clothes soaking after wash

[nitroamos]

Inspired by my recent success with this group in fixing my fridge, I'm moving on to the next issue I'm facing... my washing machine. The clothes come out soaking wet, so I have to wring them out before putting them in the dryer, when then runs for hours.

Details: Maytag Neptune front loading washing machine Purchased by someone else circa Aug 99, so the motor is still under the 10 yr warranty Model # MAH4000AWW Serial # 40279379WQ

Symptoms:

• clothes are still soaking. sometimes, after taking out the clothes, there's a bit of standing water left. i don't mean that my clothes are damp... i mean that something like my sweatshirt couldn't absorb any

*more* water.

• when I come back a couple weeks for my next washing, the machine smells like stagnant water, so i pull the hose out of the drain pipe, and bringing it lower than the machine, I let all the water out before starting my next load.

• I don't know if the machine is spinning, because it's front loading, i don't know how to find out for sure. i can hear it making noises like it might be spinning, but it doesn't really sound like other machines i've heard. perhaps if there's still water, it won't spin as fast anyway...

• the clothes seem clean anyway, and not soapy. e.g. when i wring them out, it's clean water that's running off.

• the hose is connected to a drain pipe that is about the height of the machine, and there are no obvious kinks or anything. although, i haven't pulled the machine all the way out of the recess for a closer inspection.

So... it seems like the problem might be a faulty pump, but I can't find any advice online to help me know for sure. I found the part for sale online for ~40$, but i don't want to buy that if that's not the problem... but if it is, can anybody reassure me that it's easy to do the replacement myself?

any advice on how to figure out what the problem is???

[ransley]

I never had a dryer that needed to run for more than 45-50 minutes

[HeyBub]

Sounds more like a switch not turning on the pump during the spin/rinse cycle.

You can open the door during the suspect time period by defeating the door interlock switch - usually by poking something the size of a pencil into a hole in the door frame.

[ransley]

But its a front loader.

[wjohnston]

see:

[Bill]

How *should* your washing machine work? What should it be doing and when should it be doing this?

If you don't know the above, then you will not be able to figure out what is not working!

You need to understand how these things work, then be able to test different functions to find what is not working, then you can fix the problem.

Learn how electricity works. Learn how to use electrical test equipment like a multimeter. Learn how washing machines work. Then you can learn to troubleshoot a washing machine.

[LouB]

Snipped

Interesting site. Thanks:-))

Lou

[nitroamos]

is it ok to defeat the door lock on a front-loading machine?

[LouB]

Clothes will spill out along with water!

[HeyBub]

Sure, otherwise the manufacturer wouldn't provide an easy mechanism for doing so. Might be a little splash or two...

[ransley]

If you want laundry and water on the floor, so no!!

[ransley]

Abd you tried it ??

[dhinds]

The high speed spin on this machine is something like 800 RPM. If it's spinning, you'd know: it will sound like a jet engine taking off, and if you look in the window, your stuff will, umm, spin round and round really really fast.

Here is a service manual for the MAH3000AWW. I would expect that most of the troubleshooting info should be applicable for your model.

-- Dave

[HeyBub]

No, my washer is top-loading. I'm not much into fads.

That said, what could go wrong?

[ransley]

Everything, water and clothes on the floor 30 gallons of it

[HeyBub]

Like you've never experienced water on the floor?

I doubt it'll be 30 gallons, though. Aren't front loaders sold to the tree-buggers on the basis that they use less than a pint of water? Heck, in some front-loaders the water level doesn't even come up to the level of the door!

[nitroamos]

Ok, I did the test... I fooled the mechanism so that I could run it with the door open. I ran for 1 rinse cycle, which includes the final spin cycle. I put in 2 towels and 2 shirts, so a bit of a load, but not a lot. Turns out there was not too much splashing, and the water never came up to the level of the door.

Here's what I observed:

• It looked like it got enough water in the tub...

• It spun at about 1 +/- 0.5 cycles per second, so 60 rpm, for about 5 seconds. Then it would stop, and do it the other way for 5 seconds. It repeated that pattern, while it was rinsing, for maybe 5-10 rounds...

• Then the water drained out. I thought I could hear a bit of gurgling... but it's hard to tell if this was the sound of the water going through drain pipe, or the sound of the pump slurping up the last bits... but i'd guess the later.

• Then I guess it came time for the spin cycle, but it wasn't spinning any faster than what I saw before (~60 rpm). It would spin for a while in one direction, then switch. If it's supposed to be spinning at 800 rpm, then that's the problem right there.

• I pulled it out of its recess, and opened the back panel. The rubber belt seems ok. it passes the 1" test prescribed in the service manual.

• I tried turning the wheel, and it felt a bit difficult to turn it all the way by hand... i don't really have a good way of quantifying the resistance, but i could turn it with 1 finger, even with (difficult) the clothes. it did squeak a little bit... i tried spraying some wd40 where the wheel meets the tub, but that didn't make a difference.

• I ran it again with the back panel off, so i could see if it looked like the belt was slipping... but that didn't seem to be happening.

Thanks for the service manual reference! I didn't know it was available, because I thought maytag's website would have provided it for me. anyway, i've looked through the whole thing (almost) and here are some possible conclusions based on the observation that it tumbles just fine, but doesn't spin:

1) there could be a balance problem; the inertial or displacement sensor might be stuck. this would be consistent with my observation that it was tumbling in both directions, trying to balance the (small) load. it's evening now, and my machine is outside (covered...) so i'll wait for tomorrow to test this.

2) There could be a problem with the door lock, because someone said that when they tried, the door popped open on them, although i've been unable to duplicate that. the "locked" light does turn on... although i'll need to test that the "Door Locked" light turns on when the timer is in the Spin cycle explicitly...

3) there are a series of things to test continuity for... so maybe i'll need to run to the store and get one of those devises.

4) check to see if there's a drain restriction

ok... enough for today. :-)

[ransley]

Maybe a maintenance bugger, but a pint? OK maybe a few gallons. But his dryer runs for hours? Sounds like chinese crap to me.

[nitroamos]

my dryer is fine. i'm saying that the clothes are so wet that the dryer, which runs until dry, runs for hours.

[HeyBub]

"Ok, I did the test... I fooled the mechanism so that I could run it with the door open. I ran for 1 rinse cycle, which includes the final spin cycle. I put in 2 towels and 2 shirts, so a bit of a load, but not a lot. Turns out there was not too much splashing, and the water never came up to the level of the door."

Hi-ho. Hi-ho. It's off to work we go...