Because they didn’t bother reading the manual.

The CA code means that the average current draw at the motor winding has exceeded 5.55 amps for more than two seconds. This could mean a problem with the drive motor, the thermal protector, or the motor controller board. Overloading the washer can also cause this fault. Page 57 of the manual gives specific tests for the drive motor and wiring harness. Start there.

This is a Whirlpool-built direct drive washer. It opens up a little differently from what you might expect. Many people, thinking the top panel pops up, begin ruthlessly prying on the seam between the top and front panel and only end up with a disfigured washer. I’ve seen more adventurous types actually remove the entire back panel, getting them no closer to what they were trying for. Let the Samurai enlighten you.

The entire cabinet removal procedure is illustrated in this diagram. Even though the procedure is very straight forward, a couple of fine points are worth mentioning:

• Some Kenmore-branded versions of this washer use plastic endcaps to cover the console screws. Just remove the console end caps and the console retaining screws are right there. This technique is illustrated in this photo.
• Once you’ve removed the console screws, flip the entire control console up and back to reveal the cabinet retaining braces, shown here.
• After you pull the cabinet back and away from the washer, here’s an illustrated anatomy of your naked washing machine. The lid switch is screwed to the inside of the cabinet top panel and is easily accessible with the cabinet removed.
• Replacing the cabinet is usually very straight forward but sometimes little snags can arise. Some helpful hints for replacing the cabinet are explained here.

With the washer cabinet removed, you have easy access to the lid switch. You may find that the actuator lever is broken. If the actuating lever looks ok, then you should use your ohm meter to check the continuity of the lid switch. Many times, if the switch is bad, it will no longer make a clicking sound when you actuate it. Your lid switch can be replaced using one of the kits below, most likely the older style. But you can easily confirm this by feasting your Vulcan squinties on your washer’s lid switch.

Older-style Lid Switch

Newer-style Lid Switch

Ok, tear ’em up!

UPDATE: There is at least one other variation on the lid switch used in this washer. For example, this one. Be sure to look up the exact one you need using your model number.

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

You put a load of dirty clothes in your washer, start it up and walk away to watch Jerry Springer just like you have a thousand times before. Only this time, something goes wrong…very wrong!

After the booing and cheering on the Jerry Springer show stops, you hear an unfamiliar sound of running water coming from the laundry cubby just down the hall in your trailer. You set the bag of Doritos aside, grab your can of Old Milwaukee and grunt your way out of your Lazy Boy as you exhale the last drag of your Marlboro and shuffle down the hall to investigate. You don’t get 10 steps before your pink bunny slippers are sloshing through a huge pool of water. Now the bile starts burning the back of your throat and you feel your sphincter dilate as you prepare to do battle with the single greatest horror of your lifetime: a washer flood out.

Yes, it finally happened: your washer dutifully filled with water and then…it just kept right on filling, and filling, and filling… Turns out that the water level control switch in your washer decided to take a permanent vacation and so never told your washer to stop filling with water. Hi. Welcome to my world. Oh! But if only you’d listened to that nice appliance repair guy not long ago who told you that you really, really needed to have a Floodcontrol on your washer and that it was cheap insurance against a devastating washer overfill. But that money was earmarked for that Dish TV you’ve been lusting after for so long and, besides, you’re not sure you trust people who can throw around fancy words like "devastating." Damn straight! Well, Bubba, now you’ve got one helluva mess to clean up in your trailer, ain’t ya? Hey, newsflash: do yourself a favor and come git you some o’ dis.

And while you’re at it, go ahead and upgrade those cheesy 12-year old rubber fill hoses on your washer to the steel braided hoses. What, you’re gonna wait for those to burst and find water spraying out from behind your washer like a firehose on that ’71 Cutlass you got parked out front? Haven’t we learned our lesson by now? How long? How long? I say, how long must this bullshit go on? How ’bout when we do a job, we go ahead and do it right? Ok then, come git you some steel braided hoses, too.

I was out on a service call for a washer the other day and noticed that the fill hoses were in pretty bad condition. I pointed this out to the customer and recommended that she install steel braided fill hoses with stainless steel fittings to avoid these problems in the future.

When I removed the rubber fill hoses with the badly deteriorated fittings, at least a quarter of the cheap brass fitting on the washer fill hose had rust-welded onto the water valve, shown here: (click the picture for a larger view)

Admittedly, this is an extreme case, but here’s the kicker: your washer hoses can be in much better condition than the hose shown above and they can still burst! How ’bout we avoid this unhappy event by installing steel braided fill hoses?

Want more pearls of wisdom on preventing washer floods? Ok, read this.

Do you own a Frigidaire or Gibson tumble-action, front-load washing machine? Then check out
this cool page from Electrolux for some valuable pearls of wisdom on installing and using your front load washer.

That’s probably the brake. More good info on that in this Appliance Tip of the Day.