Problem with Whirlpool Design 2000

[carmine]

My "washer of the future", Whirlpool Design 2000 (Which looks like it was made in the mid-80s) has developed an issue. I figured I'd ask you guys for help.

It's leaving black smears on clothes. I figured this would be some kind of seal/gasket issue with the agitator, so I removed it only to find everything rather clean. Additionally, I can't even see how grease would be able to migrate from the agitator shaft-to-clothes, because the tub is sort of "funnel cake" shaped... Meaning the actual hole in the tub is up pretty high. There would need to be a lot of grease for it to make it down to the bottom of the tub.

Any ideas where these smears could be coming from? I don't want to ruin some clothes finding out, but everything in the tub seems clean & dry.

 

[brisnat81]

Tide Cold water could give it away

Hi Carmine,

The bottle of Tide Cold water could give it away

Do you wash mainly in cold water? You could have a buildup of scrud within the machine. Scrud is an accumulation of cooking/body oils, fabric softener and the other nastys that stick when you wash in cold.

Select the longest cycle on the machine, fill it with the hottest water you can, and add a cup or two of dishwasher powder. Leave the lid up so the machine stops before it drains, and then let it sit overnight. Put the lid down and let the machine continue the cycle.

Fill the machine with Hot water again, with some rags in it, and normal powdered detergent and let it run through a cycle. If the machine has had scrud, you should end up with lots bits of slime floating around in the washbowl. The only way to get rid of it all, is to keep running rags through, with hotwater and powdered detergent until you end up with no floaties

Nice looking machine btw,

I hope this helps

Nathan

 

[carmine]

I thank you for that responce, and will give it a try.

I'm basically lucky to separate white clothes from dark ones, so I buy whatever crud is on sale. Last time it was Tide.

But I will say that everything I took apart seemed pretty clean... Would this "scrud" character occur between the inner/outer tubs?

FWIW, I bought that thing 3 years ago for $50 off craigslist. I am partial to Whilrpool appliances based largely on my parents/grandparents stuff lasting forever. I know that most new stuff is throw-away junk. It's given me zero trouble until now.

 

[exploder3211]

It sounds like grease or something to me from the transmisson getting up into the clothes...

 

[rolltideroll]

Exploder, please elaborate a bit more for me and Carmine as to how grease is making it's way from the transmission to the clothes on a Direct Drive as this machine. i have been told before by machine owners that their machine was getting grease on their machines but I always figured out the reason but till now I have never seen this specific machine do this. I'm always ready to learn something new.

 

[exploder3211]

This is what i was told (i am sure i am wrong or this applies else where)
When the transmisson starts going and the grease starts leaking out it gets into the tub/water some how.. Have seen these supposed grease spots before on my aunts 1987 Kenmore DD long ago... Am i wrong or thinking of something else

 

[rolltideroll]

exploder, I would like to know too since i work on DD's almost on a daily basis sometimes. But have you considered these spots to be the run of the meal "skid-marks?" Only kidding but I have had folks trade in machines to me on another used machine that I have re-conditioned and they complained about their clothes getting grease marks on them but after running quite a few loads of my own through these machines, I never saw any grease whatsoever. Maybe this in an unexplained thing we will never know.

 

[toggleswitch]

Personally I'd be afraid of rust.

I'm not big on the idea of an overnight soak.

Otherwise, sounds like a groovy plan!

 

[brisnat81]

As long as the porcelean is intact it should be rust proof and not pose a problem. If you're concerned about damaging the porcelean, use normal high quality laundry powder and soak with that instead.

If you want to do a visual test for SCRUD, take the cabinet off and look through the clear plastic outer tub. If you can see a black ring, or black patches on the inside of the plastic, then its likely to be a scrud buildup. Carmine, you're right the scrud accumulates between the inner and out tubs.

I've never seen oil make its way up the agitator shaft and into the washtub on a DD machine. All the ones with leaky gearboxes I've seen tend to leak out of the top seal of the gearbox, and dribble down the sides and onto the ground.

My mother used to wash primarily in cold, until I had the machine apart replacing the Coupler, and she noticed the black rings in the outer tub. Since then she does towels and sheets on hot, and clothes on Cold. The first few times she ran hot loads through everything in the machine came out with black streaks on it, or gobs of slime. Once the machine had cleaned it out since, she's not had another problem.

 

[gansky1]

This is a nice looking machine - does it have a neutral or a spinning drain cycle?

 

[carmine]

Just wanted to say thanks..

I cranked up the water heater to "scald" and ran the dishwashing detergent as advised. I can't say that I actually saw any "floaties", but the water wasn't exactly clean looking either. Flushed it a few more times.

I am a mechanic by trade, so it stands to reason that my clothes are fairly dirty. It may also explain why I simply started taking things apart instead of asking questions, lol.

I've run a few loads now, including whites, and everything seems good.

Thanks for your help (all the way from Australia!?!) and hope you didn't mind my having some fun with the burnt up washer pics in the other post!

BTW, the machine does spin during rinses. I never really watched it work too closely until I overrode the safety switch with a screwdriver. Seems to be working pretty well... Spins fasts, on balance, quiet, etc.