Hi Laura,
I have the same issue that started last year. I found that fooling around witht the dial would eventually get it to drain. It eventually got worse. Maytag came to fix the problem, it took them forever to finally replace the timer. The problem was fixed for about 8 months and now the problem returned.
Without getting to technical here, I found the switches in the timer were damaged from arcing. What I presume and am going to try shortly is to replace the capacitor on the motor. So I would agree with your husband that it's part of the motor. I have an issue with replaceding the timer again ($100) and then the motor ($200) after spending $200 to have the thing fixed the first time. If this idea doesn't work, I'm tossing Maytag to the curb. Keep us posted on how you resolve your problem. I'll do the same.
Regards,
Ralph
Ralph Wiggim
August 2006