What A Washer

Our Kenmore bit the dust and after determining Sears service could not come out for 3 days I decided to roll up my sleeves and fix it myself. The good news is there are a lot of sites out there with detailed information on how to service/repair washers. A few of the best are:

http://www.cheapapplianceparts.com/washer_repair.htm
http://www.applianceaid.com/procedures.html
http://groups.msn.com/Appliantology/washers.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=529

Between these sites and the parts schematic I was able to determine that a coupler was broken. A $20 part found locally. After replacing this part and patting myself on the back.. the moment of truth -- turned washer on and it began working. Pow!!!! A very large and sickening sound and I immediately turned the washer off.

Not good, I now see dark black oil oozing from the transmission case (didn't know washers had transmissions...did you?). I was able to remove the transmission case, the one with the large fracture. After disassembling the transmission I found the gear used to drive the agitator had broken. This is what caused the coupler to break in the first place. I was still hopeful but the transmission case is cast iron and the price is around $150. I also still had to buy the agitator gear.

If I had just known there was something wrong in the transmission case I could have spent another $20 on the agitator gear and been home free. Well, I couldn't see investing more time and money into a 5 year old washer. Next step, research and purchase a new washer...