Wife bought a used washer / dryer. Woman who sold it said she had just used it, and hated to part with it, but was moving in with her BF's parents and hence didn't need them anymore.

Problem is that when my wife washes our clothes in the washer, our clothes come out with a strong smell of oil on them.

Need ideas on how to remedy this. Have tried Oxy-clean, multiple load cycles, hot/cold water, etc. Problem remains.

Before I have the wife search for another one, I'd like to exaust cost efficient methods to recover the current washer and eliminate the problem.

Anyone?

I work at lowes in the appliance department......so this is what I would do,

1.  before you use it again, lean it back and see if you can see underneath the washer and make sure there isnt a small pool of oil / greenish liquid on the floor or around the bottom of the washer.  It could be that the motor/transmission on the washer has a small leak in it letting some of the oil get in with the clothes.   Which will lead to the motor locking up down the line.

2. if there isnt any noticable oil or liquid around the washer, trying letting it fill all the way up with water, putting in a cup of bleach (no clothes in the washer) and letting it go through the longest wash cycle on the washer.  Let it drain out .  Then run the washer with washing power through atleast two full cycles (no clothes in the washer) to get all the bleach out.  

See if that makes a difference.

bleach?

Did you wash any whites yet, if so were there oil spots on the clothes?
Post the make and model #.

The gearbox is leaking through the agitator seals. Washer is likely junk, not worth repairing! The parts and labor will likely be more than some sort of replacement washer will cost. I say this because if the seal is leaking, the machine likely has wear on something else such as motor, gearbox(already worn, probably has water in it now, forcing more oil out!!), main/master switch. Spend money on it, or spend money on a new one

I had the same issue with my trusty old Kenmore washer. Pitching it in the used appliance heap at the dump and replacing it with a used $80 Maytag fixed the issue. I was broke at the time or would have bought a new washer.

I thought I was going crazy! My 2yr old washer is doing the same thing.

Try a couple loads with a heavy dose of Dawn liquid dishwater soap.  I use this when I clean my truck work clothes.  I usually run two cycles, one for the clothes, the other to clean out the washer.  If it's still there after this, then you probably have a leaking motor seal or whatever as discussed above.

Good luck.

Merlin

If the bleach trick doesn't work, please see above.


Several years ago we had a washer drop its agitator seals.  I began to notice black streaks on my dress shirts, especially on collar corners and the strip where the buttons are attached.

Because we waited too long to fix the problem (throw the sumbitch away) we ruined approximately $400 in dress shirts.

Cost of parts+labor was more than the machine was worth...