OT Maytag washer spinning slow

fixerupper

Well-known Member
The older Maytag top load clothes washer we have is spinning slow and not getting the water out of the clothes. I took the belts off and they seem to look good. Then I filled the washer with about six inches of water, started the spin cycle and it spun slowly, never really getting up to speed. While it was trying to spin I pulled back on the motor to put tension on the belt and it did speed up the basket but then the motor tripped out, telling me something is pulling hard in the gear box.

I Googled a few washing machine sites and the idea I gleaned from these sites is the brake might not be fully releasing. There is a thrust washer kit that can be installed but I don't think that affects the brake. It does not squeak or rattle, though there is a slight growl when it does run. What do you guys think? I know some of you know washing machines pretty well and practically all of you know more about them than I do. LOL Jim
 
Check the pump and whatever gets the water out of the tub. Sounds like it's not pumping enough water out
before it goes into spin. Too much water is too hard to spin, overloads the motor.
 

OK, with some water in the tub I pulled the drain hose that goes from the bottom of the tub to the pump and it gushed out full flow. The pump is sitting right in front where I can see it and it seems to turn slow. I pulled the discharge hose out of the drain behind the washer and nothing came out while the machine was spinning and pumping. Then all of a sudden it started pumping and pumped the tub dry but the basket never did rev up fast.
 
I might have found the problem. Will try it out in the morning as soon as I fix a drain pipe. It has a button for gentle agitation and a button for regular agitation right beside it. Both buttons were partially depressed. I assume when the slow agitation button is pushed the motor runs slower for agitation but runs at regular speed for spinning. I pushed the regular agitation button in, the slow agitation button popped out, turned the timer to spin and it went up to full speed with no water. When I was watching it run earlier on it seemed like the motor just wasn't getting up to speed and the tub never got up to speed. I assume the motor wasn't kicking up to full speed for agitation and spinning because it was getting partial signals from both the slow and the fast buttons being partially pushed in at the same time. Marilyn does set a wash basket on top of the washing machine and I think the basket was the culprit that pushed the button.
 

Not many Maytags down here but I have had the exact same problem with a neighbour's machine .
There is a solenoid on the side of the motor / gearbox assembley that fails quite often . It is supposed to cut in during the spin cycle and depending on the set up either changes to a higher gear or switches to different windings that run the motor faster .
Takes about twenty minutes to change and from memory costs less than $30 .
 
Glad you found it. I had 1 that was slow to pump and slow to spin because the water made the basket load heavy. Cleaning out the partly clogged drain hose fixed it.
 
Charles I'm going to look for that solenoid. It might not be bad but it is good to know where it is at.
 
Charles I'm going to look for that solenoid. It might not be bad but it is good to know where it is at.
 
Had a problem like that a month a go , brother and I found a NAIL in the discharge pump !!
the thing was stainless steel and went thru the basket to the pump, and jammed the discharge ,sure was fun getting it out , after 1 hr , used a long 8 inch fish hook remover to get it out, ran great
 
It may be the clutch... Just did one on my Kenmore.
Had the same symptoms. More than likely same
kind of setup. You can YouTube it to see how it is
done... Real easy fix. Dan
 
Thanks Dan. We can find about any 'how to' video on the net nowadays, can't we. Today I threw a load of work clothes in and when it came to the spin cycle it spun them to where they were just damp and not sopping wet like before. Then Marilyn washed a load and it still didn't seem to spin up to top speed but at least the clothes weren't sopping. It's better than before but I'm still going to throw a new belt on it to see what happens. When Marilyn was looking for the owners manual she found a check dated 1986 for repairs on this machine so it does have some age on it.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top