Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Whirlpool Washer not Spinning

Hi. I've got a Whirlpool Ultimate Care II Washer, Lsq8543jq0, and :wall:

It agitates, it drains, but it won't spin... most of the time.
I have a screwdrive stuck in the door switch so I can see what's going on, and when it gets to the rinse cycle I have to stop the machine because it will almost never spin. Sometimes a wild shake of the washer and then turning it back on will get it going, other times spinning the knob to different cycles and trying will work, sometimes just shutting it off and turning it on will kick it in.

Then it will go through the normal rinsing cycle... and again, will not spin dependably. Again, if you klunk the washer while it's off, and then turn it back on, it will go, and sometimes if you dial it to the rinse cycle of a different setting it will... it's not dependable anymore at all, and if you miss the first spin before the rinse, the clothes are still soapy. It's easy to tell if the final spin worked, because the water has just drained and the soggy clothes are sitting at the bottom. The washer is only about 5/6 years old, and I don't have the $$ to get anyone to come out.

Please help :confused:

At first I thought maybe the coupler between your motor & tranny could be bad but if that was the case, it would not agitate either. Sounds like your lid switch might be going bad. Works sometimes & not others. Contacts in switch might be getting bad. Dave

Yes, it does agitate right on target. It never makes any strange noises, but it seems like something is not engaging when it tries to spin - unless I klunk it into place. (or leave it off, then *sometimes* it will spin when the lid goes back down - or the screwdriver is in :) ).

What does the switch actually do? You think this is electronic rather than mechanical?

Is there any way I can maybe test it?

Thanks

The lid switch is a safety feature designed to stop the spin cycle when lid is opened. If you take the control panel off the top of the machine by removing a few screws, you can bypass the switch with a jumper wire. With the panel removed, you will see a plug on the top of the washer. Un-plug it & place the jumper between the 2 outside terminals on the top part of the plug. The middle terminal is the ground. If your washer spins when its supposed to, the switch is bad. Dave

Ok, I jumpered the lid switch and ran a small load of laundry through. I just realized now that the size of the load could make a difference, but either way, when the washer began to drain, it kept draining, it did not spin.

Both times, I pushed the knob off, then pulled it back on... then the spin began. It is normally not this easy to get it to spin so I'm thinking it may be the small size of the load (??)

Anything else I can check? I read through lots of web pages, and easily took the cabinet off. I cannot see anything obvious... I'll scrounge up more dirty clothes for the next test, if anyone can direct me. Thank you.

..

OK. Before I tell you to replace the timer, lets check one more thing. Since you know how to take the shell off to get at everything, Its pretty easy to check the direct drive coupler between the motor & tranny. Take the clips off the pump & pull pump off. Take the 2 screws off & clips holding motor. Check coupler for ears broken or coupler broke or rubber insert rounded out. If coupler looks OK, it almost has to be a timer problem. Bad contacts a likely cause. Dave

hi i am new in this forum, i am trying to respect and thank to all those who helping others with related problems.
I have beaumark washing machine with model #58251TBWW, It drains the water but it won't spin , i was tryin to figure out how i can look into it or opens to see where is the problem or locate the belt or the motor.
because i was trying to turn the mashine upside down. mashines bottom and back look like not open able.
thanks for any help

Hi Dave, I don't mean to take so long. I have not been at my boyfriend's house since I took the shell off and posted last time... and he hasn't done anything yet, so I will be there this weekend, I'll try your suggestion for the next test. I really appreciate your help. Thanks again-

Gina


OK. Before I tell you to replace the timer, lets check one more thing. Since you know how to take the shell off to get at everything, Its pretty easy to check the direct drive coupler between the motor & tranny. Take the clips off the pump & pull pump off. Take the 2 screws off & clips holding motor. Check coupler for ears broken or coupler broke or rubber insert rounded out. If coupler looks OK, it almost has to be a timer problem. Bad contacts a likely cause. Dave

Ok, here's what he reported back to me:
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I finally got around to my washer and paid really close attention. Here's what I saw/heard:
The washer spins 4 times during a wash cycle

1st time: After agitation and while tub is full of water.
What I found was that there was a pause after the agitation phase, then the water started to drain. At the exact same time the water began to drain the agitation stem moved about 1/16 of a rotation then stopped. This looked to me like it was trying to begin the spin cycle but something stopped it. There seemed to be two distinct sounds: one being the pump draining the water and a second sound I would describe as a dry pulsing sound. I waited and timed what happened. After about 40 seconds all the water appeared to have been drained from the tub. After 1 minute I may have heard a click, but if I did it was very faint and brief. After 1 minute 10 seconds I could hear the pump sucking air. After 2 minutes 15 seconds, when nothing changed I stopped the spin cycle. I reengaged it and it didn't want to spin so I stopped it again and rocked the tub a little then once again reengaged the spin cycle. This time it began to spin.
After this 1st spin cycle is a pause and then a 2nd spin.

2nd spin: With the tub empty it began the spin cycle with no problem.

3rd spin: Full tub after agitation. Everything was the same as the 1st except I didn't hear the click this time.

4th spin: Empty tub. No problem.

I never heard a what I would call a thump, unless it was just the sound of the spin cycle engaging, which was kind of a hard sound and it really seemed to me like it was trying to engage immediately when the draining started. Plus it really seemed to make a difference when I moved the tub around those times when it didn't start.

So that's what I found out about that. I am worried about tearing that gear box apart, but I'm guessing that is going to be the next step.
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That's latest report, and I'm grateful he finally did some laundry before I go over there this coming weekend (looks at the date of last post... yes it has been nearly month) :rolleyes:

Could you pls tell me what I'm looking for with that coupler. I'm not really a mechanical whiz... I just have less fear than he does :eek:

Pretty easy to get to coupler. With washer shell off, remove the 2 clips on the pump & remove pump. Take the 2 screws off the clips holding motor, remove clips, un-plug motor & take off. Half of the coupler is on motor shaft, other half is on tranny. There is a rubber bushing between them. The coupler half's each have 3 ears on them. Either the ears are broke off, coupler itself is broke or the rubber bushing is rounded out. With what you have checked so far on the washer I know you can handle the coupler. Let me know how you make out. Dave Part # of coupler ( or coupling ) #285852

WAS THERE ANY OIL RESIDUE ON THE FLOOR BELOW MACHINE... OR ON THE INSIDE SIDES OF THE CABINET... AFTER AGITATE IT SHOULD STOP THEN PUMP OUT WATER ..THEN STOP AGAIN.. THATS WHEN YOU GET THE CLUNK NOISE.. IT THEN STARTS BACK UP AND SPINS... AS FOR THE OIL RESIDUE IF YOU SEE THIS MOST LIKELY THE CLUTCH IS SOAKED AND SLIPPING UNDER LOAD .. THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM... IF COUPLER BROKE IT WONT AGITATE ALSO :coffee:

Ok, he got around to checking it once again... (must be quite a pile of laundry in the basement) :) Here's the report:
.
.
Well, the ears were all in tact and the bushing looks like new and there is no oil spattered anywhere. I was hoping maybe just tearing it apart and putting it back together would do the trick, but no luck with that either. I guess that means the coupler needs to be replaced. Not sure if that is within my capabilities or not. At least it still runs even if it is like it was before. I cut my finger on it too, hope it heals enough to practice soon, I don't want to lose what ground I've gained recently. Oh well, it was certainly worth a try. If there are more options at least I know how to get that far now.
.
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He is referencing his guitar playing :) damn washer is interfering with band practice! heehee ;)

thanks guys.

Gina

Ok, we paid our $40 for a service call and the guy said almost immediately it was the timer.... and about $160 more to fix it. Can we do this ourselves? I could've sworn we checked the damn timer! grrr...

Gina :)

Timer is easy to replace. Lift top console up & there it is. Plug-in harness, so no worries about screwing up the wiring. However... timers do NOT cost $160.00. Half that price is about right. Do a search on the internet under "appliance parts" with your model # and get the best price. Dave

replaced timer, still not working. The only thing that works is the hand wash and well, basically any setting that doesn't involve the high spin. I'm beginning to think that the green wire that the diagram indicates as "high spin" is not connecting right. But I don't know what to do. We can't send the switch back because it's electronic, so I guess we're sunk. Oh well. I've been spinning it twice at the end so it's not so much work on the dryer. I can still get it to go on high spin on occasion, but then I have to stand there the whole time, because it's high spin or no spin. At least with the other settings it spins...

OK. I'm running out of ideas & you're running out of money. One last thing I can think of. Last week I had a customer who's Whirlpool would not spin. I thought the motor was bad & disconnected the plug that clipped onto the motor & saw a terminal that was black from a bad connection. I cleaned the terminal with a piece of sandpaper, plugged the motor harness back on & that took care of the problem. Worth a look. Dave

that green wire that I mentioned, it's in the gigantic plug full-o-wires that connects to the timer. The wiring diagram shows that it's the one for the high spin. I can still get the high spin if I monkey around with the wiring harness, but then, I suppose from the spinning, it stops working again. Any idea how to trace that wire down to where it ends up? I have the blasted thing put back together again, but I could take it apart. I don't know why it gave me so much trouble putting the cabinet back over it. Gave me a few nice cuts too. :P damn thing.... grrr....

That green wire from timer harness goes down to motor so I hate to say it but you will have to take the shell off again to get at the harness plug at motor. Once you get the plug off the motor, check over the terminals on motor & inside the harness plug. If any look like they got hot from a bad connection, clean them up with some sandpaper. Don't feel bad about getting the shell back on. I have trouble with them too. The trick is to have the shell tilted back towards you & getting the front lip of the shell started under the front of the washer base then lower the shell over the rest of washer. Good luck! Dave

I think I have figured out the problem with your washing machine. I think I have a similar machine to yours, and I've been having the exact same problem as yours. When the machine tries to spin, it makes the noise like it's spinning, but it doesn't spin. I open the lid, wait a couple seconds for the motor to stop, those close the lid (or put something in the slot to make the machine think the lid is closed), and it spins perfectly, until it stops and tries to spin again. I do the same procedure, and it spins fine again.

Every other mode on the washer works perfectly fine. It fills, agitates, drains, but only sometimes spins when there is a small load in the machine. I've tried to diagnose a bunch of things on the washer, and I came to the conclusion that it's the gearbox (transmission). So, took the whole machine apart, and started to disassemble the gearbox. At first, dumped all the oil in a oil pan, and started to pull everything out of the gearbox, and inspecting every little piece in there. It all looked really good in it and I figured I was wrong in thinking it was the gearbox, until I was almost done assembling the unit. There is a little piece of plastic in the gearbox that had a piece of metal on it. After looking at a few parts on repairclinic.com, I found the same piece that has a bigger piece of metal on it, sort of like a spring. This metal piece must have snapped off at some time, and it stopped spinning without me knowing.

I'm going to try to find the replacement part this weekend, and will reassemble the gearbox and washer. I will test and post once it's all back together.

Chris

I'm so frustrated with it. Before we sell that house it would be nice to have this washer fixed, the thing isn't that old. We've already paid $70 for a timer and $40 for a service call where the guys said it was the timer but was going to charge us about twice as much as repairclinic for the timer. Then it turns out it wasn't the timer. It still doesn't spin unless we wrestle with it on every load. My bf doesn't want to stand there through every load of laundry, so he just lets is pile up and takes it here. Also found out that it is not consistent on the slow spins either.

Please let me know what you find out. I have taken apart and fixed a lot of things, but I really have no clue about a washing machine. Being in a dimly lit basement doesn't help either, besides it being so darn heavy. I know if I just buy a cheap used one it will certainly be older than this one, but maybe that's the only answer if we have to keep throwing money at this washer. :(

ugh.
thanks for listening.

Gina

Did anyone find out what the solution was? I have a Whirlpool Ulitmate Care II and it will not spin. If someone can help me fix this it would be great.

Thanks
Mary & Tom