Washer Making Loud Noise or Shaking on Spin: What It Is and What It Costs

A washer that has started making noise is telling you which part is wearing, and the sound is more specific than most owners expect. A bang is not a roar, a roar is not a grind, and a machine that walks across the floor has a different problem from one that thumps in place. Here is how we read the noise on the truck, which part it points to, and what each one costs to fix in South Florida.

Banging or thumping on spin, machine walks or rocks

The tub is off-center and hitting the cabinet. On a top-loader that means the four suspension rods have sagged, which happens around year five or six on GE, Whirlpool, Maytag and Samsung machines. On a front-loader it is a broken shock absorber or a counterweight bolt that worked loose. Both are cheap: rods as a set of four run $190 to $340, shocks as a pair $210 to $380. Replacing one rod or one shock and leaving the rest brings the noise back within a season, which is why we replace them as sets.

Before you call: check that the load is not a single heavy item, a bath mat or a comforter, wrapped around one side of the drum. A washer that only bangs with those loads is balanced fine.

A roar that grows through the spin, like a jet engine

The drum bearing. Water got past the tub seal, the bearing rusted, and the noise starts as a hum on the final spin and grows week by week. LG front-loaders built between 2018 and 2022 and Samsung front-loaders past seven years are the usual suspects, and there is often a little water under the machine with it. On many models the bearing is a rebuild with a kit, $400 to $680; on models where the drum is a sealed unit it is an outer tub assembly, $520 to $900. This is the one washer noise where we quote a new machine alongside the repair on a unit past eight years, because the numbers are close.

Grinding in agitate, oil spot under a top-loader

The gearcase, on Whirlpool, Maytag and Kenmore top-loaders built on the VMW and Cabrio platforms. The lower bearing fails, the seal goes, and gear oil ends up on the floor. A new gearcase runs $320 to $520 and is a solid repair under eight years.

Loud rattling or clicking during drain

Something hard is in the drain pump: a coin, a bra wire, a hair clip. It rattles every time the pump runs and eventually cracks the impeller. Clearing the pump runs $120 to $180; a pump with a broken impeller is $170 to $320. Front-loaders have the pump filter behind the small door at the bottom, and a third of these calls end with a coin in the technician’s hand.

Squealing or screeching

A belt on a belt-drive top-loader slipping on the pulley, or the motor coupler on an older direct-drive Whirlpool, or a drain pump bearing on a front-loader. Belts and couplers are $130 to $250. A squeal that only happens during the spin ramp and stops at full speed is the belt; a squeal that follows the drain cycle is the pump.

Humming with no drum movement

Not a noise problem, a drive problem. A snapped belt, a broken coupler, or a motor that cannot start. The washer hums because the motor is trying. On LG direct-drive machines the same symptom with an LE code is the hall sensor on the motor. $130 to $300 for any of them.

Spider arm: the Samsung and older front-loader special

A front-loader that suddenly bangs violently and whose drum feels loose when you push it by hand has cracked the spider arm, the three-legged casting that holds the drum to the shaft. Detergent residue corrodes it over years until a leg gives. Samsung WF45 and WF50 machines past seven years and older Frigidaire and Electrolux front-loaders are where we see it. The drum assembly runs $520 to $860, and on a machine past seven years we always quote a new washer beside it.

What the noise costs, in one table

• Bang and walk, top-loader: suspension rods, $190 to $340
• Bang on spin, front-loader: shock absorbers, $210 to $380
• Roar that grows, water underneath: drum bearing, $400 to $900
• Grinding plus oil spot: gearcase, $320 to $520
• Rattle during drain: pump debris or pump, $120 to $320
• Squeal on spin ramp: belt or coupler, $130 to $250
• Violent bang, loose drum: spider arm, $520 to $860

We repair every washer brand across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, seven days a week, with a $59 service call that is free when you approve the repair. Call (754) 345-4515 or see the washer repair page. Brand pages with the codes and prices: LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Maytag, GE, Bosch.