Kenmore front load washer 796.41262610 - clothes are sopping wet at end of cycle

[Bill P]

This machine was purchased in 2017 (about 5 years old at this point).

Symptoms:

1. Wife would run Delicates cycle and consistently found the clothes sopping wet (and sudsy) and water still in the tub (not completely drained).
2. Up until about 2 weeks ago, my clothes on a Normal cycle ran just fine - came out spun dry and no water in the tub
3. Now the soppy clothes and water in the tub is happening on the normal cycle.
4. Run Rinse & Spin and it would "most of the time" re-rinse (get rid of the excess soap) and properly spin the clothes.

Weekend warrior findings:

1. After finding the tech sheet and studying I have the following diagnostic information 
   1. No error codes are being thrown - zero, zilch, nada!
   2. All diagnostic modes (fill, tumble clockwise, counterclockwise, drain, etc.) all respond and work perfectly and are within the specification on the tech sheet.
   3. Water level sensor DOES register properly - water fills and the number drops from 255 going down as the tub fills.  
   4. When I enter diagnostic mode after a cycle of normal clothes that sopping wet, the water level is at 246 (which is normal for WASHING per the tech sheet).  255 is Empty.  Thus, it should know the tub is not empty.
2. What I have physically done
   1. Completely taken apart the drain system from the tub's drain tube, down to the drain filter/pump and even the exit hose
   2. Remove exit hose and flushed hard to remove any debris
   3. Disassembled the water pump - found a lot of sludge in the impeller housing behind the impeller (probably normal).
   4. Found NO articles of clothing, coins or massive amounts of lint clogging the drain
   5. Tested the pump's resistance (tech sheet said between 10-20ohms and it registered 15ohms - perfect.
3. Other symptoms I noticed weeks ago or even months ago
   1. Came through the laundry room from the garage/car and smelled burning "electronics" - it was when my wife was running in delicate mode.  I know this smell because I've worked with electronics since I was in HS back in the 80's. 
   2. The burning smell was not constant - didn't know if it was the drain pump was struggling or if something else was failing - FIGURED A FAILURE ERROR WOULD SHOW UP but nothing has shown up on the display board for an error - NOTHING!  Well, when I leave the door open and enter diagnostic mode it complains that the door is open - so at least the some of the diagnostics are working.

My gut is telling me that the main control board is faulty - but not enough to throw the EE error code, just enough to be messed up when trying to run a spin cycle.  But, this is my other question: is there a problem with the spin cycle?  Diagnostics run fine at 50rpm in both clockwise and counter clockwise and even high speed testing.  In fact, the Rinse and Spin does complete the cycle using a high-speed spin.  We have noticed that it seems to get "stuck" in "try to do a high speed spin but can't" but yet it's not saying why - it's just trying over and over but never does it and then I guess it thinks the cycle is done.  My thought is the main control board is not handling the entrance into the high-speed spin mode properly and thinks something is not right - like out of balance, too heavy, etc.  Because here's an interesting behavior I noticed today while I was washing all the towels I soaked from sopping up the mess I made when I left the exit drain hose disconnected from the drain pump during re-assembly and then tested (ugh! it was wet).  I threw all the sopping wet towels into the washer (yep - probably overloaded it) for an express wash (25 min).  At minute 7 on the countdown it got "stuck" trying to spin - it went for over 30 minutes stuck at minute 7!!!  I had to remove 2/3 of the load and THEN it finished the cycle with a high-speed spin!  WHY did it not throw any errors?  I believe because the control board is failing/failed.  

So I classify this machine running in "limping" mode - it's doing it's best as all the parts are working except the brain seems to be messed up.

My other thought is the pressure switch - but that is probably not the problem because there's an error code if that's failing.  And the washer is not overfilling or not filling - it's filling just perfectly.   Plus, the diagnostic mode of water level is giving me numbers that make sense to the tech sheet specifications.

My wife is thinking the soap is at issue, I'm thinking this machine worked fine for a long time and now started this weird behavior and I vividly remember smelling burnt electronics a while back (definitely in 2021 sometime). 

So, any other ideas are welcome.  My wife does not agree that it's the brains.  I was thinking of starting with a "used" control board just to see if it behaves better.  If it does, then I can live on that one until it dies and then replace it with a new one later (or buy a new one now before they are NLA) to have on hand.

Everything else in the washer looks fantastic - literally I could not believe how clean the inside of the washer and even the drain system was not as bad as I've seen in previous front loaders we've owned.

Thanks in advance for your time and opinion.

[16345Ed]

I’m with your wife. Did you change detergent? Sounds like it’s in de-suds mode. Too much detergent. 
 

HE: 2 tablespoons 

HE2: 1 tablespoon 

HE Turbo: 1 teaspoon 

[16345Ed]

Btw in future. You will get many more responses if your explanation is more concise. 

[THRAMICH]

1 hour ago, 16345Ed said:

I’m with your wife. Did you change detergent? Sounds like it’s in de-suds mode. Too much detergent. 
 

HE: 2 tablespoons 

HE2: 1 tablespoon 

HE Turbo: 1 teaspoon 

Make SURE that the detergent you use is HE or better. Non-HE detergents (or cheap dollar store brands) will often over suds and cause issues.

 

Also change your water inlet hoses, and test to make sure you have good water pressure and flow rate. Many times a washer will not complete rinse because the cold water supply is too weak and the tub is not filling fast enough.

 

It is possible that the tub bearings are failing and the spin basket has excessive play. One way to check for this is to listen to the sound of the washer while running a drain and spin cycle. If it sounds like a jet engine taking off, it's time to look for a new washer!

 

If all else fails, call a qualified repair technician.

[EngineeredAppliance]

I agree with the post above. All front loaders are HE units regardless if printed on the unit. So a quality HE detergent needs to be used. With the right amount that will reduced your suds. 

Pressure switch is fine.

Buying a used control board is a terrible idea.

If you have a burning smell you would need to identify where its coming from doesn’t mean its the board as this is a direct drive unit and the smell could come from the drain pump, recirculation pump (if equipped) and maybe the stator. 

On the back of the unit there is a tube that the pressure switch connects to and runs down the back of the outer tub. Removed that tube and check that area is clean. Debris in that orifice will throw off the program. 

Check the drive components. Stator and rotor. Check to make sure the bolt is tight. Check the RPS sensor. According to the tech sheet. This is an LG built unit after all. 

The control board should be the last thing on your mind as you have a few variables to check off first. If all else fails call a technician. You will need a meter as you need to makes some measurements on the stator and rps

Edited March 23, 2022 by EngineeredAppliance
Spelling error

[Bill P]

Thank you everyone for the responses.  I believe the problem is solved.

Turns out it looks like it was the amount of HE soap being used.  @16345Ed was correct on his de-suds assessment.  I thought about the issue with the suds and realized an easy way to remove that variable was to run a load of clothes without any soap in all three cycles (Delicates, Express and Normal).  When I did this it ran perfectly in all three cycles putting to bed my theory on the control board and giving credence to the suds problem.  We are and have been using an HE quality soap, just too much.  The mistake was using the holding tray's "normal" and "max" lines instead of using the detergent's measuring cup (liquid soap), which when used revealed the amount of soap needed is well below the "normal" line.  This also removes the theory that the supply lines do not have enough pressure.

As for the burning smell I have not smelled it in a long while but I will definitely keep an eye on drive components if it returns.  Thank you @EngineeredAppliance for your comments on that situation.  I agree - I could not isolate the source of the smell and for all I know it could have been the dryer.