GE Washer Aggravating but not Agitating!

Washer Repair
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1

Today I took possession of a GE washing machine from my mother in law. Our old washer was a lemon from day one and my MIL had hers in storage for personal reasons. (Not anything personal between her and the washer but events in her life) The natural fit was to let us barrow hers until we had the funds to replace ours.

I hooked up the washer and let it fill before switching it to spin to drain it. All was well and I went about my day. This evening I tried to actually was a load of clothes.

At this point I would like to say that I am Mr. Fix it by virtue of being a 30ish year old male who owns a screwdriver. I’m not particularly talented at being handy but I can fix most things if someone tells me what is wrong. Diagnosing a problem is not something I’m good at.

Having said that I do think I am capable of recognizing broke when I see it. This thing is broke. Typically when a washer agitates it’s the agitator that moves while the tub stays still, much to my dismay when this one began to agitate the tub went along for the ride. First one direction then the other. Slowly at first and then quicker!

So here is the question. What would cause the entire tub of a washer to turn with the agitator when it is in the wash portion of the cycle? You can spin the washer tub freely by hand at any time.

Thanks a ton!
CaptnCreamsicle

PS Just to be redundant, the washer is a GE WJSR4160G0WW top load washer.

3

I believe I have learned the cause of my problem thanks to the wonder that is Google!

After looking at the listing of parts here:
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/suspension-pump-drive-parts-for-ge-wjsr4160g0ww.html

I decided that the problem had to be this:
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/ge-shaft-mode-shifter-wh38x10017-ap4380186.html

And then I read this on another forum:

[QUOTE]The motor blinks on and off all the time It blinks faster when running. That is normalment mon ami.
If it ain’t acting right it will display flashes:

1 flash bad motor
2 flashes slipping belt
3 flashes corrupted software bad motor
4 flashes failed mode shift circuit
5 flashes little green men bad motor
6 flashes locked motor check for objects between tub
7 flashes bad lidswitch.
8 flashes motor overheated too much soap
9 flashes brake resister is toast bad motor.[/QUOTE]

And saw that my motor was doing this:

So I then made a face kind of like this:
:mad:

Thanks for reading anyway! If anyone has any additions to make to my discovery, please feel free to share them with me.

4

You figured it out, faulty mode shifter. Common problem on these junk machines.

Eric