8LSC Whirlpool Washer - Instructions

Replaced pump without disassembling the cabinet or disconnecting motor or any other parts.

Disconnected power, drain, hot and cold water lines. drained lines to pail before taping to top of unit.

Tipped the unit to a 45 Deg. angle, leaning the top side edge onto a stool so that pump presented well at the raised bott ... Read more om edge.

Removed hose clamps at pump suction and discharge ports and drained water into a shallow soaking pan. Kept clamps on hoses to facilitate reinstallation of pump.

Removed spring clamps at front and rear of pump housing.

Wiggled motor shaft away from coupling in pump. This is a friction fit, so no parts removal was required and no parts "come loose" in the process.

Wiggled new pump housing onto the motor shaft after checking square shaft alignment with respect to square female coupling on pump.

Pushed and twisted hose ends onto pump suction and discharge ports, then pulled spring clamps down over hose ends at pump ports.

Reset spring clamps so that they were aligned and square with pump ports. Reconnected power, drain, hot and cold water line connections.

Washer ran as before but without leaks this time.

First, I removed the softner cup from the top of the agitator. Second, I removed the plastic seal by pulling it out. I then used a socket to remove the bolt holding the agitator down. I then removed the agitiator from the machine and seperated the upper and lower agitator by placing my feet on the lower agitator and pulling up. The dog-ea ... Read more rs were in the upper agitaotr section and easy to see and replace. I re-assembled in reverse order. The whole process took less than 30 minutes.

The tub was out of alignment and water fell behind it and onto the floor. My brother-in-law suggested my problem could be the tub balancing spring and when I moved my washing machine, there it was on the ground.
The schematic does not show where it hooks up. So after I did what I thought looked right, the machine still did not wo ... Read more rk properly. Then I replaced the three suspension springs and that didn't solve the problem.
I found a whirlpool "do-it-yourself" repair book at the library and was prepared to tear into the machine. However, I did not have the tub balancing spring in the correct spot at one end. It hooks up from one of the outer bracket to the back of the housing unit along between the legs. There is a hole that had rusted through. I simply drilled a new hole nearby and low and behold it works!
Easy fix - the frustration was with the poor schematic.

Removed top cap and one nut from agirtator then removed complete assembly. Replaced new assembly nut and cap.

First, be sure to take the washer apart properly! The first time I fixed my washer I took it apart the hard way to change the clutch, and believe me it took longer to put it back together!
This time I was replacing both the water inlet valve and the hose leading to the disperser.
First remove the two screws holding down the con ... Read more trol panel. It then flips back and hangs out of the way behind the washer. Then remove the spring-clip holding the rear plate to the body of the washer, one on each side under the control panel.
Next you need to remove the screws holding the body down to the base at the rear of the machine.
I then tipped the body of the washer forward and let it rest on a bucket so I didn't have to take it completely off. Then it is easy to access the hose and the water inlet valve. Shut off the water and remove the supply hoses to the washer. Remove the two screws holding the water inlet valve to the rear of the washer using a nut driver. Next remove the wires to teh inlet valve, making sure to note which one is cold and hot, and which orientation they are. Mine was yellow on top and brown on bottom. Next remove the springs clamps holding the hose on. Replace the hose re-using the same clamps. Replace the water inlet valve reverse the process to re-assemble the washer. Tilt the body back on, put the screws in the base, clamp the back to the body, flip the contorl panel back over and insert the screws. Reattach the water supply lines and you are done!

First I watched the vid, from this website that showed how to replace a pump on the Whirlpool model I have. It was very helpful. Then, on the same web page as the vid for washer pump replacement several DIYers describe how they did the repair and rate how difficult it was. This also was very helpful. The info from these two sources confi ... Read more rmed to me that it was the pump that was leaking. Tilting the washer back far enough so I could see the pump also visually confirmed it was the pump.
If the pump had come off easily I would not have had to take the cabinet off. All I would have had to do was lay the washer on its' back to get the pump off. But noooo, the pump was rusted so tightly to the motors' shaft that I had to be more aggressive, to remove the pump, than the measures mentioned in the vid.
After finally getting the pump off I saw that the end of the motors' shaft had corroded and was misshapened enough so that I had to "persuade" the new pump onto the shaft.
I also ordered these parts (1. Direct Drive Coupling 2. Agitator Repair Kit and 3. Clutch Assembly) after I read in the DIYers descriptions that many of them, who changed their pump, also changed these parts. Since my washer was 15 yrs old it made sense to replace these parts which usually wear out before the pump.
Unfortunately, after I got everything reassembled the new pump leaked more than the old one. Guess I over-"persuaded" the new pump onto the shaft. That, and I don't think the new pump is as well built as the original so it couldn't take much persuasion.
Now I either: 1. buy a new pump and motor or 2. buy a new washer which is what I'll most likely do.
If I had a do-over I would only get the pump. If it worked properly with no leaks, then I would buy the other 3 parts, if it didn't work, I would only be out $40 instead of the $95 I'm out for the 4 items. Being frugal or, as my family says, "cheap," I do have to be careful. There is a point where repairing something old is more a point of pride than good sense. I don't know where that point is and I definitely wouldn't have brought this up if the new pump had fixed the washer.
Also, after struggling for quite some time to put the cabinet back on, I Googled "how do I get a Whirlpool washer cabinet back on?" After watching one of the vids Google answered back-I was able to put the cabinet back on in less than 10 minutes.
I hope this has been helpful. Happy DIYing!

The repair itself was very simply, probably largely due to the design of the machine which made getting to, and replacing the two faulty parts a cinch. Just unscrew the two screws on the motor brackets which hold the motor down, and remove the brackets. Then remove the two smaller brackets which hold the pump to the motor. Then remove the ... Read more two clamps and hoses from the pump. Lastly disconnect the power supply from the motor and the pump and motor will then come out as one unit. Simply reverse the process when reinstalling the new pump and motor. I used a bit of oil to lubricate the new motor shaft but I am sure it probably isn't necessary. The job should take no more than half an hour tops.

1. remove 2 hoses at pump using pliers to open hose clamps and sliding them out of the way.
2. remove 2 retainers holding pump with screwdriver.
3. remove old pump and install new pump
4. clamp pump using retaining clips
5. re-connect hoses

I'd noticed for a while that our 15-year-old Kenmore washer was filling slowly, but when it started to take 30 minutes to fill to the "medium" level, I knew something was really wrong. There was plenty of water pressure, so I replaced a hose that was loaded with minerals and cleaned the filter (also clogged with minerals). But that didn' ... Read more t help! So I ordered a new water inlet valve, and replaced that. There's nothing tricky about the repair -- the hardest part is opening and closing the washer, for which I found instructions online. (Even so, it's the most time-consuming part of the project.) The result is the washer now fills as fast as when it was new. Just for fun, I took apart the old valve and expected to find it encrusted with minerals, but it looked fine, so I'm not sure where the actual breakdown was. But since the part only cost $25 -- less than a service call, for sure -- I was very happy to use a half hour of my time and keep the machine going a while longer.

Repair was simple, after finding the correct part from Partselect. Exact match. Old part out with removal of one bolt, new agitator assembly installed in five minutes. Works great and saved me from buying a new washer. Cost of repair about $80.00, replace washing machine, about $600.00.

The repair was very easy. The original dial was a poor design and did not hold up to the twisting and finally let loose. The threaded bottom of the dial stayed on the threaded shaft, so it was a simple matter of grabbing it with nose pliers and spinning off. Glue does not work with this type of plastic, I tried instant glue and hot glu ... Read more e. The replacement part was re-designed with a metal threaded center, so when it arrived in the mail, 3 days after online ordering, I spun it onto the shaft and job was complete. While I waited for the new part to arrive, I threaded 2 nuts onto the shaft and tightened them to each other to give me a temporary 'knob' that I could grab with my nose pliers.

This is a machine I bought from Costco in 2001 - it has been very reliable and this was its first repair.
Getting the top off this washer requires a lot of disassembly. However, if you push the drum down on the right hand side of the machine, you can easily reach under the lid and remove the old switch. Mine had broken loose from its ... Read more plastic mounts, so the lid plunger no longer activated it. Save the two screws that go through the washer top to secure the new switch.
I unplugged the electricity, reached under the top and pulled the old switch out. Its cables are enclosed in a stiff plastic hose with a slit down its length so you can pull the wires through the slit. You need to pull out around 6 inches of the wires. I then cut the wires to remove the old switch and next cut the wires on the new switch to the same length as the ones removed. Stagger the cuts about 1 inch so that the two joints will not be on top of each other. I stripped each end of the two wires, slipped shrink-wrap tubing (from radio shack) on to the new switch wires, then soldered the new switch wires to the existing wires back to the control center. I then slipped the shrink wrap over the soldered joints and shrank it with a match. Feed the joined wires back into the plastic tube and feed the switch under the washing machine rim. It takes a little maneuvering to get the switch aligned with the two screw holes in the top. Be sure the switch is pushed up into the lip opposite the screw holes - push the back end of the switch up into the lip before trying to align the front end of the switch with the screw holes. Align the screw holes with the switch holes, install the two screws and check that you hear the slight click of the microswitch if you push down a pencil into the interlock slot before you tighten everything up. Plug in the electricity and off you go!

It was extremely easy. I removed the plastic cap under the softener dispenser, removed the nut and washer that holds the upper agitator in place and then replaced the parts that came in the kit. The most important note for those who may be doing this job is that the o-ring for the cap under the softener dispenser, the seal washer for th ... Read more e bolt and the thrust spacer under the upper agitator all came with the kit. I did not realize that and ordered them all seperately.

Washer is 29 years old. Found that tub spring hooks into a simple (non-reinforced) hole in the base frame, and it had worn the hole through through the edge of the frame (key hole style). Due to age and low cost of parts, ordered all suspension springs, brackets, & pads. Once they arrived, took the tubs out (first time for that), found ... Read more that the suspension pads looked fine, but the wear pads showed a lot of wear and the front one was snapped in the middle, perhaps an after effect of the spring failure. From my lack of attention, initially tried to get front pad into the wrong set of holes, a bad fit; corrected. Simply drilled a near-by hole in the base frame for the tub spring.

While the tubs were out, took them outside and scrubbed them clean. Also cleaned agitator parts using bottle brushes. Followed the PartSelect videos and owner comments for procedures, methods. Found that some miss some important info, but if you watch others you can combine the info to find what you need re disassembly/assembly.

At one point while attempting to remove the outer tub, did not realize that the screw that holds the rear spring bracket to the tub also holds the tub to the suspension plate.

Took me most of a day for the whole process, and I ended up with pulled/spasmic muscles from all the bending over, mostly from cleaning parts I think. Very helpful to have the parts breakout drawings, videos, others' experience.

Unbalanced load was creating a knocking sound (as if the clothes load was unbalanced). Dismantled the washer to find that one brackets had rusted out. [FYI: 3 bracket at 120 degree apart (for the 360 degree circle)]. I found that the hole (on the bracket) where the spring holds was gone. Purchased parts. Replaced them (spring, bracket, sc ... Read more rew). Reassembled washer then ran wash for a cycle. Successful fix.