• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Any appliance repair techs?

cherokee89

NAXJA Forum User
Location
St. Louis, MO
Hello All,

Just curious if we have any appliance repair techs in the house. I need some help with an old Maytag A208 that will not agitate. I have heard everything from lid switch to transmission. Before I spend any more money on it, I want some sound advice.

Thanks,
Tim
 
Does the motor run when it is supposed to be agitating? If not, then I would suspect the lid switch....bypass that sucker.

The transmission on a Maytag are very simple...so i doubt that is what it is.

And no...I am not an appliance guy...but I stayed at a Holiday Inn express last night. :D

Rev
 
look inside the unit behind the control panel, you should find a wiring schematic. I've found those to be most helpful in troubleshooting.
If your old maytag is anything lke mine there's also an out of balance switch. That's what was causing issues with mine, it would switch to the spin cycle and then not spin.
 
I just had a problem with an older GE dryer and found a really nice site/forum. It was very helpful and I was able to diagnose and fix mine real quickly.

www.applianceblog.com
 
You can eliminate the lid switch by seeing if it will spin. If it spins the lid switch is all right. If it won't spin or agitate, check the lid switch. If it spins but won't agitate, check the water level sensor. Look in the back panel, and you'll see a gadget that looks like a little canister, sort of like the front axle motor on a disco D30, with a tube leading up from the tub. If you're reasonably handy with electricity you can test further by bypassing the switch in this sensor to trick the machine into thinking the water level is up. If it agitates then, it's prettly likely the sensor or the tube to it (look for lime and cracks, etc.).

I should put in the usual disclaimer that if you're not comfortable working around lethal voltages while standing in a pool of water, etc. etc. blah blah, then call a repairman.

ETA: On my maytag, the lid switch will not allow the motor to run at all. It's how you can set it to soak for long periods - just open the lid during the fill. So if the motor runs when it's supposed to agitate, and it still does not agitate, then do suspect the transmission. I should also add, in case you hadn't understood, that the machine is set so that it will not begin agitating until the level switch tells it to, so a bad level switch will definitely prevent all agitation. However, it will always spin empty or full. The spin cycle is timed, not sensed.
 
Last edited:
If the motor runs and nothing happens, look at the coupling between the motor and the rest of the drive train. In some units the coupling is hard rubber, in others it's plastic/nylon. The plastic ones tend to shread. This is between the motor and the entire drive train, so the symptom would be no tub action at all. If it spins then look to the level switch and such as noted above.

Good Luck. I hate working on that crap.
 
Wow, apparently there have been others in this boat.

The unit will spin, but will not agitate. I am going to mess with the sensor and the lid switch. I am not dumping $220 on a new transmission for a ~30 year old machine. I will let one of the people who really give a crap about old washers do that.

Thank you all for the replies. We had a hell of a storm roll through St. Louis tonight and I think I am one of the only people in the area with power. I was right on the edge of all of it. So, I didn't get to mess with it tonight.
 
What area(s) were hit the hardest?
 
cherokee89 said:
Wow, apparently there have been others in this boat.

The unit will spin, but will not agitate. I am going to mess with the sensor and the lid switch. I am not dumping $220 on a new transmission for a ~30 year old machine. I will let one of the people who really give a crap about old washers do that.

Thank you all for the replies. We had a hell of a storm roll through St. Louis tonight and I think I am one of the only people in the area with power. I was right on the edge of all of it. So, I didn't get to mess with it tonight.

A 30 year old washing machine belongs on the shooting range. $220 will get you a nice machine that will do the job. We were in St. Charles over the 4th. The wife talked to her mother last night. She said y'all were getting some rain.
 
riverfever said:
What area(s) were hit the hardest?

Right downtown and in south city. The old Switzer building lost the entire wall facing the river. A bunch of the brick landed on the Eads Bridge. They measured 84MPH wind at the Channel 4 news buliding, which is close to the Arch. Part of the airport roof blew off.

Trees and debris are everywhere.

My girlfriend's dad is a truck driver and he saw 3 ttractor trailers get tossed around like rag dolls, right in front of him.

The radar looked like a higher power was really pissed at STL.

They are estimating 500,000 people are without power. That really sucks because it is supposed to be 100 degrees today.

I really got lucky. I live in Belleville, IL, and we only had a few drops of rain and a few gusts of wind.

Check out the pics on http://www.ksdk.com/
 
cherokee89 said:
Wow, apparently there have been others in this boat.

The unit will spin, but will not agitate. I am going to mess with the sensor and the lid switch. I am not dumping $220 on a new transmission for a ~30 year old machine. I will let one of the people who really give a crap about old washers do that.

Thank you all for the replies. We had a hell of a storm roll through St. Louis tonight and I think I am one of the only people in the area with power. I was right on the edge of all of it. So, I didn't get to mess with it tonight.

If it spins it isn't the lid switch. For a machine that old, you definitely don't want to drop big change, but a small sensor might still be worthwhile if the innards aren't rusted, especially for a Maytag that probably didn't change substantially for 20 of those 30 years. I don't know what's available around your way, but sometimes you can find dead machines at dealerships, recycling stores and the like, from which they'd let you grab a piece, and those sensors are pretty easy to get at. AT that age, rotten rubber is also a possibility, so you might get lucky and find a crack in the sensor hose. Even if you found a junker with a good transmission, though, it probably isn't worth the effort to bolt it all together unless you're really in love with the machine.
 
I agree. If someone gave me a new transmission, if that is even the problem, I would go through the hassle of putting it in, but I won't pay the money and do all of that work. I would basically have to take the whole thing apart. I am going to try to test the sensor switch this evening.
 
Wow...south side is where I was living last year.
 
riverfever said:
Wow...south side is where I was living last year.

I just talked to my folks. They live out in O'Fallon. They have only a few limbs down in the yard. My neice lives down by Tower Grove Park. She's got a tree down in the back yard. It missed the house but took down her power line. Power company says a couple of days yet and stay out of the back yard. Tower Grove Park is closed due to storm damage and Botanical Gardens has some trees down. That's what I got, so far.
 
I am not sure of the extent of the damage around the city, and I am not about to go driving around in this mess. There is construction on every major vein, not to mention these new problems.

I do have to say, I am really impressed with the response to clean things up. When I went to bed last night, I wasn't sure how I was going to get to work. 3 bridge options and the Merto Link. All of which were closed at one point or another. I drove through East St. Louis, as a short-cut, and even it had been cleared of trees in the road. Had to re-route around a flooded street, but that wasn't a big deal. All of the light poles that had fallen in the downtown area were removed.

I really hope South City is OK. Some of the most beautiful old houses I have ever seen are in that area.
 
Back
Top