--- title: "Washer will not spin" description: "Maytag washer will not spin: a load that finishes sopping wet has usually not failed to spin at all — it has tried, found something it did not like, and…" url: "https://maytagmiami.support/symptoms/washer-will-not-spin/" date_modified: "2026-09-07" Appliance type: "Washers" --- # Maytag washer will not spin ### Ten minutes with the lid open Redistribute the load by hand — one towel against the far wall of the drum will stop a spin on any machine ever built, and it is the cause more often than anything mechanical. Close the lid and listen for the lock; on the top-load machines it is an audible click, and if you cannot hear it the spin will not be attempted. Then run a drain and spin cycle on its own with nothing in the drum. If that spins clean, you have a balance problem and a habit to change. If it does the same thing empty, the machine is worth looking at. ### What it usually means, by the kind of machine One complaint, several machines. This maker still sells a top-load washer with an agitator alongside one without, a front-loader, and a stacked pair, and it sells the same oven as a range and as a wall unit in gas and in electric. The behavior you can describe is identical on all of them; the first hour of the repair is not. A front-load washer has a drain filter the owner can open and a top-loader has nothing to reach from the front, and that single difference decides how the same afternoon goes. - **Top-load agitator** — The lid switch and lid lock are the first suspects, and on this design they are also the easiest part of the machine to reach. A lid that no longer clicks firmly shut is worth mentioning when you call. - **Top-load impeller (HE)** — These balance the load themselves and will re-fill and re-distribute rather than spin an off-center basket. A machine that keeps adding water at the end of a cycle is doing exactly what it was designed to do. - **Front load** — The door lock is the gate on the whole cycle here, not just the spin. A machine that washes and then stops with the door still locked is telling you the lock is working and something after it is not. ### Three complaints that arrive as one Drain, lock and balance all end with the same sentence on the phone, and the three repairs have almost nothing in common. That is why the questions above are the ones we ask before the visit is booked rather than after — an answer to any one of them takes a third of the job off the table, and it changes which parts ride out on the van. ### What holds up on this badge These machines are frequently the oldest appliance in the house, and the second half of that is that the parts around the drive have had time to wear evenly rather than dramatically. Suspension, the lid lock and the drain pump are the three that come up, they are stocked, and none of them is the kind of repair that has to be weighed against the price of a new machine. A load that will not sit evenly Bedding, a single bath mat, or one heavy item on its own. The machine tries, senses the wobble, refills to re-distribute, tries again, and eventually stops rather than damage itself. The lid lock or door lock It has to report locked before spin is allowed. A lock that has worn, or a striker that has moved, ends every cycle with a wet load and no obvious complaint. Water still in the tub Spin does not start until the drain has finished. If the machine cannot empty, the wet load is a symptom of the drain rather than of the spin. Worn suspension On a machine that has spun several thousand loads, tired suspension rods let the basket move far enough that the balance sensing stops it. This is the ordinary end of a long life, not a defect. The drive or the motor control Least common of the five and the only one that is genuinely a board or motor question. It is what is left after the other four are cleared, which is why they are cleared first. Try it empty A drain and spin with nothing inside separates a load problem from a machine problem in one cycle, and it costs you fifteen minutes. Listen for the lock No click, no spin. On the front-load machines the door will also stay shut at the end of a cycle when the lock is the trouble. Push the drum by hand It should move a little and settle. A basket that swings freely and keeps swinging points at the suspension rather than the load. Note whether it drained A dry drum with soaked clothes is a spin problem. A drum with water still in it is a drain problem wearing the same clothes. The load comes out soaked and the drum never got up to speed What it usually means The machine has to drain before it will spin, so a drain problem shows up first as a wet load A lid or door that is not locked stops the spin without stopping the wash UL and F5E2 both describe balance and lock rather than the motor Ten minutes with the lid open Redistribute the load by hand — one towel against the far wall of the drum will stop a spin on any machine ever built, and it is the cause more often than anything mechanical. Close the lid and listen for the lock; on the top-load machines it is an audible click, and if you cannot hear it the spin will not be attempted. Then run a drain and spin cycle on its own with nothing in the drum. If that spins clean, you have a balance problem and a habit to change. If it does the same thing empty, the machine is worth looking at. What it usually means, by the kind of machine One complaint, several machines. This maker still sells a top-load washer with an agitator alongside one without, a front-loader, and a stacked pair, and it sells the same oven as a range and as a wall unit in gas and in electric. The behavior you can describe is identical on all of them; the first hour of the repair is not. A front-load washer has a drain filter the owner can open and a top-loader has nothing to reach from the front, and that single difference decides how the same afternoon goes. Top-load agitator — The lid switch and lid lock are the first suspects, and on this design they are also the easiest part of the machine to reach. A lid that no longer clicks firmly shut is worth mentioning when you call. Top-load impeller (HE) — These balance the load themselves and will re-fill and re-distribute rather than spin an off-center basket. A machine that keeps adding water at the end of a cycle is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Front load — The door lock is the gate on the whole cycle here, not just the spin. A machine that washes and then stops with the door still locked is telling you the lock is working and something after it is not. Three complaints that arrive as one Drain, lock and balance all end with the same sentence on the phone, and the three repairs have almost nothing in common. That is why the questions above are the ones we ask before the visit is booked rather than after — an answer to any one of them takes a third of the job off the table, and it changes which parts ride out on the van. What holds up on this badge These machines are frequently the oldest appliance in the house, and the second half of that is that the parts around the drive have had time to wear evenly rather than dramatically. Suspension, the lid lock and the drain pump are the three that come up, they are stocked, and none of them is the kind of repair that has to be weighed against the price of a new machine. ### Can I keep using it and wring things out? For a load or two, yes. But every cycle that ends with a failed spin has usually run the drum through several extra refill attempts, and if the suspension is what is tired, those attempts are what wears it further. ### It spins sometimes and not others. That is nearly always balance, and it usually tracks with what is in the drum. Bedding and single heavy items on their own are the two that show it up. ### The door is still locked and I cannot get my clothes out. Leave it powered for a few minutes after the cycle stops — the lock often releases on a delay. If it does not, tell us when you book that the door is shut on a wet load, because it changes the order we work in. --- **[Read full article: Washer will not spin](https://maytagmiami.support/symptoms/washer-will-not-spin/)**