Do-It-Yourself Story

All's well that ends well, but the getting there was a bit of a pain. The web site suggests 3 possible causes for my problem (incl. the burning smell). I began with the first two since they were inexpensive compared to the motor, which was the third cause (and also the least often cause). There is no way to visibly tell if the motor is bad or not. After replacing the clutch assembly, which did have some plastic pins broken off) and the motor coupling (which actually looked fine, but the replacement was cheap and of better quality) it didn't work. I called Appliance Parts Pros and the rep suggested it was the timer and not the motor. So, I ordered a timer (two, actually...the first one I recd. was defective)...no go. Finally I ordered the motor -- Bingo! The biggest difficulty with installing the new motor is that it is way down near the floor and you can't really see the back of the shaft, which is where you need to line up the motor coupling properly. So, it can be pretty difficult trying to get it seated. With 2 people one can hold the flashlight and look behind the motor and help guide the person who is actually seating the motor. My husband had more success seating the motor than I did...I think because he has larger hands and was able to grasp it better. It is heavy, making it more difficult to maneuver. It is easier if you flip the machine on it's back, so you can drop the motor in from above. In the course of replacing multiple parts we had the motor out 3 times...it was easier the time we had the machine flipped on its back. If you do it w/o flipping the machine it works best if you sit directly in front of the motor rather than to the side. It looks very simple in the video and maybe it is...if you have done it 100 times. The customer service at Appliance Parts Pros is excellent...they gave me a discount coupon as an apology for the defective timer. The parts got here quickly...in 1-2 days. Shipping cost is reasonable. All-in-all I saved money over calling a repair person and if I could have known it was the motor to begin with it would have gone a lot faster. I would do it myself again to save money. Dealing with Appliance Parts Pros was very positive.The only negative was the amount of trial-and-error needed to find the part that was actually causing the problem.