How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP5982844 / W10804664 Washer Motor Start Capacitor

Luckily I was home at the time to keep my home from burning down as when this capacitor let go of the grass it didn't trip the breaker for some reason. Just started a load in the Whirlpool Cabrio washer about 3-4 years old and went to the other end of the house and began smelling a wierd smell about 5 minutes later. Went to investigate and saw smoke bellowing from the top load door area. Pulled the washer out, after unhooking everything from the wall and tipped it forward to see underneath and felt the motor was very hot and didn't initially see the capacitor was blown. Plugged it back in and turned it back on and laid back down on the floor to see what was smoking and saw the capacitor jetting out "something" along with smoke and immediately turned back off. Took off the motor guard (5/16" nut driver I think...two of them) and then 1 more for the capacitor along with the connector and came online to order. Ordered on Saturday around 2-3pm EST and arrived on Tuesday the following day. Screwed the new one down with the one screw after plugging in and put the belt/motor guard back on with the two remaining screws, plugged it in and ran the calibration (which took me about 4-5 times to get it to work right so don't give up on it...just kind of finniky...but it worked) and I was back up and running in about 30 minutes total including initial diagnostics of the problem to begin with. 

Replaced the capacitor with a new one. 

I ordered a new capacitor from AppliancePartsPros.com to replace the old one. The old one had melted and had a smell of burnt plastic with a little bit of smoke. It was something dreadful... But I replaced it with this new capacitor which appears to be made of metal, not plastic... I connected everything up, and gave it a few minutes to charge up the capacitor and then turned on the washing machine and it began to work again. Best $30 I spent. :) Sure beats spending $700 for a new washer. 

Changing the start cap 

First off, this site ROCKS!!!! I am not a mechanic or repair man, but after reading some of the "Pro's Tips" and watching one video, I was easily able to diagnose and fix my own washer. The parts I ordered were delivered in two days (standard shipping), and I had the old parts out and new ones in and washing clothes in about 30 minutes. Excellent site, keep up the good work! 

Went underneath the Maytag washer, and the capacitor (round, looks like a large D cell battery with a two-wire connector attached) had split, and grey "stuff" was oozing out of it. I unplugged the machine. Went to your website (had just recently replaced the "shifter" thanks to the "clues" provided on your help pages) and found the part on the diagram. Ordered (with the drive belt for future use) on a weekend, was shipped Fedex on Monday. Parts arrived Tuesday, and within 15 minutes(including opening the box, and finding a socket wrench) the machine was washing again. Old capacitor was plastic, new OEM was metal. Very happy with you really helpful website, and great service. The comfort of 365 day no-questions-asked returns, even on electrical parts, gave me the confidence to tackle repair, knowing I could return part if my amateur diagnosis was wrong. Thanks...great, great service and shipping! 

I just happened to come home from work to my wife telling me that we had smoke in the house. The house was filled with an acrid smoke and we finally traced it to the washing machine. So we unplugged the washer and opened some windows. We pulled out the washer and took off the back and looked for any sign of damage. We quickly found that a capacitor at the bottom of our Bravos X washer had swelled up. The plastic body cracked and a snake of extruded hard plastic had formed from the part down to make a pile on the bottom. A socket set was used to take off the capacitor and I looked up the model on AppliancePartsPros for parts. It was easy to find with the Illustrated Parts breakdown drawings. The part was a little expensive for such a simple part, but they were able to ship it the next day and we got the part in two days! So the high cost was made up with fantastic service. Other comments for the part mentioned that they had to calibrate their washing machines, but a quick online message chat with an AppliancePartsPros technician confirmed that MY brand of washer did not need to be recalibrated. The part went back in with no issues, we put the back panel back on. The repair was a quick and easy fix. We confirmed the repair was satisfactory by washing a small load right away. 

I fixed the issue by re poll acing the cam, actuator, and capacitor. The actual issue was the capacitor. It providing enough stored up power to rotate the motor and tub. After replacing the capacitor and calibrating the washer, I was able to utilize once again. 

Worked with the online chat to help identify the fault code. Did a few minor tests and determined it was the capacitor. All in all super happy. Spent $50 verses $500+ on a new machine. Took less than 10 minutes to fix. 

Replace capacitor in 10 minutes. Thanks to the video on how to on appliance pro.