Must be the night for washers to die. Mine did the exact same thing tonight.
I have a Kitchen aid washer and I took her apart tonight to find the "Drive
motor to transmission coupling broken". That may be your trouble to looks
like the part is about $15.00. So I will have to make a trip to the parts
store tomorrow. I would order it off the website below, but the wife is not
going to have the washer all apart in the kitchen for days. Here is the link
for the part if you find yours is broke the same way.



http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=2855


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Thank you
RA

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our GE washer is about 20 years old, and the faithful ol' thing
has developed its first serious problem. It fills with water
fine, but when I pull the knob to begin the agitation cycle it
does not agitate. Instead it makes a noise that's a bit grindy.

Coincidentally, I noticed that the water pump leaks. That
couldn't relate to the above problem, could it?