Washer wants to walk out of the house

PineRidge · Jan 30, 2005

Need some assistance from those of you more familiar with washing machines.

A few days back my wife complained that our clothes washer started making more noise on the spin cycle and my first thoughts were merely an unbalanced load so I didn't give it much thought.

This morning the machine got my attention so I lifted the lid. The load was not what I would consider large and there were no items in the washer that were bulkier than the rest so I believe it to be the washer at this point.

This is a Frigidare FWS645GFS2 serial XC91971121 if that makes any difference at all. I pulled the front off the washer and ran it through a spin cycle without anything in the machine. I see that the whole mechanism moves freely on a floating base and that there are three sets of tensioning springs that I would imagine keep the whole mechanism centered as it spins yet still allows movement.

The transmission appears to be cast iron and sits just above the motor assembly. The entire transmission rotates at the same RPM when the unit is in the spin cycle. I do notice a slight vibration from the tub even when the washer is empty on spin cycle. I'm wondering if these springs ever loose some of their tension and might this be the problem?

How about it, is it time to call the service tech or should I just get a bigger hammer from the pole barn? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

billbill1 · Jan 30, 2005

I wonder if you have a bearing wearing out allowing side to side shifting of the shaft or something like that? How old is the machine?

shvl73 · Jan 30, 2005

We had a cheapo Admiral from Home Depot that started doing that after 6 months, after 1 year it was intolerable. The internals looked similar to your picture. We tossed it and bought a Kenmore front loader on closeout from Sears 3 months ago and so far, its been great. No more top loaders for us.

sassafraspete · Jan 30, 2005

This sounds simple, but are all the feet down....eg is it staying level front to back, side to side with no slop/tipping?

JASTN70D · Jan 30, 2005

Mike

If everything looks good then sassafraspete suggestion is the first one to really look at make sure it is level and still on solid ground. I have seen problems if they set it is set in a catch pan.

billbill1 · Jan 30, 2005

Pineridge, I think some washers have a self leveling feature where you raise the back of the machine off the floor and let it back down. It is supposed to level the front of the machine to the back.

Bird · Jan 30, 2005

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( all the feet down....eg is it staying level front to back, side to side )</font>

That, and an unbalanced load, are the only two problems I've encountered.

billbill1 · Jan 30, 2005

Pine, you might also try putting the shock collar back on the lovely Mrs. Pineridge and send her to the laundrymat.

tc35dforme · Jan 30, 2005

I don't know if its like my GE, but at the top of the tub, there are ( 4 ) 'dogbone' style rubber restraint straps that kinda hold the top of the outer tub in a center position. They bolt up to the frame of the rig and screw to the outer tub. When one breaks, the load wobbles until a second one breaks, then it's all over the place.

Have a look up top.

shvl73 · Jan 30, 2005

On ours, the front feet were adjustable, the rear feet were self-leveling. I kept the machine level and all feet were solidly on the floor, it just kept going out of balance, no matter how small the load. Really frustrating. In the end, junking it was putting a headache to rest.