Whirlpool Imperial, the good and the horrifying...

Jamie -

Looking at those little chunks, they look a lot to me like tub or centerpost rust.

I don't know know long your machine sat unused, perhaps not at all, but there is often rust and debris build-up on centerposts and on both inner and outer tub surfaces. I agree with Steve/Gyrafoam that your issue warrants a basket removal. You'll know for sure what you're dealing with.

If the machine went unused long enough to fully dry out, my experience has been that build-up shrinks and becomes loose, which would then get dislodged when the machine is put back into service. If those rust chunks did indeed dislodge from somewhere, and then after that you had oily marks on clothes, my guess would be that either the agitator shaft seal is in need of replacement, or there's a hole in the center post. The rust could also have come from the basket itself, but that is not as likely.

Agitator shaft seals are commonly in need of replacement (lets say always if they haven't been done in a while or ever), and when they're replaced, they help to keep the centerpost dry, and thus free from further damage. This little cheap seal is what helps the air bubble to form under the agitator. When the seal fails, the air bubble doesn't form, and water goes up the centerpost, causing it to rust eventually and water to find a pathway into the mechanics of the machine. I can't tell you how many machines I have seen that have "chocolate milk" looking oil/water in their transmissions from centerpost leakage.

If you can, I strongly recommend pulling the tub to see what you have going on. If you can't do that, an easy way to tell is to pull the agitator after you've just done a wash load. The agitator from a well sealed machine will be mostly dry underneath from about three inches from the bottom, up the center. It's normal for the base to be wet obviously, but if you see water beads or droplets way up the center of the agitator toward the splines, that is an indication that seals aren't working and is probably how the machine exchanged some oil.

In many cases I have seen agitators and baskets that had white detergent residue on them in a water-mark line from when the machine was sealing properly. If yours has this too and is wet well above, that's another indication of a seal failure.

I don't want to alarm you, and this does not mean the end of the machine for sure, but I would check this before I use the machine much further just in case.


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Post# 274471 4/9/2008 at 20:41 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes The good news is that thanks to my dear football player friend Andy, the Whirlpool now sits fabulously in the basement!! I did a few loads in her, and here are some pics of the maiden washload!

Post# 274472 , Reply# 1 4/9/2008 at 20:42 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes The load:

Post# 274473 , Reply# 2 4/9/2008 at 20:44 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes That famous fill!

Post# 274474 , Reply# 3 4/9/2008 at 20:45 (5,852 days old) by dynaflow (rockingham nc)
Checkrate/Likes *the same* Jamie, i have the same neptune and a whirlpool Imperial Seventy what kind of detergent do u use in ur neptune my partner and i moved mine over the weekend to a un lived in rental of a friends this past weekend along side of the whirlpool pix to follow soon ron

Post# 274475 , Reply# 4 4/9/2008 at 20:47 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes That fabulous Surgilator action:

Post# 274476 , Reply# 5 4/9/2008 at 20:51 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Final spin:

Post# 274478 , Reply# 6 4/9/2008 at 20:53 (5,852 days old) by rpm ()
Checkrate/Likes *Nice laundry room* I see 2 washers and a dryer. Is the other white thing a freezer or another washer? Here in Canada the surgilator was more sold in the Inglis brand of washers, I think. I just see more of them here than Whirpool. I had an Inglis with the same agitator. It could wash stink off a monkey.

Post# 274481 , Reply# 7 4/9/2008 at 20:59 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes And now, the horrifying news... About 8-10 loads after this maiden load from earlier this week, I did a load of darks, just tonight actually, it did it's thing just fine until the beginning of the final spin, there was a light grinding noise which quickly went away as it gained speed. Then when it shut off, the load had grease streaks on it as well as these little chunks of hard stuff ( I had to rewash it in another washer), I don't know what the chunks are exactly... It looks like there is some newly exposed metal on them however, which is really horrifying!!! What happened?????? Is the outer tub to blame? The inner tub? Is my poor baby falling apart??? HELP!

Post# 274482 , Reply# 8 4/9/2008 at 21:01 (5,852 days old) by pulsator (Saint Joseph, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Rpm, those are actually 3 washers in that first pic, the ones the one that looks like the matching dryer to the washer is actually just a frontload washer of the same make. There is no freezer in that room, just 8 washers.

Post# 274484 , Reply# 9 4/9/2008 at 21:14 (5,852 days old) by rpm ()
Checkrate/Likes *8 washers wow!* Hope there isn't something terribly wrong with your washer! Maybe it is just crud working its way through,hopefully! When I got my Inglis the waterfall feature was spraying all over, not a full waterfall. I think the last owner had very hard water. After a couple of washes there was this sloshy burp and all this blue lint filled the filter. After I cleaned it out it worked perfect. hope THATS ALL THATS WRONG WITH YOURS.

Post# 274486 , Reply# 10 4/9/2008 at 21:26 (5,852 days old) by rickr (.)
Checkrate/Likes *Contrats on your avocado Whirlpool Jamie!!* Oh, dear, it looks like rusty centre post flakes to me. I would pull the spin basket and take a look. POR-15 the centre post and clean out the outer tub. As long as the centre post is not too far gone, the machine should last many more years.

Post# 274496 , Reply# 11 4/9/2008 at 22:36 (5,852 days old) by danelto (State College, PA)
Checkrate/Likes *Glass Half Empty* I don't mean to be pessimistic; however, I believe that grease on clothes is a really bad sign. Check with Robert to make sure, but I always thought this was like an appliance death rattle. Transmission? Sorry. The machine is just gorgeous. I looked at it numerous times.

Post# 274503 , Reply# 12 4/10/2008 at 00:31 (5,852 days old) by 70series ( Connecticut.)
Checkrate/Likes Gorgeous washer. I'm sorry that it is depositing those flakes. I love the machine, especially how the light from the console shines into the tub during the wash. I loved that feature in the Whirlpool my aunt had. Good Luck, James

Post# 274510 , Reply# 13 4/10/2008 at 05:20 (5,851 days old) by gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA)
Checkrate/Likes *Jamie* It does look like some chunks of corrosion have made their way through the pump. Those look serious enough to warrant pulling the inner tub out to investigate. You may have a situation where you need to POR-15 that outer tub. The spin-tube is another culprit. I have had to knock off the chunks of rust, sand it well, coat it with POR-15, etc. to get it back in usable condition. Thats a really nice Whirly, so I know you will want to make sure it is in good condition. I had forgotten all about those models that had the paneling on the front. Great machine.

Post# 274513 , Reply# 14 4/10/2008 at 06:57 (5,851 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes That panel front pair were featured in magazine ads. A panel front dryer had the door that could open down or sideways. One ad had a lady tied up (burglers, bondage?) in a chair in front of the dryer, but her permanent press load did not have set in wrinkles because of the feature that periodically tumbled them until she was rescued. You have a beautiful machine, but you could have included a picture of Andy, the football player friend who helped you move it.

Post# 274530 , Reply# 15 4/10/2008 at 10:26 (5,851 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes I'm with Tom! Let's see pix of your washer mover! I hope whatever is wrong isn't too serious or beyond your scope of capabilities to fix. It's a beautiful machine.

Post# 274620 , Reply# 16 4/10/2008 at 21:01 (5,851 days old) by pierreandreply4 (St-Bruno de montarville (province of quebec) canada)
Checkrate/Likes hello when i was young we add an Inglis superb washer similar to the model you have it was 4 cycle no super wash on the perm press cycle with a pale blue agitator that looks like the one on your model then the same model (agitator was change to a white agitator) second washer was a whirlpool this is a good washer hope you will be able to have it fix.

Post# 275080 , Reply# 17 4/14/2008 at 13:58 (5,847 days old) by kenmoreguy64 (Charlotte, NC)
Checkrate/Likes *RE: Your horrifying news....* Jamie - Looking at those little chunks, they look a lot to me like tub or centerpost rust. I don't know know long your machine sat unused, perhaps not at all, but there is often rust and debris build-up on centerposts and on both inner and outer tub surfaces. I agree with Steve/Gyrafoam that your issue warrants a basket removal. You'll know for sure what you're dealing with. If the machine went unused long enough to fully dry out, my experience has been that build-up shrinks and becomes loose, which would then get dislodged when the machine is put back into service. If those rust chunks did indeed dislodge from somewhere, and then after that you had oily marks on clothes, my guess would be that either the agitator shaft seal is in need of replacement, or there's a hole in the center post. The rust could also have come from the basket itself, but that is not as likely. Agitator shaft seals are commonly in need of replacement (lets say always if they haven't been done in a while or ever), and when they're replaced, they help to keep the centerpost dry, and thus free from further damage. This little cheap seal is what helps the air bubble to form under the agitator. When the seal fails, the air bubble doesn't form, and water goes up the centerpost, causing it to rust eventually and water to find a pathway into the mechanics of the machine. I can't tell you how many machines I have seen that have "chocolate milk" looking oil/water in their transmissions from centerpost leakage. If you can, I strongly recommend pulling the tub to see what you have going on. If you can't do that, an easy way to tell is to pull the agitator after you've just done a wash load. The agitator from a well sealed machine will be mostly dry underneath from about three inches from the bottom, up the center. It's normal for the base to be wet obviously, but if you see water beads or droplets way up the center of the agitator toward the splines, that is an indication that seals aren't working and is probably how the machine exchanged some oil. In many cases I have seen agitators and baskets that had white detergent residue on them in a water-mark line from when the machine was sealing properly. If yours has this too and is wet well above, that's another indication of a seal failure. I don't want to alarm you, and this does not mean the end of the machine for sure, but I would check this before I use the machine much further just in case.