Operating a residential top-loading washing machine when the central agitator is broken or stripped will not cause immediate catastrophic damage to the appliance, but your laundry will not be washed effectively. If the plastic drive dogs inside the dual-action agitator assembly wear out, the top cap may spin independently while the base fails to oscillate and scrub the clothes. You can still run cycles if necessary in an emergency, but garments will only soak in detergent water without mechanical agitation. You can troubleshoot agitator wear easily by checking whether the top cap ratchets while the bottom stays still. You can verify that your corrective action is successful when installing a new set of plastic agitator dogs restores full scrubbing motion.
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