I have a new Whirlpool-made Sears Kenmore 80 series direct drive washer
(non-Calypso) with a mechanical timer. This and older belt-drive
Whirlpools are designed to pause for several seconds just after the
wash cycle has ended and just before the rinse cycle begins and also
pause another several seconds between the end of the rinse cycle and
the start of the spin cycle.

However, with this washer if the lid is opened during either pause, the
timer will buzz and occasionally whir and make popcorn-like noises
(gears clashing)?. The noises disappear immediately when the lid is
closed and resume when it's opened again. The buzzing is not the
normal timer motor noise, which is much quieter. I'm mostly concerned
about the irregular nature of noises

A Sears technician (real technician) told me, over the phone, that
these noises are normal for this model and that they're caused by the
"AC-to-DC transducer" shutting off current to the rest of the circuit
and the power having nowhere else to go. He also said the device could
burn out if left in this condition too long.

I'm fairly sure he did not mean "transformer," although he did make a
comparison to a model train set, which would imply a transformer, but
this noise isn't like anything I've heard from any 60 Hz transformer or
coil. And why would it be an AC-to-DC device? I thought Whirlpool
washers with mechanical timers used only AC internally and never
converted anything to DC.

What are these noises, and are they really normal?