Hello Greg,
Your diagnosis is pretty good, but the buzzing suggests it may be the capacitor for the pump motor that has failed rather than the pump motor itself. The capacitor phase-shifts the AC current for starting the motor.
The drain pump should run briefly at the start of any wash cycle to clear any residual water from the washer and this appears to be where the failure occurs. The metal rod you can see moving is the actuator/linkage from the solenoid which opens the valve to the sump inlet. This doesn't start the motor and it appears to be working correctly.
You need to test the motor and/or determine where the buzzing noise is coming from.
This is an updated part from GE and may look slightly different to the one fitted in your washer, but all of the components are the same. The solenoid actuator you can see moving when you press start is ringed in blue on the left, the capacitor is the black box on the right, ringed in red and the terminals for the power supply to the motor are ringed in green.
If the buzzing is coming from the black box, you need to replace the capacitor or motor - I'll need to check whether the capacitor can be replaced separately. If you have an ohm-meter, test the motor for resistance/continuity across the two terminals ringed in green. You should get a reading of about 1 to 2 ohms if the motor is good. If the buzzing is coming from elsewhere it may be the solenoid for the water inlet valve.
Please test the motor if you have a meter and try to identify where the buzzing is coming from, then get back to me. You can reply to me by clicking on "Add a Comment" below your question.
Regards,
BElectric
Rreplacing the assembly in the picture should definitely solve the problem, but I'd still advise you to test the motor first just in case. The only parts of the assembly available separately are the solenoid and the linkage/armature, but these are also included with the motor/pump assembly. $120 is a reasonable price for this.
The white plastic part top-middle where the buzzing appears to be coming from is the impeller for the pump. Can't think why that would be buzzing as there's nothing electrical in there. Although you don't have a meter at the moment, you should be able to see the motor or the driveshaft spinning when you start the washer if the motor is running. The driveshaft is the metal rod that goes into the white plastic housing where the buzzing appears to be coming from.
Is there any sign of the motor actually starting up or running?
OK - It's definitely time to switch out the entire motor/pump/solenoid assembly.
It's the capacitor that has failed, as I suspected, but it's not available separately. The motor is actually OK. The buzzing is due to the motor being unable to start because there is no phase-shift between the armature (motor) and field (stationary) windings. The AC phase between the armature and field windings has to be 180 degrees out of sync for the motor to start and the capacitor provides the phase-shift to the field winding.
FYI, voltage and resistance testing of the capacitor is not a valid test and testing whether a capacitor has failed can't be done with a volt/ohm-meter. Capacitance testing is much more complex. It would take an age to explain, but if you're interested
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/funw...
Hi Greg,
Not sure if your previous comment was a question or a statement? The capacitor you bought is correctly rated for this motor so if the motor still wont start, you need to replace the whole assembly. The motor windings have likely been damaged by the additional heat generated through failure to spin-up. The elevated resistance readings suggest this is the case.
Sorry for the delay in replying to you. I've been offline for a few days due to some rather nasty malware. I've had to wipe my PC and re-install everything.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Regards,
BElectric
Please note: You will need to click on "View More Comments" in the light-blue bar below this message to see future messages from me. This wont appear until next time I post a message to you.
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There is a light buzzing noise from the capacitor when the washer has power, however, the loud buzzing noise when it tries to start for 3 seconds seems to come from the white plastic part in the top middle of the picture you provided. It has the metal rod going from the motor into it. I have not had a chance to measure the resistance for the motor yet as I dont have a multi meter at home.
Anyways it seems like everything in the picture you have provided is not sold separately. In fact it is all sold together and I found for $120 with shipping. If you are confident with the information I provided that it is something that is wrong within the picture and I cant buy the parts individually should I go ahead and order the parts? If it could be something outside the picture I will get you teh resistance reading Monday.
The motor resistance is 9.2 ohms and the buzzing noise is coming from it. I thought it was the plastic piece above the motor in your picture as the sound from the motor was traveling though it. I have the washer face down putting the plastic piece ontop of the motor. My bad. Anyways you said the motor was suppose to be 1 to 2 ohms?
The capacitor has a DC Voltage of 0.5 and a resistance readingof 5 M ohms. On my Fluke reader the M popped up next to the ohm sign. Both the voltage and resistance changed with time in 1 direction after I disconnect from power in order to read a value. Not suprised.
The water inlet valve has like 1000 resistance across it.
I found a replacement capacitor with the same specifications as in 10 uF, 60Hz, 10000AFC, designed for running motors, but it didnt really fix the problem. The capacitor I bought is rated for 370CAC/B and the original was 300VAC, but was told it didnt matter as that is just the max rating. The motor turns very slowly for a couple seconds then turns off. I left the power on and noticed the motor getting really hot. I bought a multimeter that can read capacitance and the old capacitor was at 0 and the new one read 10 uF so the capacitor was bad.
Thanks, I went ahead and purchased the assembly. Far cheaper than a service call and it is good to know how to troubleshoot in the future instead of I replaced a bunch of parts and it works now lol. You have some good responses and with in adequete time.
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