Greetings. My parents have an ancient Maytag A207 washing machine that has served my family since very likely before I was born. Today it ran into its first major issue.
The machine won't advance between cycles/tasks on its own. If you manually turn the ring dial it will do its thing, so it's possible to wash a load of clothes, but you need to stand there and manually move the dial for each cycle, and hope that its on each cycle for the right amount of time!
I can hear the timer motor ticking away like an old electric clock -- even when the machine is off, but it's just no longer advancing the dial on its own.
I'm purely guessing, but perhaps some gears wore out? I took the cover off, but I didn't know where to start poking around (other than unplugging the thing from the wall so I wouldn't get zapped).
Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Is this a fairly simple repair, or should my parents be looking to get a new washer? Are parts even sold for a 30-year-old washing machine?
The picture below isn't of their actual machine, but it looks exactly like the problem washer.
Thanks in advance!

The machine won't advance between cycles/tasks on its own. If you manually turn the ring dial it will do its thing, so it's possible to wash a load of clothes, but you need to stand there and manually move the dial for each cycle, and hope that its on each cycle for the right amount of time!
I can hear the timer motor ticking away like an old electric clock -- even when the machine is off, but it's just no longer advancing the dial on its own.
I'm purely guessing, but perhaps some gears wore out? I took the cover off, but I didn't know where to start poking around (other than unplugging the thing from the wall so I wouldn't get zapped).
Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Is this a fairly simple repair, or should my parents be looking to get a new washer? Are parts even sold for a 30-year-old washing machine?
The picture below isn't of their actual machine, but it looks exactly like the problem washer.
Thanks in advance!
