I have an older Maytag washing machine, don't have model number in front of me but will post later. I got the machine used in 1988, its the type with the push-buttons for water temp and speed, looks like the unit in the attached picture.
Lately I notice the agitation is very slow, oddly, if I press the gentle push-button selector the agitation speed increases, then when I push regular button it agitates at the normal speed. This behavior is repeatable.
I am hoping somebody has seen this and has some advice for me? Seems like the motor, belts transmission etc are OK since it does agitate properly after pressing gentle then regular buttons. I am wondering how the selector buttons work to change the speed, does the motor run slower in gentle mode? In all the repair videos I have seen there doesn't seem to be anything in the belts or transmission that effect the speed, so I am thinking the motor speed must be changed by the selector buttons?
I am good with mechanical or electrical repair/maintenance, but don't want to do "exploratory surgery" on the mechanical side if there are no issues there, seems like I could cause more trouble by taking apart something that is this old... I'm trying not to "fix" what isn't broken. Logic tells me it is a motor speed regulation issue related to the buttons...
If anyone has experience that can help me fix this I would really appreciate the advice... Thanks in advance!