I am getting black marks and streaks left on my clothes. I have cleaned the seal after every wash and still it continues. The stains are extremely hard to remove and have ruined a number of garments and linens

This is usually to do with fabric softener. Dilute it with more water. The fabric softener makes clots, and these make the marks on your clothing.

Hope it helps

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Unless there is a child's crayon or something similar causing it, then suspect that the agitator shaft seal, or the drum seal is leaking oil into the drum. Hopefully, there is still warranty on the machine. Good luck!

The brown stains are likely coming from the felt drum seal. The OEM adhesive is tar based - and after time and use - breaks down.

You'll need a new felt seal - and the adhesive that is used should be silicone based... eliminating the brown streaks.


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u may have a bad tub bearing and seal

The mould you are referrng to is actually bacteria that is building up because you are doing too many low temp washes.
What you must do is a high temp wash periodically,with powder in but no washing.
Do this 3 or 4 times a year, more if you do a lot of wahing.
It is called a maintenance wash, and helps kill off the bacteria.
With a scouring pad or steel wool pad, clean as much scum as you can off the door seal. particularly in the folds of the seal.
You will probably be left with stains in the rubber, but as long as you have got the worst off, it should be o/k.
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I had the same problem, and it turns out that it is NOT the seal. It is the liquid fabric softener. The fabric softener dispenser needs to be cleaned periodically or it gets a black waxy, goopy, build up. It is this same buildup that ends up staining your clothes with dark brown or black stains. Just remove the dispenser and wash it our very well and the problem will be gone.

At the end of the cycle, the wash plate nutates for
approximately 30 seconds to fluff the clothing after the
final spin. The action of fluffing causes the outer wash
plate seal to rub against the stainless steel basket while
they are both relatively dry. This condition causes the gray
discoloration.
RESOLUTION:
An updated machine control, part number 8542693, is
now available. The updated control reduces the fluff time
from 30 seconds to 8 seconds, allowing the clothing to be
fluffed, without causing discoloration.
Gray marks or smudges can be washed out of clothing
after wiping down the basket. The consumer should use
the recommended amount of HE detergent and the hottest
water safe for the fabric or hand wash the garment under
running water. In either case, the fabric must be cleaned
prior to running through the dryer

It could be rust stains coming from the tub of the dryer during the drying cycle. The only concern is that rust stains are usually brown streaks on the clothes. I'd check the to make sure there are no rust stains on the tub, check the seal of the door to make sure its still in good condition. The last possibilty could be a good cleaning of the dryer (removing lint from the lint screen compartment and the tub of the dryer).

A schematic of your dryer can be found on www3.sears.com and should show how to get into your lint screen compartment and your tub.

Black stains could only come from rubber part that is deteriorating. Need to check all hoses, rubber boot and at bearing seal.

I am a recently retired engineer of 20 years once you have ruled out anything getting inside the machine by accident etc, like something in pockets or greasy overalls, then its likely to be the drum bearings, has the machine started to get noisy on the spin the drum bearings are covered by a rubber seal, this seal gets damaged or worn and water leaks into the bearings themselves washing out the grease back into the drum where the washing is, you could also notice slight water marks on the floor underneath the machine on the floor, take the back off and look for water marks coming from the drum outer casing behind the pulley, these marks will be brown and will originate from a small drain hole, if any of the above change the bearings before any real damage is done, either to the clothes or the machine, as repair can be expensive? sorry, hope i have helped you as to where to look at least,