How to Check a Washing Machine Motor Capacitor

When your washing machine stops working, it's a good idea to check the capacitor for your washing machine motor before you decide to replace the motor. This can be done in a few steps.

Step 1 – Getting Ready

Remember to unplug your washing machine. Your equipment comes with insulated handles as to avoid an electrical shock.

When you're ready to begin, remove the rear panel so that you can reach the washer motor. Find the start capacitor, which is the larger of the two capacitors, and remove the metal cover. Before you change anything, be sure to make a chart of how the motor wires are connected to the capacitor terminals so that you will be able to replace them properly when you're done.

Step 2 – Removing Wires

Now you can remove the wires from the terminals. Use your needle nose pliers for this.

Step 3 – Discharge the Run Capacitor

Discharge the run capacitor by placing one alligator clip from your jumper wire to the housing of the capacitor, and place the other on the metal shaft of your screwdriver. Then put the blade of the screwdriver to one of the terminals and the shaft of the screwdriver to the other terminal. This will cause the capacitor to short out, which means you can deal with it without worrying about getting shocked, since it has a store charge and can cause a shock even when unplugged.

Step 4 – Setting Up the Multimeter

Change your multimeter so that it is set to the OHM scale. When that is done, touch the two lead points to one another and switch the adjusting wheel until the needle reaches zero and thus points straight up.

Step 5 – Checking the Capacitor

Touch the leads to the capacitor terminals. The black lead goes on right, the red lead goes on left. This should make the needle of the multimeter jump from zero to the right before going back to zero. Next, you should reverse the leads. This will make the needle move even further from zero before going back. If the needle doesn't move, this means that your capacitor is not working.