I have an HE top-loader (GE). It's given me some trouble lately, the first being that the spinning mechanism (I'm not a washer repairer, so forgive me for not knowing the technical term) became unseated or something like that.
It was a simple repair, kind of like a dislocated shoulder, just pop it back in place, but the repair guy told me to quit using the "Precise Fill" feature of the machine, which is designed to sense how much clothing you've added to the tub, and set the water level accordingly.
He explained that it never uses enough water, the clothes get bogged down in the tub, can't move freely around, and end up unbalanced and putting stress on the spinning motor, which will cause it to pop out and stop running.
He said the way around that is to always run the washer on the highest water setting, regardless of whether it's a small, medium, or large load. That does kind of defeat the whole HE concept, but that's what I've been doing since, and I've virtually eliminated unbalanced loads.
