Washer won't spin or agitate

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Washer won't spin or agitate - no blinking LED

by Wendy
(Lewisburg, TN)

Hi. We bought a GE top-load washer, WWSE5240G0WW in September 2007. The last wash, it filled, drained, but would not agitate or spin. There is no blinking LED light on the motor - not to say there's no light, but it's definitely not blinking. During the agitator & spin cycles, the motor is completely quiet. When turned manually, the belt rotates the basin just fine. My fear is this is a bad motor, but I'm hoping it's a fuse harness. If it were an agitator switch, would we not still have the LED light blinking?

Any input would be helpful. We hope to repair this ourselves.

Wendy

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Answer

Hi Wendy,

Replacement parts in General Electric WWSE5240G0WW Washer

If the light isn’t blinking then the fuse is most likely blown. The fuse is inline the wires under tape on the right side of the washer. The motor could have caused the fuse to blow after all that is why the fuse is there but most of the time replacing the fuse will repair the washer. If not you have a bad motor.

Oh and yes even if the switch were bad you should still have the blinking light. The only thing that will cause no light is the fuse (assuming the washer has power) or a bad motor.

There is a picture that shows the location of the fuse on this page GE HydroWave Washer Repair

Thank you,
Shawn/administrator

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Washer won't spin or agitate - no blinking LED

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The Results
by: Wendy

Thanks so much for the feedback. We stripped the component down to the fuse, took out the fuse, connected the wire, & the motor went live. However, now I'm afraid we may have fried the motor. I've ordered a new harness kit with the hope that there's no permanent damage. We dare not try that again without the fuse repair. Time will tell. Thanks again!

Running the motor without the fuse
by: Shawn/admin

Running the motor without the fuse will not damage the motor unless there was already something wrong with the motor. However, I never recommend trying such a thing because the fuse is to prevent fires and things to that nature.

With all that being said now that you know the motor will run, if the fuse blows again or doesn’t put it back to work you know for sure you have a bad motor.

Thank you,
Shawn

Update
by: Wendy

Hi, me again. We got the motor in today & replaced both the fuse & the motor. There's a current going to the motor but it doesn't ignite...both in the old & new. Confused. Is there something secondary we need to do?

Thanks!

RE
by: Shawn/admin

Is the light blinking on the new motor?

Also read the paper that comes with the new motor it may say (depending on when the motor was made) not to use the fuse at all because the new motors are not using the fuse.

Where are you checking voltage at?

The last post...
by: Wendy

Well, after all that, we discovered the real problem was the lid switch. After 2 snips & reconnecting all of the parts, it started working just fine. Neither the motor we had nor the motor we bought has a (working?) LED light. For what it's worth, we now know a whole lot more about our machine. :) Thanks for the input. How common is the LED light really?

W

Light
by: Shawn

Yours has a light on the motor that is supposed to blink. The lid switch will cause motor not to run but it doesn’t affect the light, which is why I didn’t mention the lid switch. There (if you gave me the correct model number) is a green (possibly red on the new one) blinking light on the motor under metal cover on the electronic board that is on the motor. In any case I am glad you got it going.

no blinking led
by: Gary

I have a ge hydrowave top loader s3700g0ww and I have replaced the lid switch and the fuse. still the machine will not agitate.

I also remove the motor and the inverter cover and there is no led present on circuit board. So there must be a number of these units with out this feature.

Are there any other fusible links in this machine as the kit comes with 2 but I only replace the one in the harness on the right front of the washer?

LED
by: Shawn/admin

Gary,

Your washer along with all HydroWave models has a LED light designed to help diagnose problems with the washer.

I know that companies can things such as this without notice so I don't claim to know every model but in the interest of this thread I have done extra research as to if all HydroWave washer models have the LED or not. My research included looking through all the services manuals and service bulletins and a few weeks I was at a service school about these models and I made it a point to ask if all of these models had the LED and the answer was yes.

So to answer your question if the LED isn't blinking and the motor is getting power and the fuse isn't bad the motor is bad. The only way to know for sure if the motor is bad or not is to check to see if the motor is getting power or not. If you have a voltage tester and are comfortable using it (working with live voltage) let me know and I will tell you where to check for voltage.

Also there is only one fuse on this washer.

Thank you,
Shawn

3 blown fusisble links, no blinking LED
by: Chris

GE hydrowave washer (WPRE6150HWT)stopped spinning and agitating. It filled with water, counted down the cycle, and drained. We went through the diagnostices as you have described in this forum, with the lid switch. That checked out ok. We replaced the original fusible link, twice. Each time the fuse would blow. A flash would came from the circuit board on the motor. We never saw the blinking led. What could cause the fusible link to blow?

Bad Motor
by: Shawn/admin

At this point you can be almost sure the motor is bad.

3 blown fusisble links, no blinking LED
by: Chris

Thanks Shawn, the information really helped us alot.

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Washer won't spin or agitate - no blinking LED

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Washer won't spin or agitate - no blinking LED