Whirlpool Imperial washer not agitating,

[sdd04]

I guess it's agitating me, just not the clothing. Model LA7000XM that my wife and I bought new I believe in 1985. This is our 1st problem with it. The 1st symptoms were that when agitating, sometimes it would stop agitating, though you could hear noise telling you that parts were still spinning. Kind of a clicking noise. At that time, if you stopped and restarted the machine, it went back to agitating. As time passed, it became worse, and you would, after stopping the machine, need to rotate the agitator back and forth until you felt it lock up. Then you could restart it and it would agitate. It has continued to degrade to where it stops agitating more often. Same process, stop the machine, rotate the agitator back and forth until you feel it lock up, and restart. It appears to me, for what that's worth, that all other functions work fine including spin.

When the problem first started, I didn't worry to much about it thinking we'd gotten our money out of it, and we'll buy something new when it finally failed. However, our experience with other appliances that we've replaced, dishwasher, microwave etc, is that the new one is not made with the same level of quality as what it replaced, and problems seem to come shorty after warranty expires. So my preference is to repair this machine, and keep using it.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

 

[maytag85]

Is your machine doing this?

 

[repairguy]

The transmission in your washer has failed. Whirlpool machines of this age generally require a complete rebuild to keep going. This includes all rubber seals, possibly bearings, a new spin tube, a rebuilt transmission, etc. it can definitely be done but it will take some time and technical ability. My experience with these year models is that the outer tub is usually rotted in all the wrong places and when removing it to replace seals it disintegrates. Currently the agitator gear is not engaging probably due to water slowly seeping through the spin tube seal and into the transmission mixing with the oil and destroying gears and irreparable wear due to lack of lubrication.

 

[maytag85]

From what I remember reading in the archives, the short post machines made after 1978 tend to spill their guts as Gordon (kenmoreguy64) would say and most of the later machines needed more rebuilding to get them up and going again compared to the tall post belt drive washers from 1947 to 1977 that usually lived on long enough to completely kill their bearings.

 

[DADoES]

 
LA7400XM is a direct-drive, yes?

Granny had an LA7400XMW2 Design 2000 (serial 1984 35th).

 

[repairguy]

The LA7000XM comes up as belt drive.

 

[DADoES]

 
Oops.  I copied/pasted the model on first search, it came up a belt-drive.  Then I searched again and typed it directly, with a typo, and got the DD.  Injured hand-finger may be at fault.

 

[sdd04]

Thanks for all of the replies.
As to the video, not really. The agitator moves slightly one direction, click click, and then slightly the other direction click click.

Transmission. Bummer! Was hoping for something simple like a wig wag solenoid. If I understand correctly what you're telling me, the "locking mechanism" that I'm manually rotating the agitator into is actually inside the transmission. If that's the case, I'll have to take it to my shop to look at as it resides in the master bathroom in our house. There's enough space for a quick r&r of something simple, but not a major teardown.

I understand given it's age that rust could be an issue. That said, the inside of the drum is still showroom shiny speckled gray. What it looks like on the other side, and what the outer tub look like will be a mystery until it's torn down.

Is there any other diagnostic work that should happen before I remove it from the house?

Thanks again. A couple of pics of the beast.

 

[repairguy]

No other diagnostics will need to be made inside the house. If the transmission is trashed inside from water leaking into it odds are it’s not repairable from the damage done. Sometimes if you tip the washer towards the front far enough you can see the water come out the top of the transmission. Chances of finding a new one are slim these days but there are good used ones out there. Changing the top seal in the basket drive where the transmission shaft emerges through the top is a must.

This would probably be far enough to get the machine going again but if you still want to keep it in operation for many years to come I would do what I suggested above.

 

[DADoES]

 
Spring #8 could be broken (due to rusting when water gets in, or age fatigue), and/or spring #19, or gear fork #20.  Or something else.

 

[sdd04]

Progress

Just an update. Finally out of the house, and about to be put on the trailer to head to my shop. Then we can start to take a look.

Not horrible looking from underneath given its age, though to be honest, I've not looked at any others in this position.

I'm sure I'll have some questions shortly.....

 

[sdd04]

Follow up question

I got it to the shop and removed the inner tub. I won't know the condition of the outer tub until I can clean up the "mud" in the bottom and see what's under it. Doesn't look bad though, and I don't see any issues at the top of the tub as I've seen in some videos.

However, I was surprised that when I went to remove the inner tub, which was quite "free", it only raised up about 6 inches or so before hitting a solid obstruction. A bit of force removed it. Basically it worked like a slide hammer and brought out the drive block with the inner tub as it was the drive block it was hung up on. I need to spend some time cleaning up the inside of the inner tub center post area to see for sure (some rust in there), but there appears to be 2 "things" 180 degrees from each other that kept, and still keep the drive block from being removed from the inner tub. None of the videos I watched removing the inner tub had such a restriction. What is the story behind these restrictors. Appear to have "27" on the end of it.
Thanks.