Repair question - Kenmore Dryer

[mattl]

I've got a 10 y/o TOL Kenmore dryer that is having a problem and thought I'd ask for advice here.

My hunch is the motor is going bad, here is what happens. 80% of the time when I toss in a load I hit the start button and all is well. 15% of the time it "buzzes" a little longer then starts, and the other 5% it "buzzes" and nothing, after 2 or 3 attempts it times out for a few hours then runs fine.

My thought is the starter winding is going bad. This is a Electronic 90 series gas dryer. I've taped the door switch down and tried spinning the drum when i press the start button but this does not do the trick. I've got a junk Speed Queen dryer in a house I'm working on with a bad start winding and if I turn the drum it will kick in.

Looking for some ideas before it dies completely.

 

[pturo]

I have an older Kenmore dryer. It was slow to start and then went kaput. The motor brushes upon inspection were really worn, as evidenced by looking at the orientaion of the shaft to the diamater of the brusing outlet. In simpler terms, the brushings wore to make the shaft turn sort of an elliptical fashion, and then it died. This is all to say that Kenmore/Whirlpool motors are really replaceable.

 

[xyz]

Really sounds as if you have a motor going out. Have you checked the amps with your clamp on meter when you do have it running to see if it is actually pulling the correct amperage? Do this. i doubt, but it is possible that you have roller inside with a collapsed bearing. I have seen them collapse and never make any unusual noise to tip you off of that problem. But please don't pay retail on a motor. They are easy to repalce. About an hour at most. Don't clip any wires on harnesses because you may need to reuse an hrness or tie into some wires because of a different configeration on plug-ins at the motor if the motor come out of another model machine from another era in time. But it's no prob at all to swap out these motors even if you don't have a peefect match. I do it all the time. just be caeful converting gas dryers over to electric because of centrifical switch differences and timer wiring so you won't have your element running when the dryer is off but it's timer is set at 20 minutes. you may have heat at the element with no tumbling going on. The element will only go off when the timer is set at OFF position .Hope you can follow that one LOL.

 

[xyz]

And remember that on your wiring harness, you will have numbers on the harness to coincide with the numbered hookups on the motor itself.

 

[mattl]

Thanks, I haven't really got into it yet but I do believe it's the motor. I've got no problem tearing it down and replacing it, I do all my own repairs - just helps if you are "repairing" the correct thing! That's why I was asking about the "Buzz". I'll just get a direct replacement from Serval or Sears when the time comes, just want to be prepared.