DoItYourself Washer Repair Made Easy: No Spin

Click on Safety to review and follow safety precautions.

Washing machines all have a lid or door device that either locks the lid or door in place during the spin cycle or stops the spin cycle if the lid is opened. These are interlocking devices or switches that will not let the washer go into the spin cycle if the device is not working.

Easy Fixes:

The lid is left in the open position during the spin cycle. Washer will not spin. Close the lid. Washer goes into spin cycle. Hooray!

The timer is not set to the spin cycle. Advance the timer to the spin part of the cycle, close the lid. Washer goes into spin cycle. Yippee!

A lot of washing machines turn the timer off when you open the lid. When the lid is closed nothing happens. The timer has to be restarted. Pull on the knob to turn it on. Washer goes into spin cycle. Woohoo!

Moderate Fixes:

The lid switch or the actuator is bad. Check the actuator. There is a pad or button that is actuated when the lid closes. Check to see if that actuator is turning the switch off and on. In a quiet room listen for a click when you close the lid. Open and close it several times. Do you hear the clicking? No. Is there a leg or peg that goes into a hole when the door is closed. Had the leg broken off? You need an actuator.

With the washer turned off, push a screwdriver through the hole under the lid. Do you hear a clicking sound. The door switch is probably good.  Is there nothing to push?  Then the actuator is bad, replace it.

Click on how to identify my Kenmore for more information.

Advanced jobs: Bad timer, bad clutch, bad transmission, bad or loose belt, bad pump, stuck pump, bad motor, bad coupler. Most of these jobs can be done by the DoItYourselfer. I once knew a determined woman who rebuilt her own Kenmore belt drive washer. Now that's determination. There is a point of no return though. A time when you might have to say, "Haul it to the dump!"

These instructions are specific to Whirlpool top loading washers.

The timer is one of the most difficult parts to diagnose. It has complicated wiring connections and operates all of the other functions on the machine, water fill, spray rinse, agitate, spin, pump, cycle signals and timings. The difficulty comes from a timer that a timer can work perfectly for one function and completely fail at another. This makes it hard to pinpoint the problem, for example, the washer will not spin. This could be a timer problem or door switch, motor, coupler, etc.

Caution: Always rotate the timer in the correct direction usually clockwise.

To troubleshoot a timer, try the timer in various parts of the cycle. Does it spin in a heavy duty cycle and not in a normal cycle? Is the spin intermittent ? These are generally timer problems.

If the washer makes other sounds like humming, clicking, or screeching when it should be spinning, this indicates a problem with the mechanics of the machine, not the timer.

If the motor is humming in spin but it pumps the water out, you have a bad coupler.

If the sound is a clicking noise, you may have a bad coupler. If the motor hums and then turns off, you may have a motor problem.  I will have a hub ready soon to show how to install a coupler.