A washer that fills, washes, then sits there full is one of the more common calls we take, and it is one of the few where the order you check things in genuinely decides what it costs you.
Drain first, pump second
The machine has to push water up and out through a hose that loops over the standpipe. Anything in that path stops the cycle in exactly the same way a dead pump does, and one of the two costs nothing to fix.
Pull the machine forward and look at the drain hose where it enters the wall. A kink behind the cabinet, or a hose pushed so far down the standpipe that it siphons, will produce this error on a machine with nothing wrong with it.
The filter almost nobody knows about
Most front-loaders have a coin trap behind a small door at the bottom right of the cabinet. Put a shallow tray and a towel down first, because there is more water in there than the size suggests. What comes out is usually hair, lint, a hair clip and eventually a coin.
Top-loaders mostly do not have one, which is why on those the same debris goes straight into the pump.
When it is the pump
A drain pump that has failed makes one of two sounds: a hum with no water moving, or nothing at all. A pump obstructed by a sock makes a rattle you will recognise the moment you hear it. Either way the part is not expensive and the labor is under an hour on most machines.
The one that is not cheap
If the pump runs, the filter is clear and the hose is straight, the machine is not seeing the water level correctly. That is the pressure switch, its hose, or the control board reading it. Still worth doing on anything under about ten years old, but it is a different conversation.
Before you call
Get the water out. Lower the drain hose into a bucket below the level of the drum and gravity will do most of the work. A drum you can empty is a drum a technician can spin, and that alone often shortens the visit.
Call (847) 555-0142.
