Maytag A606 Stopped Agitating

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

M

msmaiden

Active member
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
31
Location
new england
Hello
I searched everywhere for info on my old, wonderful Maytag A606 washer (color sky blue!)I was thrilled to find this forum.
My trusty old Maytag has been chugging right along faithfully since my folks bought it second hand way back in the very early 70's.
It is mine now (for the past 25 years) and I love how it cleans the clothes and I have NO desire to buy new.
Last week however the agitator stopped working during the regular wash cycle. I moved the dial to rinse and it drained, filled and thankfully spun out the clothes.
Hubby opened it up today, belts look good, in fact the inside looks great - no rust etc.
I found a few parts online at repairclinic.com but not much. Because it spins but does not agitate we are thinking it is a problem with the transmission.

We tested it again today by just filling it with water. The agitator does not move but the tub spins as fast as ever.

This weekend my husband is going to take that apart. At this point I guess we have nothing to lose.
I sure don't want to have to buy one of these new junk machines.

Can anyone offer some advice on this washer?

I would appreciate ANY suggestions.

Thank you!
 
can we make sure its not the motor causing the issue.....

you could have the machine laying down if you choose, take the belts off, and spin the center main pulley, one direction it should make the whole tub and tranny spin, the other direction, the tranny should lock, and only the agitator should move......what are you results?

your not specific as in what happens when the machine tries to agitate, any noise from the motor at all?...humming?...dead silence?

keep us posted
 
Thank you for taking the time to read my message.
I am sorry I did not elaborate more, posting about appliances is new to me. Hubby is at work so I am trying to explain this without his input.

The motor is NOT dead. It is humming. When it gets to the rinse cycle the water drains and spins as fast as it always has (thank goodness, I had a tub full of very heavy, wet clothes the night it stopped washing.

Today before he left for work my husband set it on it's side and removed the belts.
They did not look frayed or worn. He put them back on and and we let the tub fill up as if I were going to do a small load. Just as before, the motor hummed as it does when washing but the agitator does not move. When it got to the rinse/damp dry cycle it drained and spun etc

I will show him your post with your suggestions tonight when he comes home and I can let you know what else he checked.

Thank you again for your help. I love this machine (as I do my old Kitchen Aid dishwasher and my 1960's era Kenmore cook top)
It's not that we are cheap. The products made nowadays are overpriced, disposable junk.
 
Welcome.

New England ??? There are quite a few of us here.

What KitchenAid Dishwasher do you have ?

Anyway tell hubby the Searchilator at the top right of this forum might be able to help with the problem.

And the Experts are on and out all day ;)
 
Hi fellow New Englander! We are in NH.
My Kitchen Aid dishwasher is model KDC-21A

I love appliances that have knobs! When we finally had to replace our old Modern Maid wall oven I searched all of the stores for one that had actual knobs and found only one! It happens to be a Maytag.
 
"can we make sure its not the motor causing the issue.....

you could have the machine laying down if you choose, take the belts off, and spin the center main pulley, one direction it should make the whole tub and tranny spin, the other direction, the tranny should lock, and only the agitator should move......what are you results?

your not specific as in what happens when the machine tries to agitate, any noise from the motor at all?...humming?...dead silence?

keep us posted"

Yogitunes we are going to try your suggestions this weekend and I will let you know the results.
 
I can only repeat what has already been said. When it has filled to the desired water level does the motor just hum or can you hear it actually start running? If the motor just hums and does not actually turn the belts, it is probably a timer problem or motor problem. If it does actually run and the belts are turning, it is a transmission problem, but that would be an unusual thing to happen so suddenly. If hubby takes the front off of the machine and runs it, you will be able to tell for sure if the motor is running because of the pump. When the motor runs you can see the pump impeller turning. If it is a timer or even motor related problem, I am sure you could easily find replacement parts and they are fairly easy to install.
 
To Clarify:

There is a difference between the motor humming and the motor actually running. If the motor were actually running and the transmission were not turning, there would be an instant smell of burning rubber. I suspect that the motor is not turning in one direction, the direction for agitation because the motor reverses direction from agitation to spin.

Have you tried the Permanent Press Cycle to see if it agitates in that cycle? It the Permanent Press Cycle gives agitation, but not the regular cycle that might be a clue that you have timer problems.
 
Update via Hubby

Here is some more info now that hubby is home:

When the front was off he checked the belts, took them off, nothing chewed up or frayed. Ran through a cycle with the timer moving but agitator did not. The timer ran itself, moved to rinse where it emptied and spun. It did everything BUT agitate. Timer seems to be working. Hubby watched tub spin, belts spin and water empty, motor obviously works in that direction (No smell of belts either)

He is going to check Saturday (tomorrow) the suggestions you have written.
He would like to ask does the motor spin BACKWARDS to agitate? He will study that tomorrow and he is wondering is it possible that the motor is only working in one direction? And that is why the spin cycle works but the agitate does not.
Perhaps half the motor no longer works ie reverse direction?

There is a replacement motor sold on repairclinic, would it be prudent to buy that before trying to open up the transmission? I found no parts for the transmission except the pulley.

This washer has two buttons: Gentle Cycle and Regular Wash. Three water temps and the dial simply has numbers on timer ie 12 down to 2.

Hubby can repair this as he does all of our car works and mechanical at his job. It is only a matter of obtaining the parts which nowadays is difficult even for old cars and tractors etc
 
Photos

I thought you might like to see some photos...

By the way, this old beauty even traveled across country with us when we moved here from our home state of CA thirty years ago. She traveled over 3,000 miles in a Ryder rental truck.

msmaiden-2016110410593901944_1.jpg

msmaiden-2016110410593901944_2.jpg

msmaiden-2016110410593901944_3.jpg
 
Tomturbomatic my hubby has been very reluctant to touch the transmission and he has not at this point.
I will certainly tell him what you said.
He figured that if all else failed and we were going to have to send it off to the local landfill only then would he look into it. But only at that point.

By the way, I know it is a pretty old unit. Do you have any idea of its age? As I said before, my folks bought it used from a co-worker of my dad and that was very early 70's.
 
You guys ought to go to Maytag 906 Extravaganza that a member posted a while ago, it is on You Tube too. It will show you just how the Maytags of our vintage runs, top, bottom, inside and out in 4 minutes from fill and final spin. Most of those older Maytags, like my 511, have the same setup. Shows the complete set up and how everything went together, including transmission.
 
You mean like this, Tim?



I wish that video was made with the '66-'68 (?) older style timer. I just noticed the date code on the motor in that video. It's January 1972, so the machine was probably made sometime in 1972.[this post was last edited: 11/5/2016-02:35]
 

Similar threads

K
Maytag DC washer LAT8426AAE woes
Replies
2
Views
23
koda2
K
C
Grease Spots Coming from Maytag A606S
Replies
11
Views
12
crenchy
C
blockeight88
HELP NEEDED - Washer won't agitate
Replies
12
Views
19
blockeight88
blockeight88
W
The washing machine that doesn’t want to quit, aka Frigidaire FWX833AS1
Replies
2
Views
49
ryner1988
ryner1988
askolover
RIP moms Maytag stacked unit
2
Replies
22
Views
26
askolover
askolover

Latest posts

Back
Top