 

.     Anyway you saved me a second trip out for a repair, and some embarrassment.  So, one of two donations to the Appliantology fund today, this one for $15.  By the way, the donation fund my remain unnoticed by many, as it is labeled "Beer" instead of "Donate" or "Donate to keep this service/tool/academy/forum going." or "We can't afford to provide the only accurate answers on the web without your support.  Donate now."