My friend has a stackable washer/dryer set which is about 10 years old and is a Maytag. For a few years, she has found that the washer never completely drains of water and she's in the practice of soaking up the remainder of the water with a towel after each load.

Over the weekend we were working on some improvements to her home when she ran a load of laundry. I looked over and noticed that water was pouring out of the front of the washing machine. The spin cycle would not work and the machine did not drain between cycles. It filled for wash, then without draining the wash water, filled additionally for the rinse cycle. The water was pouring out and we were collecting it with a large rubbermaid tub and towels. I would estimate that at least 20 gallons of water came out of the machine for this single small load.

Any suggestions of what might be going on? Is this something she might be able to repair herself? She's handy if she has good instructions, as am I, but we are far from professionals at these things.