Kenmore washer won't drain or spin

Hi folks. My Washer will not drain or spin. Found it full of water w/load and when I placed it on spin cycle all I would get was a buzzing noise. When I put it on rinse cycle with lid closed it will agitate clothing while full but when placed on spin cycle it will not drain and spin. All I get is the buzzing sound. When I open lid during agitation it does stop so switch appears to be in working order. You can even hear it click when slowly lifted and closed.

I took the washer apart, drained it, checked pump for obstruction; nothing. I checked the coupler and it appears to turn and is not rounded out. Belt is fine. Made sure connecting piece to motor was in order. Appears fine. Even applied a shim just to check if it was connecting tightly enough. After putting everything back together drum still refuses to spin and all I get is the buzzing noise during spin cycle although drum moves easily when done by hand.

Now when I put in rinse cycle I get a minor buzz that is less loud than the spin buzz. Not sure if washer is suppose to agitate without water in it or if it even can. I have the water connections turned off at the wall so I don't have to deal with draining it again in case I need to have it serviced. Any other ideas? I thought maybe the motor was dead but if that were the case it wouldn't agitate right? CLUELESS.

Thx.

-Chris

 

Post model # 400 doesn't tell us anything. Usually a noise in spin means a bad drive coupler, What belt? No belts I know of unless it's more than 25 years old. Bad drive coupler will drain and not spin and agitate.

 

#29422800 If you read my OP you would understand that coupler, belt, switch etc. have all checked out. Anyone with useful information?

-Chris

 

There should be a three digit number before that. xxx.xxxxxxx

Until we have the correct model number we can't be of any useful help.

 

There was no 3 digit number before that. That is directly off the back of the model.

-Chris

 

Might be 110 based on my research. With everything seeming to check out could this be a timer issue? When I spin the timer through all cycles my machine will agitate during the heavy cycle but not the others. It will not spin when I hit the spin cycle either. During agitation if I lift the lid agitation will stop so switch is working. As stated previously coupler and belt are in good working order. Thx again.

-Chris

 

110.29422800 should be your model number. The 110. would be stamped in the label... it would look different from the rest of the number.

You have a Whirlpool machine. It's called a direct drive washer and doesn't use any belts.

The motor turns in both directions. One direction is agitate and the tub needs to be full of water for agitation to occur.

When the motor turns in the other direction is spin and drain. The pump is directly connected to the motor so that if the machine isn't draining that would be a good indication that the motor isn't spinning in the reverse direction. You can confirm that visibly. You can remove just the pump to see if the pump is frozen and the motor runs then. You can just unclip it and put it aside.

You can also try removing the motor to see if it spins in the spin mode.
A video for motor and pump removal. you tube /watch?v=Oeiyjt7807o#t=185

 

Thx for your time PJ. This is frustrating. As stated, agitation works. Pump is unobstructed and turns freely by hand. Coupler is not stripped out and moves freely by hand as well. Switch works. I'm not sure if their is a bad wire from the timer to the motor not telling it to switch over during the cycle or if the timer is just bad. When I move through the knob you do "hear" the different sounds for each cycle. Small buzz for water pulling, agitation, then moving on to a click and larger buzz noise for drain and spin but with no drain or spin. AHHHHG! Hours into this and I still might wind up paying F%@#ing SEARS. Such BS.

-Chris

 

Sounds like a faulty timer to me. Timer reverses polarity to the motor start winding when going to drain/spin mode. This washer does have a dry agitate function. It will agitate without water if timer is set to one click before drain in the normal cycle. Timer purchased from APP can be returned if it doesn't fix the problem.

Whirlpool W10199989 Timer - AppliancePartsPros.com

 

Thanks Fairbank. I was thinking the same thing. I suppose it could be a faulty clutch as well. I haven't checked that. Would timer still work to agitate the washer if it was out? I did do a dry agitation test in heavy mode and it worked w/out water. Just no drain/spin.

-Chris

 

A faulty clutch would not prevent the drain function. The timer has multiple contacts in it for various functions so yes, a faulty timer could allow agitation to work fine but prevent drain/spin from working.

 

Thanks again Fairbank. Guess I'll nibble up on a timer, swap it out and see what happens. I'll leave an update if it works for everyone else's benefit. Peace.

-Chris

 

UPDATE-

It was the timer! Thx a lot Fairbank. About 2-3 hrs of youtube searches, forum stomping and labor coupled with the $80 or so I spent for a new timer on ebay and we're back in business. Better than buying a new washer or paying Sears a $hit ton to correct the issue for me. DIY baby. <3

TDL