Chris -
Revvin Kevin had a couple videos at one time of a Whirlpool washer he was trying to fix. He took the videos, then posted them on Youtube for me to see what was going on. They may still be there. If I recall, that machine had a bent plunger.
Based on what I have read above, you have a fairly common situation going on. I have the exact model to your machine right now in fact, and it won't spin either. My mother's machine, which is very similar to yours, did something similar a few years ago. Here's what I would do in your case:
- Put the washer in spin, engage the timer and leave the lid up.
- Listen for sounds when you depress the lid switch. Besides hearing the light-weight click from the spin switch, you should hear a mechanical click coming from the wig-wag.
If you do NOT hear any sort of click going on within the machine, then the wig wag is not activating. Either the part is bad itself, OR one of the wires to it have broken. You should be able to hear the click/clunk of the plunger rising in the solenoid with the activation of the switch.
If you hear the solenoid activate but nothing happens, look specifically at the plunger itself.
Here are some recent situations I've had in this area:
- The machine like yours does NOT make any solenoid activation sounds at all. So, either a wire is bad, or the solenoid itself is bad. I suppose the lid switch could be bad, but I've not seen that yet. Either way, it's not even attemtping to engage. I will direct my attention there when I dig into that machine.
- I have a Whirlpool that definitely has a broken wire to the solenoid. It contacts with one 'swish' of the solenoid, then breaks the contact with the reverse swish. It's almost humorouos to watch it try to spin because it engages and disengages with the exact pattern of agitation strokes.
- I have another machine that most likely has a broken or deformed plunger. I can hear all the appropriate sounds of the solenoid engaging, but no spin activiity at all. If the tinnerman in the plunger breaks, it will not be able to move the spin cam bar, and this is what I'm pretty sure is happening.
- Lastly, I had a machine a couple years ago that had a frozen brake yoke support shaft. This thing was stuck solid, and no matter how much the spin cam bar moved back and fourth, spin was not activated in the basket drive due to lack of movement of parts to the clutch. This happened over time as the lubricant had basically become crystalized glue (not WP's original Rykon grease). I had to clean it all off with contact cleaner, and start over. It's been fine since.
Once you determine what your problem is, if you find that you have a bad control magnet (wig wag) I would not mess with trying to swap out one of the solenoids - it's hardly worth it, just get a whole new one. If the plunger is good, just clean it up by removing any grease or carbon and it should work fine.
Glenn is right - replacing the wig wag is easy if not a little tenuous due to tight spaces. Two control magnet/wig wags have been available from Whirlpool - one as a bare magnet, and one with new plungers, plunger guides, and tinnerman. I can give you part numbers for both if you don't already have them.
Gordon
