How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP6016377 / WPW10178988 Rotor Position Sensor

After watching Matt on YouTube, I saw that the repair was something I could do. I ordered the rotor sensor from AppliancePartsPros.com, it arrived promptly, and following Matt's great instructions, I had the washer working again in no time. Thanks Matt! 

Replaced the shaft with two bearings and a new seal Because the machine gave us an error message which Was associated with the rotor position sensor I replaced the sensor also. The tool to install the two bearings was very good I used it twice already. A must to fo this job Well spend the money on the tool Now the washer works fine The video from Matt was an excellent tutorial 

Ordered and replaced new rotor position sensor which solved the no start issue. 

Replaced the Rotor Position Sensor. 10-minute repair. Took longer to disconnect the water/drain line and move the unit out than it did to replace the component. Appreciate the quick turnaround on the order. 

It had been noisy during the spin cycle for many months and was putting off the bearing repair. Tuesday, it threw an F51 position sensor code. My wife uses the heck out of this machine (her + 8 little dogs + me), so further delay was no longer an option. I ordered the bearing kit, bearing installation tool, hub kit, and position sensor on Wednesday morning. All parts were delivered on Thursday! Watched all the applicable APP videos (well produced BTW) and installed them as shown. Ran the automatic diagnostic sequence and the washer passed all tests (yay). Notes on a few items: 1) To disengage the top, I removed the 2 top "hinge bracket" screws at the rear and slid the top forward past the lid locks. Some of the other APP site testimonials alerted me to this possibility. 2) When I went to remove the rotor, I found the bolt was loose. The last repair (bearings) was done under warranty and the tech obviously did not use blue thread lock on that bolt as shown in the video (grrr). 3) The APP website product photos for the bearing kit show and instruction booklet. My kit was complete with all new parts, except mine did not come with one (found an RMA document instead, so the bearing kit was likely returned by someone else). 4) Since this model has a glass top, and because they were handy, I added a few dog beds to the tub before pounding out the drive shaft, and then the upper bearing. 

I tilted the washer up and removed the magnet and stator. Unplug the wiring harness from the switch and removed it from the stator(carefully). Plugged in the new switch and buttoned everything back up. I then ran the washer on the rinse and spin cycle before washing a regular load. Working fine now. YouTube was a great help! 

I followed the steps detailed in the repair video. 

Looked up the error codes, ordered the parts, watched the video tutorials, while I changed out the parts, I kept the video close by for reference. I buttoned it back up, ran the washer for a couple of cleaning cycles. And we are all living happily ever after. APP made a potentially nasty repair into a fairly simple one. 

Followed instruction in video for installing the part. 

F51 error code indicates a MOTOR ROTOR POSITION SENSOR FAILURE (RPS). I purchased the sensor to have on hand when I looked into it. To my surprise I immediately noticed that the bolt holding the rotor was loose and the rotor was not secure. I assumed this caused the error code and after tightening the bolt the problem disappeared. Although I did not use the part ordered, I appreciated the fact that I was able to find the sensor at AppliancePartsPros. Other sources required purchasing the entire kit which was much more expensive and a bigger job if I decided to install the kit. AppliancePartsPros return policy is extremely easy as well!