That LG drain pump issue turned out to be a $3 o-ring

Honestly, I spent 2 hours on a washing machine last Tuesday in Dayton that kept throwing an error code and dumping water everywhere. Figured it was the pump motor, so I pulled it apart and found a cracked o-ring on the drain hose fitting, not the pump itself. Swapped in a universal one from my van and it ran perfect through three test cycles. Anyone else ever chase a bigger part when it was just a cheap seal the whole time?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_julia1mo ago

Man, that's the classic trap isn't it. Everyone always assumes the worst when these machines act up, but it's almost never the big stuff. I had a dryer once making this godawful screeching noise and I swear I was ready to buy a whole new drum assembly. Turned out a little rubber bumper on the door latch had dried out and cracked. Cost me like two bucks and maybe twenty minutes with some sandpaper and glue. The thing that gets me is the diagnostic codes. They'll tell you it's a drain pump fault or a sensor failure when really it's just some tiny rubber part failing that throws everything else off. The machine is basically lying to you because it's dumb, it only knows something isn't right, not what actually is. I bet a lot of perfectly good pumps and motors get replaced every day because people trust the code over their own eyes. Once you start looking for the cheapest, dumbest potential cause first, you save yourself so much time and money. It's almost become a rule for me now, if the part I suspect costs more than fifty bucks, I look for the o-rings and gaskets first. Nine times out of ten it's some cheap piece of rubber that just gave up after years of heat and vibration.

nathan8511mo ago

Right, because the universe loves making us feel like idiots for not checking the 3 dollar piece of rubber before dismantling half the appliance. Pretty sure my washing machine just laughs at me every time I google a $200 part before opening the drain filter.