Information question

[wetguymd]

My mom has had this washer for quite a while and it has finally started having problems. It agitates fine but when it goes into spin it only spins in what seems to be a slow speed. She had a repair man take a look at it and the only thing he said was she should just buy a new one, that it would cost more to repair it than to replace. Suggestions?

 

[coldspot66]

Did the repair person see any oil on the base pan? Sometimes oil leaks from the bottom seal and then coats the belt and tranny pulley with oil. If a belt does not improve the spin speed and there is no oil on the baseplate,I would say it's time for another machine. I'm surprised it lasted this long. These westinghouse top loaders were prone to tranny seal failure prematurely.

 

[everythingold]

The repair man is an idiot, there's a guy in Baltimore who can fix it. Cheaper than a new piece of junk. The GMFR 1-18 are amazing machines. Fix it.

 

[maytagbear]

That is not a GM Frigidaire

That is a White Westinghouse in a Frigidaire panel.

The Frigidaire 1-18 had a very different agitator.

Frankly, I'd junk it. Not every old washer is worth fixing.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[goatfarmer]

Definately a Westy, probably early 80's. Oil leak is a possibility, they were well known for it. Personally, I'd find another one, if it appears to be leaking oil.

kennyGF

 

[wetguymd]

Thanks guys

I also think its time to junk it. There does appear to be some oil leaks. She bought it around 82 or so. It has been a very good machine and never had a problem with it until now.

 

[bajaespuma]

I'm not a lawyer,

but this thread makes me a little angry. What WCI did here is to have perpetrated fraud. By recreating the GMFR contol panel and cabinet down to detail they have duped many unwary consumers into buying a product that they thought was a GM-made Frigidaire washer with a heritage and a track record but is in reality a piece of junk. Certainly the statute of limitations has expired but a crime is a crime. Seems to me that constitues fraud. And last time I looked, fraud was a federal crime.

 

[jons1077]

If it's junked...

Can I have the agitator??? hehe

 

[peterh770]

There was no fraud. WCI took over Frigidaire, kept the Frigidaire name, removed all traces of "GM", kept the look for a few years, then really started dicking with it. When the change over happened from a Jetaction to the Westy transmission, there was a huge ad campaign. Seems to me that even GM engineers thought that this washer would be just as good as the 1-18 because it produced just as much "turbulance" in the basket. That these machines have last is more of a tribute to the pre-dicking Westy design.

The real culprit here is GM, not WCI. Maybe if they asked for a bailout back then...

 

[everythingold]

Fooled me, didn't look close enough. JUNK

 

[gansky1]

This was also a time when Westinghouse has all but disappeared from store shelves and had become White-Westinghouse, store brands were fading away and mergers and consolidations were the name of the game for companies to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive market. GM jettisoned Frigidaire in order to keep themselves competitive against Japanese auto-makers. The Frigidaire brand was never a big money-maker for GM and despite a few exceptions in their line, quality was barely above average and in many cases, below. Maytag had dominated the washer ratings for a decade with their tried-and-true washers, Sears/Whirlpool wrapped up another lion's share with the Sears Credit terms available to nearly everyone that could breathe on their own.

Frigidaire, Kelvinator/ABC, Easy, Norge, Roper, Caloric, on and on all fell victim to a more streamlined and limber marketplace.

 

[wetguymd]

I have learned quite abit about this machine after this post. My parents had the matching dryer which died about 5 years ago. Before this they had a TOL GE filter flow set. The store where they bought this stopped selling GE around 1980 and sold only Frigidaire. They got about 25 years out of the GE. Now she has gotten about 25 years out of this one. I guess even tho it was a knock off it wasn't too bad.

 

[goatfarmer]

GM Frigidaire

Greg's right. In the later years, GM Frigidaire quality was average at best, but their prices were on the premium side. Very high labor cost's, manufacturing cost's, etc, all helped with their downfall.

 

[sudsman]

W C I

Killed everything they came in contact with.

 

[johnb300m]

in defense of WCI, their little 18" dishwashers that seem to be in every apartment and condo and time-share I've been in, under the Kenmore and Frigidaire name, seem to be QUITE good!

 

[everythingold]

GMFR barely above average? Come on, they were innovative, rotary compressors, piston washers. GMFR represents something that is dead. There is no creativity left, only planned obsolenscence. No the Calypso doesn't count, pieces of S***, magnetic induction, yawn, old hat. The simple fact is that (with top loaders)piston agitation is superior to spinning blade agitation. Blades rip the hell out of clothes. The only thing you can do is slow the blades down. Piston action provides a vigourous wash with minimal damage to clothes. The 1-18's provided 20-30 years of service, that's not good enough? I still see them in the pipeline, including a poppy that I should have snagged. I think the biggest problem is that no one knows how to fix them. Call a repair guy out of the phone book, confronted with a piston driven, 95% of the time, their eyes will glaze over and they will stand there with a confused look on their face before they tell you that it can't be fixed.

 

[goatfarmer]

1-18?

Hate to burst your bubble, but I don't care for the GM 1-18's, and I'll stand by my statement of barely above average. I worked on them when they were still in warranty, back in the mid 70's. Our shop never had less than 2 or 3 of them in at a time, all for leaking water, and taking out the transmission bearings. Poor design, IMHO, with the use of the bellows seal. Great wash action? Yes, but at what cost? One running change they made is to put a plastic diverter tray above the motor. That's so WHEN, not IF it would leak, it wouldn't take out the motor. I would bet they paid out as much in warranty repairs, as they made in new sales.

Repair people will look at you with glassy eyes, because it's near impossible to get parts, and most of the machines have been scrapped by now.I haven't seen one on a trade in pile in many moons. Ask anyone who's been in the business for years about them, and the matching dryers. Cheep, cheep, cheep!

If someone got 20-30 years out of a 1-18, it was the exception, not the rule. 20-30 out of a similar vintage Maytag, or a BD Whirlpool? Happens all the time.

GMFrigidaire refrigeration? Some of the best.

My opinion is given freely, value accordingly.....

kennyGF (proud graduate of Frigidaire training school 1976)

 

[gansky1]

Kenny, you must remember firsthand the first of the Frigidaire electronic control ranges from Frigidaire? I've only read about the troubles, I can only imagine what it was like in the field!

 

[goatfarmer]

You mean like Touch N Cook? They were expensive, we didn't see many of 'em. Good thing!