Hello - Yesterday our 9 year old machine did not completely spin the clothes at the end of a cycle. After emptying it, I then tried to run the machine on the medium setting without clothes and it would not agitate or spin. I found continuity in the lid sensor wires. I did not however find continuity in the yellow and orange wire going to the clutch assembly from the motor housing. I cleared the codes and was able to run a complete cycle in the the light setting without clothes. Today we ran another light cycle with clothes and everything worked as it should, with the exception of the 4 flashes on the top of the motor telling me that I have a mode shift circuit failure. Please advise as to what step I should take next to find the source of the problem. I’m sure that it will fail again. Thank you.
The clutch assembly (shifter) is an electromagnet. The yellow and orange wires engage the magnet. If there is no continuity then the magnet can’t engage the cycle. (It engages the agitate cycle) When it releases it enters the spin cycle. There is a thermal fuse built in to the electromagnet. When it blows out (reason for no continuity) You must replace the mode shifter assembly. http://www.appliancepartspros.com/ge-shaft-mode-shifter-wh38x10017-ap4380186.html
Thank you for your explanation and diagnosis. Do you know why it works some time and not others? I am confused by that. I want to be sure that I am replacing the correct part. We ran a small load again this morning without a hitch. After that I checked the mode shifter wires again, and still no continuity.
If the shifter is not working, it will not shift into agitate mode. The basket tub) should disengage in agitate mode. What happens then is the agitator and the basket agitate back and forth together. On small light loads apparently this does not send an error. It may send error on large loads due to strain on motor. The only way to tell is do a load with the front panel off, when it begins to agitate watch through the plastic tub to see if the inner tub (basket) spins back and forth or does it remain mostly still.
I reset the the codes before doing a medium load a short while ago. It is agitating and spinning, however, does seem sluggish to get going. It tripped the 4 flashes again also, so I went ahead and ordered the new part you recommended along with a spanner wrench. Thank you for your help.
Let us know how the repair goes. Thanks for using APP.com
Replacing the Mode Shifter & Shaft Assembly fixed the problem! Everything is working properly and there are no more codes. I did however have to take the inner tub back out and redo the new shaft seal due to leaking. The old seal had swollen quite a bit due to the rubber deteriorating and it rusting and swelling. I think that it forced the hole that it sat in to become larger over time. I wrapped the outside of the seal with 5 revolutions of pipe thread tape and that wasn’t enough, I had to go to 10 to get a nice snug fit. Thank you for your help and speedy delivery of parts.