I had two problems. Water was leaking AND the machine would not spin. Actually these problems are related. I called F&P and they told me to call the local authorized repair center which (of course) isn't open on the weekends. We have 4 teenagers and I needed to get this fixed.
I tried recycling the power to reset the circuit. No luck. I restarted the machine and it started working - until it got to the first time in the cycle where the water has to drain.
Essentially, the machine will not go into a spin cycle of any kind unless the water begins to drain or is already drained. So I tilted the machine forward and looked under the bottom. There is a plastic diverter valve that has 3 hoses attached. There is hex head screw that you take loose which releases the clamp holding the assembly to the bottom of the washer. I removed the hose clamps and hoses and the two wires on the solenoid valve. Note: The black wire connects to the terminal closest to the valve. The other wire is orange.
When I removed the valve I noticed there is a piston assembly that moves a lever back and forth. This controls the diverter valve inside the housing. You can actually unclip the top and look at the round diverter disc. The problem was that the CHEAP plastic piece between the piston and lever arm was broken. This means that the diverter (round disc) could never switch from the fill mode to the drain mode. Because of this the machine would never spin.
I cut off the plastic "bridge" between the piston and lever and drilled a small hole in the lever and the front plastic piece on the piston. I then inserted a small cotter pin, carefully wrapped it around each side and super glued it. After reinstalling the assembly it works like a charm. While this is probably a long explanation, if you take the assembly off the machine, you can easily see how to fix this. A repairman would probably charge $150. It cost me about 5 cents and 45 minutes. One note: When you pull the bottom hose, be sure to have a catchpot as there is water in the machine that cannot be drained from the top.
Good luck.
Ace
Ace
March 2007