Dryer Won't Spin: 5 Causes, Ranked
Drive Belt
- 67.0%of repair attention
- —no confirmed part
- 40 minto check
- Basic toolsDIY
A broken or off-track belt is the most common reason the motor runs but the drum doesn't turn.
Check yours now ↓Two checks cost nothing — do those first.
⚠ Unplug the machine before opening it. On a 240V dryer that means pulling the cord, not just switching it off at the panel.
Two checks that cost nothing
- Confirm the door is fully latched Open and firmly close the door until you hear the latch click, then restart the cycle. A door that isn't fully latched won't let the machine run, and it can look exactly like a bigger fault.
- Listen to what happens when you start it A steady hum that doesn't change means something is trying to run but is being stopped — often a jam or a slipped belt. Total silence instead of a hum points away from a mechanical jam and toward a switch, fuse, or timer.
- Try turning the drum by hand With the machine unplugged, reach in and try to rotate the drum. Heavy resistance or a grinding feel points at a seized roller or bearing; a drum that spins freely with no resistance at all points at a broken or off-track belt.
Check each cause, easiest first
Ordered by how hard each is to check, not by how likely it is — so the cheap answers get ruled out before you open anything. The badge on each row shows where the smart money is. Percentages are share of repair-video attention, not a measured failure rate.
drive belt#1 most-watched · 67.0% of repair videos —
How to check. Open the cabinet and look at the belt for cracks, fraying, or slack, and check whether it's still seated on the motor pulley and drum. Spin the drum by hand — one that turns with no resistance and no motor connection tells you the belt is off or broken.
A broken or off-track belt is the most common reason the motor runs but the drum doesn't turn.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
idler pulley#2 most-watched · 19.0% of repair videos —
How to check. With the belt off, spin the idler pulley by hand and listen for grinding, and check that its spring still holds tension against the belt.
⚡ This one check needs the appliance plugged IN and running — the rest do not. Keep hands clear of the panel, touch nothing inside while it is live, and unplug again before replacing anything.
A pulley that grinds or has a weak spring lets the belt slip or run loose, which shows up as noise or a drum that turns slower than it should.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
door latch#4 most-watched · 0.0% of repair videos —
How to check. Open and close the door a few times and watch whether the latch fully engages the strike plate. Test continuity across the latch switch with it held closed.
A latch that doesn't seat fully, or a switch with no continuity when closed, tells the control the door is open — the machine won't start until that signal is right, even though the door looks shut.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
door switch#5 most-watched · 0.0% of repair videos —
How to check. With the machine unplugged, press the switch by hand — most give a distinct click. Test continuity across its terminals with the switch held in the closed position.
No click, or no continuity when closed, means the control never gets the 'door closed' signal, so the cycle won't start even though the door looks shut.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
drive motor#3 most-watched · 14.0% of repair videos —
How to check. Listen for a hum when you try to start the dryer. A hum with no drum movement points at a seized motor or a jam elsewhere in the drive system; total silence points upstream, to the switch, timer, or thermal fuse, before the motor itself. Test winding continuity with a multimeter.
⚡ This one check needs the appliance plugged IN and running — the rest do not. Keep hands clear of the panel, touch nothing inside while it is live, and unplug again before replacing anything.
No continuity, or a motor that's hot to the touch and has thermally tripped, means the motor has failed — check the belt, rollers, and switch first, since those fail more often than the motor itself.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
Is it worth fixing at all?
Most pages answer this with the “50% rule” — spend no more than half a replacement's price. We went looking for the origin of that number and could not find one: it is widely credited to ENERGY STAR, whose actual published guidance is an age-and-condition checklist with no percentage in it. We use your machine's own measured running cost instead. We hold it for 0 Any brand dryer models.
LG DLEX4000B607.0 kWh/yr · $114.30/yr to run — get the verdict →We rank every dryer we hold certification data for within its own size and configuration class — so you are comparing machines that would actually fit the same space. See the dryer rankings →
When to stop and call someone
Leave the appliance alone, ventilate, and call the gas utility. Nothing on this page is worth doing around a suspected leak.
Compressor and refrigerant repairs need EPA certification — that is a legal requirement, not a difficulty rating. A service call runs roughly $75–$150 before parts, so read the repair-or-replace maths above before booking.
Common questions
Share of repair-video views for this symptom across 331 videos. The walkthroughs shown on this page come from PartSelect and RepairClinic.com. It measures what people watch. That correlates with what fails, but video age, channel size and search visibility all influence it, so we publish it as attention and never as a failure rate. Each cause shows the video count and total views behind its percentage.
We only show a part when it comes from a repair on a machine in the same Any brand family. Where we have no family-matched part we say so rather than substitute another brand's. For parts confirmed on one exact machine, use the model page above.
Usually yes for simple mechanical parts like belts, fuses and thermostats; less reliably for control boards and sensors, where tolerances and firmware matter. Every listing is labelled.