Puuuurs like a kitten

[kafooty06]

I had a noisy washer it had a distinct scraping sound when it was agitating so I did some research on this forum and a guy said there is a little vent on top of the transmission and you can check the oil and fill .He gave me a good idea and I did just that I used a metal clothes hanger and checked it the best I could it showed some oil but not very much it was a good color no water in it ! I used a telescopic oil spout and I squeezed in some engine oil .My transmission used a little more than half the bottle of oil it must of been really dry .Now my washer sounds great and that scraping sound is Gone! She purs like a kitty I also lubbed up all the pullies and the wig wag . I gave her a fresh spray of high pressure air to clean off the Gunk and dust from under neigth the washer. What a little oil can do!

 

[rp2813]

It's nice when a simple fix solves the problem.

 

But one question remains:  Where did the oil go?  It's not like washers produce blue smoke to let you know there's a problem. 

 

OK smarties -- except perhaps a gas powered Maytag.

 

[kafooty06]

IDK

My washer has some evidence of leaks over the many many years of use and that might be were the oil was going . I just know it fixed the problem and it works better than before .

 

[turquoisedude]

Is it possible the machine was moved on its side at some point? I believe that a WP-built washer transmission can leak if it spends any length of time on the 'wrong' side.

 

[DADoES]

 
It's possible you overfilled it since you can't see inside when adding oil that way ... the oil level be slightly below the rim of the transmission base, otherwise it'll spill out when the cover is opened for servicing.

 

[rp2813]

Paul, thanks for suggesting that.  I was just curious about where the oil could have gone if there isn't any obvious sign of a leak, and didn't mean to detract from the OP's success story. 

 

[kafooty06]

Subject of refilling

I did say there was signs of it leaking over the 38+years thats a small indication no over filling of oil no signs of it spewing on the floors. I did four large load's of laundry and all is good again it works very well. I know this is odd it does work I saw you tube videos of a guy doing this technique but it took him along time .

 

[combo52]

Oil Levels In BD WP Washers

On WP BD washers a little bit of oil can seep out around the cover gasket and drip on the floor, often when you move a BD WP washer out of the spot where it has been sitting for many years there is an oil spot on the floor ranging from a few inches in diameter to a foot in diameter, the size of the spot depends on whether the machine is on a porous concrete floor or a smooth tile floor.

 

Using my coat-hanger dip-stick measuring approach the oil level in a WPBDW should be between 3/8"- 1/2" when the DS is inserted all the way and has cleared the connecting rod.

 

Adding new additional oil could quiet down a transmission a little, Hi Steve, but the biggest gain probably came from lucubrating the wig-wag and cam bars and other external stuff, if the transmission was so low on oil as to be making noise it would suffer serious wear pretty quickly.

 

If you added a 1/2 quart of oil it is probably overfilled, but this will not hurt the operation it is just be more likely it will leak.

 

It is not unusual for BDWPWs to leak oil if laid on their front or on the right [ motor ] side, it will often leak pretty badly around the agitator shaft seal in the top of the transmission.

 

John L.

 

[kafooty06]

Combo 52

First off thank you you have good tips! I wish I can post a video this thing is so quiet runs smoothly. I did notice the outer basket has rust around the top rim it's pretty bad I would guess it's from the basket getting filled up and the water hits it and gets trapped under that rubber seal. How would you stop further rust