Maytag A606 Washer - spin dry not working well

[echolane]

I am the original owner of this old Maytag washer (bought June 1973) and for almost the first time ever it has a problem. The spin dry cycle leaves the clothes almost dripping wet. I can squeeze water out of them. Yesterday I washed a load of towels and even after a second spin cycle the towels were very wet. I've watched and listened to the spin cycle and it seems to be working okay.

FWIW, recently, the spin cycle tends to rock the machine more than usual, and sometimes it will quit spinning on what seems to be only minor unbalanced loads. I didn't think too much of it, but now I wonder if it is/was an early symptom of what might be wrong with the spin cycle.

My husband is a handy guy. What should we look for?

Jan

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Hi Jan,

 

What part of CA are you in?

 

Have the drive belts ever been changed?  This is a good place to start and they can be changed in less then 5 minutes.

 

The next thing to check (if there's little or no improvement) is the motor carriage.    Remove the front panel and check that the motor glides easily back and forth, toward the center of the washer.   It's on rollers or glides and is spring loaded and these keep the belts at the proper tension.   If it's not keeping the belts tight enough, it will agitate and or spin slowly, or take a long time to reach proper speed.

 

I hope this helps!

Kevin

 

[echolane]

I live in southern San Mateo County .

I don't think the drive belts have ever been changed. It sounds like a place to start. I'll see if I can order them.

And thanks!

Jan

 

[echolane]

Hmmm... I have to retract my statement that the drive belts have never been changed. I remembered we replaced a part several years ago and I found the empty package (which I had saved. don't ask why ). the package is for drive belts. Will that make a difference in where we should start looking?

 

[volvoguy87]

Something in the tub?

There may be a sock or something in the outer tub.
Dave

 

[akronman]

If spin is really weird

check the three large springs from the tub legs down to the base of the machine. If one of them broke, the tub will almost always go out of balance.  Also, cheat the system a bit by clicking that "lid open" button behind the lid, so you can watch an entire load of clothes and see exactly what's occuring. Report back here and some pros will be better able than I to advise you.

 

 

[goatfarmer]

I'm thinking something in the outer tub is blocking the drain hose to the pump.

 

Unplug the machine, pull the front off, and you will see a hose from the outer tub going to the pump.  Take that hose off, make sure it's not plugged, and make sure nothing is blocking the port where the hose hooks up to the outer tub. Often it's a coin, a ball of lint, or similar.

 

[echolane]

Learned some new things...

When my husband came home from work we put a light load of kitchen towels and other lightweight items and watched it run through one cycle on the smallest load. Unlike yesterday's load of heavy bathroom towels and a jacket, these small items came out "normal" or almost normal as to degree of wetness.

Everything looks like its working very well, EXCEPT, we both thought the inner basket was "jiggling" too much and making the washing machine shake more than we thought it should under such a light load. We both think we need to test it under a larger and heavier (and more typical) load of clothes because something definitely was very wrong yesterday. I'll do this tomorrow morning.

But we are wondering: how do you open the case up? It looks like the top may pry up somehow, and then the front would pry off. How do you do this????

 

[eronie]

no

Maytags open from the bottom front

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Jan,

 

There are two phillips head screws at the bottom of the front panel.  Once those screws are out, swing the bottom of the panel out. When it's out a little farther then in the photo below, the "clips" holding it at the top will let go and you can remove the panel. 

 

Kevin

 

P.S... what model is your washer?   Can you post a photo?  

 

[echolane]

Here's a photo of my A606

Here's a photo of the Maytag A606. It looks like the lid may pry off and then allow the entire front panel to be removed, but it's not obvious how to do this.

Sorry for the sideways photo. I took it in vertical mode, it shows up on my computer in vertical mode, but when uploaded to this site, it has been turned. Very puzzling .

 

[rp2813]

Take a look at Kevin's posts in replies #8 and 9.  Removing the front panel is as easy as he has made it look.  No lid-prying required.

 

[combo52]

REMOVING TOP AND FRONT PANEL ON MT A606 WASHER

You must first remove the front panel as Kevin's photo shows and then remove two 3/8" screws that screw up into the top. If you surceased in prying the top off without removing the screws first you will likely do considerable damage to the washers cabinet parts and you may need the help of an auto body shop to fix the damage LOL.

 

[echolane]

Washing a heavier load

this morning I washed a full load of sheets and shirts and observed the following:

1. on the wash cycle, the agitator was WAY slower in comparison to a small load.

2. on the final spin cycle, the laundry was not left dripping wet, as were the towels that prompted my post, but they were noticeably wetter than the items in the small load, and wetter than they should be.

3. the motor is quite noisy and doesn't sound "right" on the high speed spin cycle.

So, I'm thinking something is "going", but not yet "gone", on this almost 40 year old machine.

Tonight, when my husband comes home, he will pull the front panel (I did find the phillips head screws, thank you!) and he'll look to see if there is anything obvious, per previous suggestions.

 

[DirectDriveDave]

Sounds like a simple worn belt to me. If that does turn out to be the case, be sure to replace BOTH of the belts.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

Jan,

 

You can see both belts and a breakdown of the motor carriage, roller/glides and the springs in this drawing.

 

The two belts should come in one bag as a set and MAKE SURE you only get the correct Maytag (FSP) belts.   The larger drive belt goes on before the smaller pump belt.

 

As I mentioned before, check the motor carriage to make sure the motor is able to move easily back and forth.

 

Let us know how it turns out!

 

Kevin

 

[goatfarmer]

Are you sure the button marked "gentle" isn't pushed?

 

[combo52]

MT WASHER DRIVE BELTS

Often the best approach when deciding to replace belts is to compare them to new belts and if the old belt looks like the new belt save your money. On MT washers there is almost never a need to replace the pump belt these normally well outlast the washer, again compare the two.

 

Putting a new set of belts on a 40 year old washer will not make it run like new again, it probably needs other repairs and adjustments. If it continues to give problems I would strongly suggest getting someone very experienced with older MTWs to look it over, otherwise you may end up wasting money and considerable time on this machine only to end up replacing it in the end.

 

[echolane]

Update and a question

We bought the new belts today and replaced the old ones (which look perfectly good, BTW). and then we looked inside the case (what a heavy front panel; I bet they don't put this much steel into the new ones). Inside looked surprisingly clean for a 39 year old. The springs were all in place; no rust or corrosion anywhere. The motor seemed to move easily enough on its slides.

The tub, OTH, leaves us with questions. It moved, though watching my husband, it was hard to judge whether it moved "easily"; at least it wasn't difficult. But when it was moved, it didn't recenter itself; it had to be pushed back into place. Is this normal?

Right now, we don't have enough clothes that need washing to test it with a heavy load. It'll take a few more days to accumulate enough to see if the new belts improved anything.