Kenmore won't spin out.

[kdevore]

417.41042000

Washer works fine except when it gets to the spin cycle. It just tumbles the clothes back and forth (front load) like it's in the normal wash cycle but with the pump running. Does the same in all settings. I'm thinking it's the spin control board, but someone please tell it's a fuse or somthing. :?

[Dan O.]

kdevore wrote:
Washer works fine except when it gets to the spin cycle. It just tumbles the clothes back and forth... but with the pump running.
But is the washer draining?? If the washer doesn't drain, it won't go into spin.


I'm thinking it's the spin control board
That may be a possibility.

JMO

Dan O.
Appliance411.com (http://www.appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore+Washer)
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[kdevore]

Yes, it drains and the pump runs durring the spin cycle. But the motor control just tumbles the clothes back and forth until the spin cycle ends, then it all shuts off like normal.

[Dan O.]

kdevore wrote:
Yes, it drains and the pump runs during the spin cycle.
If all the water is being drained from the washer and it still won't spin, you may have a problem in the motor control board. BTW. There is no fuse in such a washer which could cause such a condition AFAIK.

LINK > 131770700 Motor Control Board replaced by 134306000 (http://www.appliance411.com/data.php?rcpn=131770700)

If you want to try to diagnose the control board, there should be a 'tech sheet' with the appliance's wiring diagram behind the lower access panel in a small pocket, pouch or envelope with some test procedures in it.

JFYI

Dan O.
Appliance411.com (http://www.appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore+Washer)
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[kdevore]

Dan O. wrote: There is no fuse in such a washer which could cause such a condition AFAIK.




Yeah, I know. I was just being stupid. :D

I was messing with it some more and noticed that when it goes into the spin cycle the timer somtimes won't advance. I'm thinking it's the motor control board. The tech sheet says to readresistances between 1-2, 2-3, & 1-3 on the 6 pin plug but when I test these points they are climbing from 3 meg ohm,until the go beyond theallowable tollerance (which is 3 meg+10%) and just keeps slowly climbing. Not sure how to take that, good or bad. If bad then the tech sheet says to replace the board.

[Dan O.]

kdevore wrote:
when I test these points they are climbing from 3 meg ohm, until the go beyond the allowable tollerance and just keeps slowly climbing.
I would think that is NOT a good sign. :(

JMO

Dan O.
Appliance411.com (http://www.appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore+Washer)
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[kdevore]

I ordered the motor control board. Should be here tomorrow. I'll report back with the results. Thanks for the help Dan O.

[Dan O.]

kdevore wrote:
I ordered the motor control board. I'll report back with the results.
Please do. I'm always curious to what actually turns out the be the problem on these things. Sometimes you just never know for sure until you actually replace suspect parts. :?

Dan O.
Appliance411.com (http://www.appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore+Washer)
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[kdevore]

OK, here's what happened. I got the new spin control board and plugged it in and still no spin. Just tumbles back and forth. Now I'm really confused. So, put the old one back in and remove the belt to see if the motor would spin up without the load. I should have done this first thing because it ran the spin cycle. So why is it not working with a load on it. All I had in there was a wet hooded sweatshirt. I tried turning it by hand. It was kinda hard to get going but once you got it tumbling good it wasn't hard at all. Here's my theory. Apparently this is too heavy for a front loader when it is the only thing and off center. The motor has a tach in it that I think must feedback to the control board. If it sees that it isn't up to speed it must reverse the direction attempting to even the load before it puts full power to the motor. So, to test my theory, I stuffed it full of clothes and tried it again. It worked! There's nothing wrong with my washer and I'm an idiot! If it isn't broke fix it till it is, right.:DOh well, now I know. You can't wash just a hooded sweatshirt. Can't believe they didn't put this in the manual. I can see having it loaded down too much causing this problembut it was just a sweatshirt. I guess this is just a problem that front loaders have??

Also, those tech sheets are jacked up! If I used the resistance readings and voltage readings compared to the tech sheets, it would show the control board and the motor and the timer all bad.

[Dan O.]

I guess this is just a problem that front loaders have??
A balanced load is definitely necessary. I guess it can't get balanced with only one clothing item inside which would always be to one side of the tub or the other?

kdevore wrote:
Can't believe they didn't put this in the manual.
This is from another Kenmore by Frigidaire user's guide, I don't know what's written in the one for your model.

Frigidaire wrote:
Washing Procedures
...

4. Add laundry load to washer.

• Combine large and small items in a load. Load large items first. Large items should not be more than half the total wash load.

• Washing single items such as a sweater, towel or jeans may cause an out-of-balance load. Add 1 or two similar items to help balance the load.

• Single heavy items such as a bedspread can be washed separately.

• The washer can be fully loaded, but the items should not be tightly packed. The door should close easily.

Thanks for the follow up. Sorry (and a bit glad) to hear your machine wasn't actually broken. :?

Dan O.
Appliance411.com (http://www.appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore+Washer)
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[kdevore]

Yeah, mine has something like that in the manual too but it doesn't say that it will cause the symptoms I was having. I think it would be a good idea to put this info (nofinal spin)in the trouble shooting section of the users manual so that the operator would know this is a normal condition with this type of washer and not think there was a problem. I always figured an unbalanced load just made the thing shake violently or something, not do everything except the final spin. Keep in mind the washer did wash and rinse just fine. It just didn't do the high speed final spin as normal. I thinkthe difference between front load and top load though is that since the frontload is is spinning in a verticle plane it actually has to lift the sweatshirts weight up until it falls back to the bottom and then keep doing it over and over. This is what kept it from getting up to speed. When the sweatshirt hit the bottom, it would slow the drum speed. But by loading the washer with more laundry the sweatshirt (and the rest of the load) would instead roll over the top and ride back down the other side of the drum which actually helped it spin making it easier on the motor. So, with the same amount of power applied to the motor,the drum RPMs would be higher and the spin control board would send it in to high speed spin instead of reversing it. I don't think you would have this problem with a top load because it spins in a horizontal plane and therefore would only have to overcome the extrafriction of the drum bearings and not actually lift the weight. There would be more load on the motor but not like the front load washer. Of course a balaced load is best on either one.