I have a whirlpool washer from like 95, when it drains and you open the lid while it is draining in stops and when you close the lid it spins the water out instead of draining normaly

That is normal for Direct Drive to do so don't worry about it. Once the lid is open during the draining phase, the transmission shifts to go into spin, so the washer will spin while draining even though it's suppose to be in neutral. That's the nature of this beast!

Compwhiz,

It's the pause during drain (from opening the lid) that triggers the transmission to shift into spin. If you notice when you don't open the lid during drain, there is a pause as the timer turns an increment from drain to spin -- the same effect occurs when you open the lid during drain. The transmission doesn't know the difference, it just 'knows' there was a pause and when the motor restarts running in the same direction, SPIN.

If you aren't aware, the motor is reversible -- it runs one direction for agitate, and the other direction for drain AND spin. During agitation, there are some cams and other mechanisms in the transmission that preset themselves so that when the motor stops and reverses, it will first do a neutral drain. Then when the motor pauses and restarts again in the reverse direction, the cams 'release' and shift the tranny into spin instead of neutral drain.

The very first direct-drive machines didn't have the neutral drain -- they had no choice but to spin-drain.

I have a dd Whirlpool that will not do the final spin about every 3rd or 4th load... clothes still sopping wet @ end of cycle. Is this a transmission problem or??? When this occurs, the timer can be reset to final spin, all goes well and works well for 2-3 loads again.

Possibly a bad motor. Does this happen after washing a number of loads? The motor may be overheating and shutting off on the thermal protector. The reason it may spin normally after resetting is the motor has cooled down enough to finish the load normally.

The timer may not be allowing the pause between drain and spin either.

My mom has about 1995 DD Whirlpool and she said every so often she will find clothes soaking wet after the final spin and needs to reset to do the final spin. She had the repair check it out and they could not find anything wrong with the machine. She did state that it always happens on a full load. She never overloads. This happens every so often and not on all full loads. Maybe a freaky glitch with the DD machines.
Peter

How about suds lock. Does she measure the amount of detergent? I have seen some do this with some liquid detergents. Also check drain hoses for any kinks or obstuction. Also if it drains into a tub, make sure the drain hose doesn't extend into the tub. If the tub is slow draining and the drain hose extends into the tub water, the water can actually siphon back into the machine at at the end of the cycle.

Actually she is careful with the soap and also their is no water backup.
Peter