How do you clean the washing machine?

Please help.

Sounds like your machine needs a good cleaning. Run hot water and vinegar, with a long soaking period, an hour or so without clothes in it. You have loosened the build up of softener (the typical culprit) and detergent with the tablet. For the clothes, I would do the same thing, hot water and vinegar, soak and rinse. If you are using softener, you will have to clean the machine much more often. You can use vinegar in the rinse cycle, it will soften your clothes, reduce static and won't build up on the clothes or in the machine. The smell does not linger after drying.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-clean-a-top-loading-washing-machine-apartment-therapy-tutorials-184296

I would never put stained clothes in hot water, only cold, spot it first with either a stick or spray spot remover.

Sounds like your using too much detergent, which is the primary cause of smelly washing machine. In the future, only use 1/4 cup of baking soda, that will soften your water, then add about 2 table spoons of detergent and "NO MORE"! You will be surprised at how clean your cloths gets.

Is you machine a top load with aggitator or front load without?

Old school top loaders used much more water & electricity & rarely need cleaning because the amount of water used during the rinse cycle flushes out excess detergent & softener. If this kind of machine is suddenly leaving residue stains, it could indicate a problem with your drain. Alternately, your machine may be on its last legs.

With an High Efficiency front loader, still make sure your drain is clear. Verify that you are only using HE detergent/liquid softener & that you are not using too much. It is very easy to over use products if you forget that HE products are more concentrated. Using non-HE products in an HE machine can cause similar problems because of the extra fillers & stabilizers.

They make washing machine cleaners, which many manufacturers recommend using every month or so for maintenance (weekly if you already have a problem).

Given that you already have thick black residue, the regular cleaner may be inadequate. I recommend making a paste of roughly equal parts baking soda & water. Rub over the residue in a circular motion to work it in. Then set the machine to run with hot water & add DISTILLED white vinegar. It will react with the baking soda to make great bubbles & loosen the residue (kind of like OxyClean, but with CO2 instead of O2). Then run a 2nd cycle to make sure you got everything.

Consider changing your laundry chemicals. You can cut back on detergent (think half HE portions) by adding baking soda & using DISTILLED vinegar in the rinse, that should also reduce/eliminate your need for liquid softener because there will be no detergent residue to stiffen your clothes.

Most likely what you have is the seal in the washer transmission has gone bad. That allows the water to go into the transmission and thus forcing the oil out into

the washer tub. Dan

Thank you, everyone, yes it is a top loader and this machine with me for about 8 years now, still working though but I do believe that I am using too much detergent. I will try your cleaning solutions and lessen my detergents usage too. God bless everyone thanks a million.

Hi All, I tried lessening my detergents like what Steve had said and it worked, my clothes and washing machine are cleaner now. I can't clean with the hot water and vinegar as my washing machine does not have a hot water function. But now my machine doesn't leave stains anymore and my clothes are super clean. Thank you, all, for your kindness in replying to my problems and especially to Steve for a marvelous tip which I am using now. God bless.

Here is a step by step way to clean it from right here on Hometalk: https://www.hometalk.com/posts/clean/appliances/how-to-clean-your-washing-machine-using-vinegar-and-baking-soda-21697626