My Kenmore Elite he5t washing machine isn't draining. My daughter put in a load of old material, and some of it just fell apart when it got wet. We cleaned out the junk trap down by the pump, and that helped. However, there seems to be a clog higher up in the system somewhere. Whenever we plug it in or try to start a cycle, it tries to drain out the water that is already in there. It looks like there is some sort of valve that opens up when it's time to drain the drum, and I think that's clogged. How do I get to it?

OK, I fixed it. I took the back plate off so I could access the parts better. There is a short rubber tube that comes out of the bottom of the drum area and goes into the pump clean-out unit. The top part is bigger and has a wire clamp. I squeezed the wire clamp and it was easy to pop the rubber hose off the plastic connector. There is a plastic ball that acts as a valve if the water down below backs up.

Anyway, it had two or three scrungees stuck up there. The water drained, more slowly because they're somewhat course, but when the clumps of decaying cloth came through they clogged them up so it didn't drain at all. I pulled them out and threw them away. Put the rubber hose and wire clamp back on and now it works like a charm. OK, I fixed it. I took the back plate off so I could access the parts better. There is a short rubber tube that comes out of the bottom of the drum area and goes into the pump clean-out unit. The top part is bigger and has a wire clamp. I squeezed the wire clamp and it was easy to pop the rubber hose off the plastic connector. There is a plastic ball that acts as a valve if the water down below backs up. Anyway, it had two or three scrungees stuck up there. The water drained, more slowly because they're somewhat course, but when the clumps of decaying cloth came through they clogged them up so it didn't drain at all. I pulled them out and threw them away. Put the rubber hose and wire clamp back on and now it works like a charm.

Oh yeah. It was giving an F28 error message. I also learned that if it can't pump all the water out, it won't unlock the door. I had to access the manual release. There's a little plastic tab that pokes out of the bottom of the door lock. I could reach it through the bottom kick plate space, if I reached my arm up on the right side. Or I could reach it from the top after I took the top off. Oh yeah. It was giving an F28 error message. I also learned that if it can't pump all the water out, it won't unlock the door. I had to access the manual release. There's a little plastic tab that pokes out of the bottom of the door lock. I could reach it through the bottom kick plate space, if I reached my arm up on the right side. Or I could reach it from the top after I took the top off.