Old maytag, bad timer, convert to manual, usual dumb idea?

[TimR]

I bought a Maytag toploader in 1990, an A484. Today it stopped advancing from cycles.

We have an excellent repair shop in town but they said there are no parts available and they declined to work on it. I finished the load moving the dial by hand.

They don't make machines that last 30 years anymore. Well, I guess you can still get the Speedqueen commercial model for about $1000, but I don't have 30 years left in me.

So, has anybody done a workaround, conversion to manual? From the service manual it looks like there are 10 sets of contacts that close in the timer. Light switches are less than a dollar each, a little more for 3 ways. The functions are just fill, drain, wash, spin, how hard can it be? I looked at some youtube videos but they weren't really helpful. They wire directly to the motors rather than reusing the timer wires. Toggle switches would be more elegant but now we're talking $4 per switch. -

This would be really manual. Flip the right switches for fill and wash, in 10 minutes change to drain, 3 minutes to spin, etc.

The elegant way would be a Raspberry Pi or similar but then we need relays.

[Dean Hoffman]

A quick search said the part wasn't available from one source. The source suggested putting the part number into a search engine. I tried and came up with Whirlpool parts.

Suppose the motor is bad. What else would the motor be used for? Dishwashers? Can you see the numbers on the motor? I'm out of ideas.

[TimR]

I found this:

and now I understand what the youtube conversion videos are about (though they are not in English and I can't follow them). Third world countries do amazing work repairing cast off US machines when they can't get electronic control boards. Apparently the 6 wire wind up timer is available for about $3 and used to control the motor directly.

It's possible any washer timer could be used with jumpers to connect to the harness. They must all do about the same thing.

[hubops]

I thought .. hard to believe that the timer / timer motor are not available ? .. then I checked a couple web sites : 1. phone for availability 2. $ 175. !

John T.

[Dean Hoffman]

On second thought, Ebay:

There's at least one used on the list.

[hubops]

From the one parts website - the timer motor ~ looks like the one on my water softener .. longshot but worth looking into ? John T.

[gfretwell]

SSRs are a better option than relays if you are doing electronic switching. They will run directly from CMOS. If the thing is not advancing, it might just be the motor. The gear train could just be gummed up. I bet any timer from a similar machine would get it going tho. Like you say the functions are the same. The timer just gives you different options on how they get going.

[Clare Snyder]

If you are going to "bodge" it just get a timer from a different model washer and adapt the wiring. Lots of late model washers get scrapped with perfectly working timers. Take the wiring plugs with the timer, dig out the scematics and patch the wires together.

[gfretwell]

There are lots of places that sell those gear head motors. The only critical thing is the RPM, output gear specs and voltage. Most of those synchronous motors mount in the same holes.

[gfretwell]

If it is a whirlpool, amana, kenmore, roper, kitchen aid it may even have the right plug.