The gears started to slip making a loud grinding sound. I took the machine apart and found that the plastic plate through which a screw holds motor inplace was broken. I have got it working by using cable ties to hold the motor inplace however I'm not sure how long this will last. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement plastic housing for the motor? I have been unsuccessful in searching the internet.

You will need to replace the drive block.

Replace the pump motor. On your model, it can be done without removing the front panel. Open access door at bottom left of front panel. drain water out small hose. remove screw from plastic recess and use putty knife at side of recess to remove plastic recess. remove screw holding pump. pull machine out 2 feet from wall and tilt it back to rest back edge against wall. depress plastic tab in base to release pump. remove hoses and unplug electrical connection to pump. remove 3 screws holding pump motor to pump housing. install new pump motor and re-assemble.

This assumes that you have a basic Kenmore / Whirlpool top load, direct drive, neutral drain (it doesn't spin until the pump removes most of the water) machine.

First, see the Sears parts site for your washer:
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/index.action

Enter your model number (###.#######) and you'll see a list of major sub-components with diagrams and parts.

There are two initial possibilities based upon your description.

1.

Kenmore / Whirlpool top load, direct drive washers use a "Motor Coupler" between the motor and transmission.

It's used as a fail safe device and consists of three parts.

Two of the parts are the same, plastic units with three prongs that fit on one of the motor output shafts and the other on the transmission input shaft. Between them is a rubber piece with six holes.

The power from the motor is transmitted through the rubber piece to the transmission.

The other shaft on the motor directly drives the pump.

If the motor coupler is broken, or worn, the motor may not be able to send full power to the transmission for agitating or spinning. It may also make a loud noise when the two plastic parts hit each other.

See the following for how to remove the cabinet, pump, motor and motor mounting plate to inspect and replace the motor coupler.

http://www.american-appliance.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsPath=16&newsdesk_id=137

If the coupler looks damaged, it's a relatively easy fix.

Pry the plastic pieces from the motor and transmission. Some people use a claw hammer but I've found that using a small (6 inch) pry bar works well.

Carefully fit the plastic pieces over the motor and transmission shafts and press them in place (Use a 1/2" of larger socket to put pressure equally around the pieces.

Put the rubber piece on the transmission plastic piece.

Replace the motor mounting plate.

Carefully line up the plastic prongs on the motor based plastic piece to the three un-used holes in the rubber piece. If they don't line up right, the coupler could be damaged.

Mount the motor, don't forget the two screws, put the pump back on the motor and use its' clips.

Put the cabinet back on, don't forget to plug the lid switch back in and re-mount the console.

2.

It's also possible that the "Neutral Drain Assembly" of Main Spin Gear in the transmission are damaged / broken.

Fixing them isn't as difficult as is may sound.

Those cams/gears etc. in that assembly keep the washer from spinning until all of the water is pumped out and then go into spin mode.

See the Whirlpool / Kenmore service manual for top load direct drive washers and look at the section on how the neutral Drain Assembly works.

You'll also see how the cams/gears go together.

https://secured.whirlpool.com/Service/SrvTechAdm.nsf/2cd44500d572193285256a45004fd9d6/f7e2147fa98b28cf85257122007475cb/$FILE/L-55.pdf


Ours had somewhat the same problem. After looking at the transmission parts list (available on a number of sites) and on the Whirlpool site (Whirlpool makes Kenmore) we noticed that the one of the cams in the neutral assembly which is supposed to have a small spring, didn't on ours when we tore the transmission apart again

http://shared.whirlpoolcorp.com/assets/pdfs/literature/Repair%20Part%20List%20-%20W10114743.pdf

Found the part number for a kit (Whirlpool part number 388253 Neutral Assembly) for $15.00 and replaced the cams and gears.

In order to get the transmission out, you have to remove the cabinet, the fabric dispenser and both agitators. The top agitator uses a plastic 1/2" drive bolt (a 1/2" socket extension works well).


See the following illustrated description of how to pull the cabinet, pump, motor and transmission.

You don't have to remove the drum.


http://www.american-appliance.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsPath=16&newsdesk_id=137

Lay the machine down (after disconnecting power and hoses, remove the pump (two clips), the motor (two screws hold two clips on the motor), lift and set the motor aside.

Remove two 1/2 inch bolts for the motor mounting plate and three 1/2 inch bolts for the transmission.

Pull the transmission, remove the clutch (there is a spring clip that holds the clutch on the main agitator shaft), remove the 8 screws carefully the transmission holds 14 - 15Oz of oil, remove the clip holding the main spin gear on and check the plastic cams.

If the cam that should have a spring doesn't, or the others look damaged, or the main spin gear is damaged the washer won't go into spin mode.

If that's the problem, install a Neutral drain kit, put everything back together carefully and the problem may be solved.

As an aside, fixing ours cost less than $30 including 80-90 weight gear oil vs. $170 for a new transmission.

There are "dogs" under tops of some agitators. Easy to repair. ID them and pull up washing machine parts at Amazon. Dogs are by themselves(3 hard plastic gadgets) but better to buy the whole thing that hold the dogs. Usually under $10.00.

The left blade on a BD 2300 bread maker did not turn when neading the dough. I took it apart by removing the six screws in the bottom of the case and the screws inside around the bottom outer edges of the metal insert. I then removed the screws holding the motor assembly to the base. I found that the metal plate attached to the paddle shaft driven by the gear had torn through the plastic gear, and was no longer driving the paddle. I made a new plate with the end bent down 90 degrees so that it fitted into a slot in the plastic gear. This is much stronger and the breadmaker now works fine. This is a weakness in the design and the failure could occur on either paddle. failures of the left paddle could be due to the toothed belt breaking, this drives from the right paddle gear. There is also a belt between the motor and the left paddle gear.

Yes you can get parts for it.The gears tend to strip the teeth.

Mine was indeed a gear problem. Took off the top cover and poked around. Found two areas that may have caused the grinding.
1. The lower roller shaft had slid to the left out of it's groove. By removing the handset cradle (3 release tabs are accessed underneath the toner hatch.) I could loosen the "gear box" (a black contraption with all the gears inside) and then snug the bottom roller into proper position.
2. I removed the "gear box" to look around. Don't know if I dislodged one of the gears while doing so, but noticed one was dislodged ;-)
This required opening up the gear box by removing 2 screws and lifting off the motor. Then i could get at a gear that had come loose from a claw sort of piece. Note: the teeth of the loose gear needed to be on the motor side when sliding it back into the claw thingy. It seems to use a metal clip for friction control and perhaps proper spacing.

I noticed "some" wearing of gears, but doubt this is an issue. This machine has been used VERY hard for years and now, just by re-aligning things, it works once again.

My googling barely found any mention of troubleshooting this machine, so I shudder to think what finding parts would be like.

We just went through the same situation. We opened the top the Magnifica to get to the grinder and removed the four screws to seperate the grinding pieces. Inside we discovered two black fosilized beans/stones! We removed those, cleaned out all the bean dust and it is working like new! Took about an hour.

1. take out bean container
2. disassemble 3 philips screws and take plastic out
3. rotate the knob to try to get out the upper holder of burr. if it does not rotate than disasemble the knob and the gears(plastic big one is attached to upper holder of grinder, the other is together with knob.
4. tru to rotate it manualy, with help of extra srews puted in gear holder holes.
5. when you get it out, carefuly clean it, look for metal parts and stones(wich sometime comes with coffee)

1. turn on the grinder and attach gently one marker to lower burr during spining. after you stop grinder, look if it is perfect circle marked in burr. if it is not than marked side is higher. you should consider getting it ok by putting adhesive paper under lower burr and check it again.

good luck and carefuly.

If you begin dissassembly from the tub down, you wil come to the transmission with the spindle sticking out of it. If you undo the bendable tabs all around the transmission it comes apart in two halves. Careful, its full of oil. The spindle has a plastic gear bolted to the bottom of it. It meshes with other gears in the tranny. It has sheered teath and is making the noise.