GE washer intermittent spin cycle problems

[muskie86]

Model Number: WCXR1070TAWW
Brand: GE
Age: More than 10 years

I have problems with the spin cycle only. Initially the motor would always turn in spin cycle but the belt did not move, therefore, no spinning would occur. I changed the clutch, although it did not seem very worn, and it worked great for awhile. Now three differnt situations occur randomly. First situation is it spins correctly, no problems. Second, the motor does not turn at all during the spin cycle although I do hear a clicking sound (from the timer?). Or thirdly, the motor will start to turn (to spin) for about 5 -10 seconds and then stop and never start, this probably occurs the most of the three. I am very confused over these symptoms??? It washes/rinses and drains fine. I never know what it will do until the spin cycle. Whatever occurs on the first spin after the wash will continue for the rest of the spin cycles of that complete washing cycle. It is not spinning the majority of the time, the working correctly is happening less and less. Could it be the timer that causes different situations to occur?

[Doc Ryan]

Have you inspected the lid switch yet while it is not working?

[muskie86]

Have you inspected the lid switch yet while it is not working?

I put a jumper around the switch to eliminate it from the circuit. I had checked it previously and it checked good.

[Doc Ryan]

And that didn't fix the problem?

[muskie86]

And that didn't fix the problem?

Correct, jumping the switch did not change the symptoms. I ran both a "Normal" wash and a "Permanent Press" wash to monitor the symptoms this past weekend. On the first spin cycle of Normal Wash, everything worked correctly. On the second spin of that normal wash (there are two spin cycles per Normal wash cycle), the tub would start to spin but stop after about 5 seconds. I then did the permanent press wash cycle (which also has two spin cycles) all of the spin cycles stopped after starting in about 5 seconds. So after the second spin cycle of the permanent press, when it stopped (5 seconds), I moved the dial to the first spin of the normal wash (which had worked earlier) but it just ran for about 5 seconds and stopped. Separate question - if the lid switch would have been bad, wouldn't have caused problems in the wash cycle also? The way the switch is wired it completes the connection of the of the motor to neutral.

[Doc Ryan]

Some washers will also not agitate if the lid switch is bad. The next time it stops, try wiggle the timer knob or tapping on the timer to see if that causes it to start again. This would be an easy to test confirm if the timer is bad.

[muskie86]

Some washers will also not agitate if the lid switch is bad. The next time it stops, try wiggle the timer knob or tapping on the timer to see if that causes it to start again. This would be an easy to test confirm if the timer is bad.

O.K., I will try anything at this point but it will be into next week before I test this idea. Thanks.

[muskie86]

To answer an earlier thread, I did tap the timer and wiggle the timer knob without fixing problem. Due to subsequent troubleshooting, the problem appears to be that the spin cycle will start for about 5 seconds and then stop due to the weight of the clothes in the tub. Even with a small load, the machine would start to spin for about 5 seconds and then stop. However, if I removed the clothes form the tub, it would start and spin for the entire cycle. Since I had the lid switch jumped, I tried putting clothes in as the spin cycle started at slow revolutions. As soon as the clothes were added, the tub would stop. However, if I waited until the spin cycle was running at top speed and then added clothes it would complete the cycle without stopping. So the motor?, or transmission?, can't overcome the initial inertia of getting the speed of the tub up to top spin speed with the weight of the clothes in the tub. In the wiring diagram I do not see any cut-out switch which would stop the motor if the tub doesn't get up to speed?