Mold and Gunk In A Fairly New Top Load Washer
Yes we will never know precisely what led to this mess, as service techs we see it fairly often and often in otherwise immaculate very nice expensive homes.
It seems that the customer is almost always using Free&Clear type detergents because they always say that their husbands etc are allergic to the perfumes in laundry products, we always laugh about that because the washer is full of mold which is much more likely to cause allergic reactions than a little perfume.
On this particular SQ washer the water supply might have been part of the problem, to have mold in the fill flume might indicate that it was on well water or a home system where they were removing the chlorine, we have customers that have such systems and we have done service calls where they have heavy accumulations of mold clogging the dispenser drawers on there machines etc.
I am glad you got this machine Louis I think you will enjoy it, yes us appliance guys go a little overboard cleaning things up.
Other than cleaning up under the tub cover and the top of the outer tub etc this washer would have cleaned itself up fairly quickly with proper use, we see. machines this bad all the time.
For the record it did not need a new pump or belt at this age, yes the belt showed some wear but it is not a Tre on your car where it could fail on the highway and cause a real problem, the washer will not work any better with the new belt or water pump.
When installing a new pump the pump clips are sometimes hard to get on, if you slightly straighten them and put a lint bit of lubricant on the tabs they will go on easily, I would not sand down a new water pump. [ and always wear gloves to protect your hands and get a tetanus shot every 5 years ]
Let us know how you like the washer, if it was my laundry room I would keep the Kenmore you have it is a better performer other than the SQs slightly faster spin.
John L.