Maytag A308 Weak agitation, slowing spin?

[dustin92]

I've been using the A308 for a couple weeks since replacing the belts, and it worked very well for several loads, but now I'm noticing at the start of a wash cycle it's agitating pretty weak/ slow, and the agitator can be stopped by grabbing onto it with some effort. It does pick up after running for a few minutes. Everything seemed to turn easily and smoothly when I was under it to change the belts. The spin is also slowing, and taking longer to reach top speed. When the spray rinse starts, I can hear the tub slowing, and then after the spray rinse is over, it gradually picks back up. Is this an issue with the belts or something else? Maybe unrelated, but some loads I have a pretty decent ball of lint in the filter, other loads it's stuck to the indide of the agitator, some loads nothing. Otherwise, I'm loving the washer and it does a great job.

 

[cfz2882]

belt tension

check the motor glides/rollers and tension spring to make sure the belt is being pulled tight enough.

 

[dustin92]

How tight should the belts be? When I had it opened up to replace the belts, the motor seemed to be sliding and seemed to want to center itself within it's mounts, but the belt didn't seem overly tight. It seems to run smooth and quiet even when it's slowing down, it agitates with a gentle hum and slight whir-whir-whir sound.

 

[combo52]

Slow Agitating MT

Make sure the pump belt is very LOOSE, if it is even slightly tensioned it pulls tension off the main drive belt and it will slip. You can even try taking the pump belt off the machine next time you start a load agitating and see if the agitation works better.

 

If you have the proper LOOSE pump belt tension and still have sluggish agitation you probably have a top transmission shaft that is getting tight and need a new transmission. This is the most common reason that MT washers of this age get junked.

 

[DADoES]

 
As I recall, proper belt tension is 1/4" space without causing the motor to move against the springs when pinching the pump belt halfway between the motor and pump pulleys.  The motor weight tends to fall against the springs when the machine is leaned back for access beneath to pinch the belt so be aware of that effect.

 

[dustin92]

I will check it all out tomorrow, it actually worked better with the original belts, but it seemed great for 4 or 5 loads after installing the new ones, then started going downhill.

 

[rp2813]

It has been stated here in the past that only genuine Maytag replacement belts should be used.  If you installed a different brand of belt, that could be a factor.

 

[dustin92]

I didn't know that, I thought belts were belts, They aren't genuine Maytag belts, so that may be part of my problem (or all of it?) I still have the old belts, I think I'll pop them on tomorrow and see if that helps. I may also contact the ebay seller that I bought them from and complain that they don't work.. The description listed all the 2 belt Maytag models as compatible, and maybe they aren't?

 

[rp2813]

Yeah, many years ago I changed out the belt on our HA206 because it was loose.  The new genuine Maytag belt didn't fit any better and performance was the same.  I didn't know then that they're supposed to be a loose fit when not under any load.

 

The washer was doing something similar to yours, but not as pronounced and only when the ambient temperatures were fairly cool during the winter, since the machine was in the garage.  If you can cope with this issue through the winter, you may find the washer will work fine once things warm up again.

 

[dustin92]

It's in a heated main floor laundry room, but it seems worse on the first load. Will see what happens when I put the old belts back on, they didn't look to be in too bad of condition, not cracked or anything, the transmission belt looked a little glazed over / shiny, would it be a bad idea to scrub the glazed area a bit with a dry rag or something to improve the grip? The weak agitation isn't too big of a deal, it gets better after a few minutes, my concern is the spin running slower than normal, especially during the spray rinse. I don't think the clothes are coming out as dry as they could be, not soaking wet, but more wet than when I first installed the new belts.

 

[rp2813]

You can get a product to help a glazed belt grip better, usually at auto parts stores.  Look for something called "belt grip" or "slip stick" that comes in applicator form like lip balm, not an aerosol spray.

 

When our DG806 dryer suffered a bearing failure, we bought a used 806 pair from a local used appliance guy.  The washer was doing exactly what yours is, and the guy didn't offer to fix it so he gave us our money back.  Clearly, he didn't even test the thing out correctly before putting it on his sales floor.

 

At that point, we abandoned plans to replace our standard sized vintage Maytags with bigger ones, and bought a brand new Amana pair.  That was in 1997 when Raytheon was still producing them.  We had no idea what a mistake we were making.

 

[DADoES]

 
The transmission belt has a special cloth(?) surface that is intended to slip on the motor pulley during spin ramp-up.  It functions as the spin clutch.  The wrong kind of belt won't slip properly.  This is why a generic "lawn mower" belt won't work on a two-belt Maytag machine.

 

[combo52]

Two belt Maytag washers

I would not put anything on the belt to make a grip this is not a place for belt dressing.

It is also generally a waste of time and money to change belts that look fine it's not going to make a machine work any better. A helical Dr., Maytag will generally never wear out a pump belt that's just a complete waste to change.

 

[arbilab]

Reinforcing what's already said:

Maytag belts cannot be substituted. Their design is very specific.

Below about 60F it is normal for a Maytag to agitate sluggishly for several minutes.

The motor slides must be very free to move. Replacing springs should not be necessary but anecdotally some users do. Any degree of rust on the springs dramatically alters their intended tension so do replace corroded springs.