Maytag HA606 - Bad Motor?

[aaron]

Hello - I've got a 1975 Maytag HA606 that needs a little help. It will fill with water, but when it comes time to agitate, spin or drain, the motor just makes a buzzing sound. I can reach under and feel the shaft, and it's not spinning at all, although it will spin if I move it by hand.

It happened a couple weeks ago too, but then I was able to "jumpstart" it by giving the pump belt a little shake and the motor took off.

It would seem to me like the motor needs replacing, but I wanted to be sure before I went ahead and ordered anything. Does anybody have any suggestions? If it is the motor, is there anything I should look out for when ordering a replacement, or a particular brand/model number I should get?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My wife would love to get a new washing machine, but after seeing all the comments here, I can't help but believe that the repaired 35-year-old Maytag will be more reliable than anything new.

 

[pierreandreply4]

i would say your better off repairing your old maytag because my grandmother had a a dryer that lasted 40 years with out a single repair on it and replace it in fall 2010 and i am pretty sure that with your repaired maytag you could get another good 10 to 20 years use out of it as well here is a pic of the 40 year old dryer i am talking about even if its not a maytag but it will show that it was the longest lasting dryer ever from the 70 to 2010 lol

 

[cfz2882]

probably a motor problem

probably is a motor problem-specificly a problem with the motor's
centrifugal switch or the centrifugal mechanism that operates the switch.
Could also be a broken wire or a timer problem as the motor's start winding
is switched by the timer to provide the different agitate and spin rotation
directions.Motor problems are very rare,so a good used motor would run for
years and years-should be able to find one easily.

 

[qsd-dan]

Sounds like a motor problem, especially if it came to life after shaking the pump belt. If you have the round style motor, it can be disassembled and finding/fixing the problem is a possibility. I believe all Maytag washers had the sealed square style motors by 1975 and on, so it's very unlikely that you have one.

If you get a replacement motor, go for the beefier 201666 (2-1666) 2 speed motor instead of the 201807. There's one on ebay right now for a decent price.

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[autowasherfreak]

I have a 606, and I also suggest replacing the motor.  They are a dependable machine, and will probably last much longer than the crap that is out there now.

 

 

[aaron]

Thanks to those who replied. qsd-dan, I went ahead and grabbed the one on eBay while it was still there. I appreciate all the help, and it will be nice to keep the old machine running!