Washing machines made by Whirlpool, Sears, Kenmore and Kitchen Aid, these newer machines are called direct drive, the older machines used a belt and motor to drive the transmission. These direct drive machines use a coupling to drive the gearcase, this coupling is connected to the motor and the gearcase, the couplings sometimes break. When this happens the machine will take in water and drain as this does not affect the pump, when the coupler breaks, the machine will not wash or spin because the motor is not connected to the gearcase, at the end of the cycle you will find that the clothes are wet but not washed.
When the coupling breaks on this machine customers always think they need a new belt, they always have a strange look on their face when I tell them this machine does not use a belt. All other brand name machines still use a belt, here are some names that use belt drive on their washing machines; General Electric, Maytag, Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Speed Queen, Magic Chef and Amana.
If the washing machine washes at the beginning of the cycle, then stops with the water in it and will not drain, this problem can be a defective lid switch or a defective timer. If the timer is defective chances are it will be in just one of the cycles, if there are three cycles, light, permanent press, or regular, usually it might be in the regular cycle that it does not work because the regular cycle is used more than the other two cycles. If the problem is in the lid switch then it will not spin on any of the cycles you set it on.
