Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Maytag washer LA511 sparked and died

This is the only washing machine I've ever owned and it died today. Want to revive it if possible. I turned the dial and pushed it in to start the washer and a spark occurred, then I smelled that distinctive electrical burn smell. I immediately unplugged it, let it cool off for several hours, plugged it back in, and nothing. I really want to figure out what part to replace to get it going again. I think it probably has to do with some wiring behind the dial.

I've never had any other problems previously in all the time I've owned it since 1982. After reading opinions of the new stuff out there, I'm sticking with an oldy-but-a-goody if possible.

Thanks so much!

Was the dial in the postion in the beginning where it starts to fill water?

If so, that should rule out the motor getting fried. So now it comes down to probably the timer dial on through the fill valve circuit. If you are venturesome...with the machine unplugged, take the back panel off and start looking for brown-black or swirly arc marks or melted plastic probably next to where electrical wire plug-in spade connectors are.

No, I was turning the dial to manually make the machine spin water out to empty the tub after soaking some articles in the gentle cycle. That's the way I do delicate clothes that I don't want to agitate much. I just fill up the tub, add the soap, agitate to mix it, then push the dial in to stop the cycle. I add the clothes, let them soak, then spin them out by advancing the dial manually. Is that bad to do? I've been doing it for years. The spark seemed to come from around the dial. It occurred as soon as I pushed the knob in and turned it.

My husband and I took the front panel off and our thinking is it's maybe the timer??

We really, really want to be able to salvage this machine. Do you think it could be the motor? I hope not.

Thanks soooo much!

Any signs at all of dicoloration on the timer? But regardless, it probably IS the timer.

Bad practice of manually advancing timer? I don't know. Arguable I guess.

No, there isn't any discoloration. We'll probably go ahead and get a timer from the appliance parts worldwide website and try it.

Thanks again for your help!

Don't be in such haste yet. It COULD be motor related if the motor is locked and you were in the motor working mode and you pulled out the timer dial that sends power to the motor in that mode.

What happens if you move the timer to the very start position and pull out the knob? Anything happen? Is there still power to the outlet? Make sure of that...that a breaker did not trip out. Reset the breaker, then try my test.

Okay,
Tried the outlet, power still there. When I put the dial in the start position, absolutely nothing happens. What would you recommend now?

Thanks again!

So you can't get the machine to do anything no matter where on the dial you set it? It will not spin when you advance it to the spin cycle, and you have the lid down? If yes to this......

If this was me, I'd first make sure I had power to and through the lid switch.

We know you have no "closed"(closed means power should be going through this circuit if all was well) circuit between the timer and fill valve.

Do you have a timer that you can take apart? Some you can take them apart and actually see the "points" inside... and if you have one of these timers that you can take apart in half, if you were cheap, you could actually file the burned points!

But because of that smell...that is what is bothering me. It sounds more like wires fried. First start at where the wires enter the machine and go from there. And if you have looked at every wire..then you may want to see if you can open up the timer (machine unplugged, of course) and look inside.