My wife reports the washer won’t complete a cycle and has been “shooting sparks” from behind the timer control knob.

Is this a clear case of needing to replace the knob?

Never mind, found the problem.

A couple years ago the lid switch failed and we bypassed it with a jumper of sorts. The jumper failed and shorted to the body of the washer near the knob. A simple re-jump and we should be good.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
Never mind, found the problem.

A couple years ago the lid switch failed and we bypassed it with a jumper of sorts. The jumper failed and shorted to the body of the washer near the knob. A simple re-jump and we should be good.

Why don't you replace the lid switch? Using a bypass isn't a good idea. If it shorts out again it could cause a fire, as the recent sparking indicated.

quote:

Originally posted by Sgt Neutron:

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
Never mind, found the problem.

A couple years ago the lid switch failed and we bypassed it with a jumper of sorts. The jumper failed and shorted to the body of the washer near the knob. A simple re-jump and we should be good.

Why don't you replace the lid switch? Using a bypass isn't a good idea. If it shorts out again it could cause a fire, as the recent sparking indicated.

I should. I have no excuse. Lack of ability originally. I’ve developed into a more useful human being these days. This time, however, I soldered and shrink wrapped it so chances of a short are pretty low.

I'm confused (nothing new).
Why would sparks be coming from behind the timer control knob because the lid switch bypass shorted out? The two are not even close to each other.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I'm confused (nothing new).
Why would sparks be coming from behind the timer control knob because the lid switch bypass shorted out? The two are not even close to each other.

There is/was a handy junction point near the dial, behind the panel, where the wires from the switch come up. That rinky-dink jumper failed and was replaced by good quakity solder work.

Appliance Brad helped me fix my Maytag washer a couple times. The main lesson I learned is that it's pretty easy to do, if you have the part and can find a how-to video.

I did the lid switch on my Maytag a year or so ago, and it was simple. Looking up your machine, I think yours is different and more expensive, but I'm guessing installation will still be easy, and I'd suggest you do it before your wife figures out that sparks coming out of it are a bad thing!

Here's a link to one source for the part. Shop around, prices vary from one sight to another, and don't forget to figure in shipping. By the way, I replaced the timer on my Maytag last week with a part I bought on-line. The video describing the replacement was 4 minutes 47 seconds long, and it took me about that amount of time to do the work.

https://www.partselect.com/MEG...32EQ1&ModelID=703107