The washer is a Maytag model A806, serial no. 741064UZ. It normally works quietly, but yesterday became very noisy. It would runs for about 30 - 45 seconds, then quit. After a few minutes it begins running again. There is also a faint odor, I don't want to call it burning, but there is a smell when the motor stops. I took a look at the underside of the washer. The water pump turns fine, and so does the transmission.

As a test I removed the belts from the motor and ran it on "spin dry". The noise was much louder, but I don't know if that was because the motor no longer had tension because the belts were removed. I only ran the motor for about 10 seconds this way, so I'm not sure if the motor with no load would have still cut after running for 30 seconds.

Any ideas on how to diagnose this problem? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Hi,

If you ran the motor without the belts and it was still load, then it sounds like your motor bearing is bad or motor mount assembly is bad. The repair manual would be good to get to fix it yourself.
Service manual kit, Maytag 2 belt washer


Here is the motor mount assembly:
Motor mounting plate kit

Here is the motor:
Motor

Jake

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Thanks Jake

I believe it is a bad motor mount. I ran the motor with no belts and still got the noise, but if I put my hands on the motor and kept it from moving the noise went away.

The interior of the was rusty in some spots. I suppose for the cost of the motor mount and my time this washer is still worth fixing. It is used in a two person household with no kids, so it doesn't see heavy use anymore. Any guesses as to how long these machines can last. It's got to be close to 30 years old by now.

Thanks again for the advise.

If the motor turns freely without belts attached your motor is ok. It is normal for the motor shaft to hit the housing when running.
It is difficult to tell if the transmission is bad and binding. Best to compare with another "good" Maytag.
If there is a transmission causing too high of a load on the motor it will cause the motor current to go higher than normal. Check the motor current when agitating or spinning. If the spin current is higher you may have something jammed in the tub. Convenient to just check the total washer current behind the cotrol panel.

Might be good idea to remove motor and check motor voltages per the schematic,you might have a burnt wire somewere. Usually the start winding.