Whirlpool Washer won't Agitate or Spin

[TechnicianBrian]

Model #LA9500XTN1, when a wash load was started, this unit would fill, agitate, then drain, but the customer noticed the clothes seemed very wet at the end of the cycle. Sounding like a mechanical problem preventing the unit from spinning the clothes, I removed the cabinet and jumped in to have a look around.



The direct drive Whirlpool washers are very nice to work on because of the fairly straight forward design, and when they do break, they tend to give some fairly consistent symptoms. But because each symptom will get me looking at different areas of the washer, I will always attempt to confirm the failure just to save me some time and aggravation. Once I began a wash cycle, and verified the fill, the motor took off running, but while watching the operation I noticed there was no agitator movement. If the agitator doesn't move, and the basket won't spin, that is a sure sign of a broken motor coupler.


One of the more common failure of the direct drive series is a broken motor coupler assembly. Consisting of three pieces, one on the motor shaft, one on the gearbox shaft, and one connecting the two together, the motor coupler is designed to be the weak link in the washers drive system. In the event of a mechanical lock up of some sort, the coupler will fail and protect the remaining components from damage. The couplers work very well and will last for years, but with time and the normal stresses from washing heavy loads, they age and will eventually break. There have been several changes made to the coupler since it's original design, each one a bit of an improvement over the original, so the one you find on your machine may not look like the one you replace it with.

With the motor removed from the mounts, I pulled the remaining coupler parts off the shafts and cleaned up the shredded rubber which is what is left of the old coupler. Installed the parts of the new motor Motor Coupler, kit and now this washer will agitate and spin during the wash cycle.

If you find yourself needing to replace your own motor coupler, once you have the part in hand, follow the steps in this easy coupler replacement guide from my friends at ApplianceJunk.com and save yourself some frustration.

[AJ]

Also check out the motor coupler video.