Whirlpool Washer LDA7800W2

[Tim M]

At my daughter's school I had an initial look at this Whirlpool washer that had been sitting unused all summer and possibly longer in a very damp basement.

Water would enter the machine and nothing else would happen: no agitation, so spin, no drain. I could hear the hum of the motor but no action. Couldn't get things to turn at all. While I waited for the WD40 to act on the motor mounting bolts so I could loosen the belt, I pulled off the pump and it turned fine. Loosened the belt, got everything turning by hand, though the transmission felt a little sluggish.

Back together and the motor still hums with no action. Took the motor out, set it on the floor wired in and ran it. It hums without turning until I give the shaft a little twist by hand. Then it slowly ramps up to speed (unless I start it the wrong direction, then it puts along slowly.

Is this the start windings or some other wiring and how do I test it? The schematics may be blotted out with rust and mildew.

[Pegi]

Washer around 30 years old give or take a few years.....if the motor will not run wired direct to white and blue sounds like it is a bad motor, do not know what other testing could be done...some of those had black round start capacitors, if this has one a bad capacitor would cause what you are seeing, too old to bring up a parts diagram at sears....to know if this had one or not....call around your area to see if someone has a used motor saved somewhere, I had several of these motors saved at my shop for people who needed them, need to know if yours is one, two or three speed when calling around....

[Tim M]

The motor does run. So I just need to know how to perform the test to see if the windings are bad, the start windings are bad, the capicitor is bad etc.

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

[user=28611]Tim M[/user] wrote:

The motor does run.

There's a difference between getting the motor to turn for test purposes and the motor being able to do actual work in the machine. Based on your initial description:

Took the motor out, set it on the floor wired in and ran it. It hums without turning until I give the shaft a little twist by hand. Then it slowly ramps up to speed (unless I start it the wrong direction, then it puts along slowly.

I'd say Pegi nailed it: bad motor. Come git you one:

http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=154&N=2581