Maytag A608 Slow Agitation

[siyrepairguy]

I have an older Maytag washing machine model A608 that I've had since the 80's that has recently started acting up.

Lately I notice the agitation is very slow, oddly, if I press the gentle action button the agitation speed increases, then when I push regular button it agitates at the normal speed. This behavior is repeatable cycle after cycle.

I am hoping somebody has seen this and has some advice for me? Seems like the motor, belts transmission etc are OK since it does agitate properly after pressing gentle then regular buttons, and it seems to spin fine. I am wondering how the selector buttons work to change the agitation speed, does the motor run slower in gentle mode? In all the repair videos I have seen there doesn't seem to be anything in the belts or transmission that effect the speed, so I am thinking the motor speed must be changed by the selector buttons?

I am good with mechanical or electrical repair/maintenance, but don't want to do "exploratory surgery" on the mechanical side if there are no issues there, seems like I could cause more trouble by taking apart something that is this old... I'm trying not to "fix" what isn't broken. Logic tells me it is a motor speed regulation issue related to the buttons...

If anyone has experience that can help me fix this I would really appreciate the advice... Thanks in advance!

 

[arbilab]

It's winter in Chicago.  Really, that's the problem.  Even winter in Austin TX does that to elder Maytags. 

 

Wait for an expert to say what you can do about it that's practical.  Like replace the trans oil.

 

Or wait for summer.

 

[siyrepairguy]

Ok, so reading your comments I am hearing old... cold... thick oil in the transmission?

Can you tell me if the motor speed changes between gentle and regular action modes?

I am just about to pull the front off for some observations...

Theoretically I could throw a portable heater on the trans for a while and run a load and see how it agitates with warm oil I guess...

My problem with that theory is how it agitates faster immediately when I click gentle cycle and then even faster when I switch back to regular.... speed changes are instantaneous when I click the button. It seems with thick oil it would agitate even slower when I move to gentle rather than speeding up?

I did replace the motor years ago because my dad used this machine to make about a million tie-dye t-shirts once upon a time... For a while I had the front off the machine and had to kick the motor every time a cycle started to get it going, that got old quick! So the motor is relatively new compared to the age of the machine.

I am going to check the carriage tonight to make sure the motor slides properly and observe how the motor behaves when I change modes.

Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.

 

[DADoES]

 
The motor changes RPM for high and low speed.

 

[siyrepairguy]

Thanks for confirmation.
This load started out agitating "ok', not super slow... I am using warm for the water setting so that may be the reason. Still, when I went to gentle it did speed up a bit, and even more when I went back to regular. It was hard to tell if the motor speed was changing or not during these changes since you can't really see the pulley side.
The motor does slide easy, though I did notice it agitates best with a little extra pressure on the motor creating tension on the belt. Next time I start a load and see slow agitation I am going to pull back on the motor a bit and see if that gets it up to speed. That would seem to indicate new belts, making the motor move better or perhaps an extra spring may solve the problem.
I will report back what I find.

 

[latchlock8111]

Keep in mind

Slots in water pump mount. Underside. 3 screws per oval mount. Slides pump to give you extra/less tension on belt. Use fine steel wool to 1st clean off all pully grooves. Clean off belts too. To 1st heat up trans to observe oil/thick/cold a heat gun works great or the wifes' hair dryer. Stay away from that spinnin' counter weight , it'll knock you into next week Tuesday.

 

[arbilab]

The slider and belt tension arrangement accounts for slippage.  When the trans oil is cold that's enough extra load

on the pulley to make the belt slip.  You can hear it happening.  Switch low, that sound goes away.

 

To get you through winter, start the machine on low speed.  Depending how cold your laundry area is, after about 5 min go back

and switch to high.  You only have to to that once, for the first of sequential loads.

 

[robbinsandmyers]

I've seen posted that switching to synthetic gear lube resolves that issue?

 

[cadman]

"I've seen posted that switching to synthetic gear lube resolves that issue?"

It absolutely does, like night and day. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to change the oil without a major teardown.

 

[rp2813]

We dealt with this issue when our A206 lived in our garage.  It was slow going with the first load during the winter months.

 

What doesn't add up, for me at least, is how changing the speed setting back and forth immediately resolves the problem.  This makes me think old, cold transmission oil isn't the main issue.  Would a bad belt instantly stop slipping?  I'm not so sure about that either.

 

[latchlock8111]

other slipping belt thoughts

The belt may be on its way out. Repeat low/high switching back and forth may cause enough friction to create a little heat on the belt and pully. After enough heat, belt loosens up enough, softens up enough, to get a grip on pulley ?? Or other thought is switching back and forth may cause the belt to set/sit deeper in pulley to then get enough grip. Again I would make sure belt and pulley are dirt/dust/oil/wore off belt rubber/dead spider legs free and clean.