Washing Machine Won’t Spin
My ~1986 Whirlpool washing machine has suddenly stopped spinning during the rinse and dry cycle. I don’t hear any indication that it is trying to spin. The door switch ohmed out fine and my water level switch seems to be working OK (following a procedure I found on another website). The agitator works fine during the wash cycle. Inspection of the belt looks fine. However, manually turning the belt and the gear it is attached to (which spins freely) does not spin the drum. Any suggestions on what might be wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Unplug washer.
Remove the back of the washer so you can see the belt and all the pretty stuff.
In the center of the whole mess, you should see two arms (one on each side of the drive shaft) pointing back at you.
Right above each of these arms there will be a solenoid, each has two wire connected to it. One of these wires will jump from one pin on one to a pin on the other (this is the ground). Make sure these wires are connected good and are not broken further back.
The shaft from the solenoid to the arm will have a sled looking thing that sets on each side of the arm. Between these two sleds there should be a pin, that ride in the slot of the arm. This pin will push or pull the arm, back or forward to shift the transmission, depending rather the solenoid is engaged or not.
This whole assembly (arms and solenoids) is called your wig-wag. It is responsible for shifting your transmission. If all of the above looks good. I would try to run the washer while “watching” the wig-wag. When the washer goes into spin the solenoid will energize and cause the arm to move, thus changing gears (spin). As you are watching, look and see where the wires move back and forth, I have had the wires break at this point from the consent bending.
DON’T STICK YOU HANDS IN THE BACK WHILE WASHER IS RUNNING!!!!! It is really hard to shut the washer off while your hand is getting eaten by the belt.
