My Kenmore 80 Series washer finishes the agitating (initial) stage, but stops there. It isn't draining the soapy water to continue with the rinse cycle. Any suggestions?

Take a look at this post and see if it will get you started in the right direction. It sounds to me like your pump is clogged or the drive belt is broken.

Good Luck,
WallyH

That sounds like a similar problem (although I'm not crazy about the repair). I've found the same problem as mine described elsewhere as a broken lid switch. Do you have any thoughts as to whether this might be the case?

My Kenmore Washer Series 60 does everything but drain the water. Did you find anything out? I'd appreciate your advise. Please write me at [email protected]

Thanks!

So, my Kenmore 80 Series washer just did this same thing last night. All of a sudden with no previous history of the washer acting up, after this one load of laundry it just would shut off when it got to the rinse portion of the cycle and it would not drain. It turns out to be as simple as "a broken lit switch" which allows the cycle to continue. This switch is located on my Kenmore 80 after I open the lid... looking down at the washing machine it is the little whole on the upper right corner of the machine. If you push it down with your finger on mine it's grey in color. The problem is that the switch is not getting pushed down far enough. If you pull it down manually with your hand a little farther you should hear it click over and the machine might scare you as it starts up into the rinse cycle. That was it! Just fold up a piece of paper and keep the switch permanently pressed down all the time with the balled up or folded up piece of paper and the machine will work until the switch breaks totally. It looks like an easy fix to replace the switch, but I have been told you have to remove the entire top of the washer to actually fix it. The paper should work for a while.

I thank you all! It was the lid switch. My problem is resolved.

Hey I had this same problem with a Kenmore Heavy Duty top loader about 8-9 years old. After reading this I first checked the switch. There were two screws holding it in place. Oh and simply pressing down on the switch with say a pencil or something didn't work. After removing the two phillips screws holding it in, I pulled it out which was a task since there wasn't much slack in the wiring harness.

The problem with mine was that the bottom of the switch had come loose from the upper part. I simply took a medium size zip tie and wrapped it around it tightened it as tight as possible then after finding that it worked I re-installed it.

Many thanks to everyone here for pointing me in the right direction. :).

And since you guys/gals were a big help, I figured I'd return the favor by posting what I found to be wrong with our machine.

Thanks again
Griz

Yeah,
Mine was the switch too. Thanks everyone! When we use appliances everyday, we take them for granted, but when they break, we burn up our nerves!!
Thanks for saving me some dough!
Man I (and don't we all... ) need it!

I had the same problem, I backed out the two philips head screws and this assembled the lid switch and the copper contacts were broken. I put a small piece of aluminum foil to connect the contacts and walla! The washing machine started to drain water and the spin cycle worked! I'll need to replace the lid switch but that was the problem.