Continuing With My Danger Theme: This Is How You Fix Your Maytag Atlantis Washer - Or End Your Life...Depending

I say that because this post describes acts of electrical manipulation - which I don't advise. So don't do what I'm about to tell you even though it might fix your problem, save you a load of dough, and no one else on the web has given this solution to this particular problem. Just keep it in mind that all instructions for working with electrical appliances advise you to unplug the machine before, during, or after you inspect any part of it. Later on you'll feel compelled to plug your washer in to check something specific but you didn't hear me say you should do that. Ever.

Anyway, when your Maytag Atlantis washer, specifically an MAV6457AWW (and preferably gifted to you like ours was to us), stops spinning on any setting you're going to think, after interrogating all the usual suspects like a sock in the pump, the tub binding, a kink in the drainage, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, that it could be:
a)the lid switch
b)the motor/half the motor - I say half the motor because only half the motor is used to go forward and the other half is used to go in reverse in some instances and sometimes just half of it dies (seriously, I am not making this up)
c)the brake
d)the tranny
There are ways to check all those things but no one will tell you how to check for the control timer prolly because it involves live electricity. Which is dangerous.

Still, if you read the message boards or go to appliancejunk.com or repairclinic.com and get the chat line you're going to try all those scenarios also utilizing the wiring diagram inside the machine and the information in either of these two SERVICE manuals, #16026502 and #16010358 (I emphasize the word service in lieu of repair because even though you can google repair manual I've discovered that things will move faster is you use service manual.), found here and here. They sell them on eBay but these copies are free. I'm telling you this because I'm just that nice. And that cheap.

We familiarized ourselves with many, many diagrams and, luckily, *learned that the switches depicted in the diagrams are mechanical. Like this page in Maytag Washer Service and Repair Manual #16010358. This is important because you might think they're just diagrams for electrical currents and the like but if you understand that they're mechanical illustrations then you might come to the realization that you can use jumpers to see if it's the control timer. But only if you've unplugged the machine before you ever open the casing or the control panel. This is the fourth time I've mentioned unplugging the machine and being safe. Count that off on four of your fingers. Or don't. You're not foolish enough to manipulate electricity anyway.

This is the stage where DH, Mr Safety, used jumpers. First he made one for the agitator switch so the machine would be fooled into thinking it was full of water and could agitate when appropriate (which it did, after the washer was plugged back in).

Then he made a jumper for the control timer plug in module (which I didn't photograph before it was fixed but you get the idea) and set the machine to a spin cycle. THEN he plugged in the machine and didn't touch anything at which point in time the machine began to spin which meant that by bypassing the control timer that it was defective. We then called the repair guy who had previously come out only to tell us he didn't know how to fix this particular brand of washer. Still, he did bring in a motor to make sure that wasn't the problem and *told DH about the depicted switches being mechanical. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Even better, he's selling us a new control timer at his cost and not charging us for the service call. It's been a pain not having a working machine for three weeks but we'll only spend about $65.00 for the repair. Not too shabby...all things considered.

PS We just finished installing new lighting and a mini-overhead fan in the kitchen. And, as always kids, don't try this at home.

PPS We're not electrical wizards per se, right after the washer died lightning hit one of our pecan trees and took out a surge protector, a printer, a computer, and my van. We let the professionals take care of those.