Six or seven years ago, this washer stopped.  It would fill, sit there fat dumb and happy, and do nothing else.  Did a little google research and found the lid switch could be the culprit.  I jumped the fuse and it started working, so I ordered a brand new genuine Maytag switch and replaced and it has been fine ever since.  Until two days ago.  She says it had already washed, spun, filled, rinsed,  but didn't spin and just quit.  I looked at it tonight and started where the problem was a few years ago but I don't think it's the switch this time.  The fuse isn't blown.  There's power in the circuit.  It fills, just won't agitate or spin in any of the timer positions so I don't believe it's the timer, but I really don't know yet.  I jumped the fuse, nothing.  Where do I begin?  She really doesn't want a new one and she's on a fixed income with limited budget.  Point me in the right direction.  I have limited time on this month's work schedule.

Thanks in advance

I think I've answered my own question.  The lid switch actually has 2 switches on it.  I isolated them and checked for continuity, one of them didn't beep.  Took the screw out and fiddled with it, it was stuck.  Got it moving again and continuity was restored.  Put it back together and it worked...for a few minutes.  Opened it up again and it was stuck again so I'm ordering another new lid switch.  She's tickled pink!  I can swap it in 10 minutes.

Yes you found it, its the cheap little white lid switch, you can easily bypass this switch and remove the silly fuse that is only in the fill circuit. When this is done you still have the HD black lid switch to stop the washer if you open the lid or the machine goes out of balance.

This lid sw system was stupid, somehow MT convinced the people at UL that this would make up for the lack of a tub brake that would stop the washer when you open the lid fast enough to meet newer stricter standards.

MT beefed up the spring pressure in the brake package and abandoned this stupid troublesome lid SW design. This lid SW design was one of the several reasons that WP surpassed MTs overall reliability in the mid 80s through the end of the DC MT washers in late 2006 when they went out of production.

John L.

Thanks guys, I almost did that, but if something happened to MIL I'd be blamed for it...after all, she is getting on up there and the cogs are slipping just a little at times.  She was convinced it would be something expensive.  I just told her not to worry.  It may take me a minute or two, but I'll figure it out and fix it.  She lives next door so it's not like we couldn't do her laundry a time or two if necessary.

For future reference, which two wires on the little switch get put together?  I'm assuming the two colored ones and leave the white one out?  Or all of them left unhooked?  I didn't study the wiring diagram very closely while I was investigating since I figured it was just a switch issue and just started checking continuity.

Thanks John.  The new switch came in today and I just installed it, but I'm keeping the old one for a spare.  If the little one goes out again I'll just bypass it.  MIL won't care about that as long as the main one will stop it when the lid is opened.  New switch was only $7.95 from luna parts on ebay.  Repairclinic.com wanted $45!