The other day I replaced the Dogs and Coupler in our Kenmore. It had stopped spinning draining and it didn't take long to identify problem via YouTube video research. Didn't have to replace the dogs but went ahead and did that first, but once I went to do coupler I mistook the transmission part from the engine part.. I was trying to get the engine part off to put the new coupler on and couldn't get it up/off. After a bit of examination I thought that it was being held by screws and mistook the transmission part as the correct area to pull apart... Unscrewed all the screws from the tranny and tried to pull it, nothing happened and then randomly by chance pulled the engine part I was trying to remove off and realized I didn't need to be doing what I had...

Well like a true laymen I figured I could put the coupler on and then the other screws I had taken off on. Well during the process of putting the coupler on I noticed an oil like fluid leaking from the (wait I realized finally was) transmission and i quickly finished the coupler and screwed the transmission part together securely hoping their wouldn't be any negative impact....

Well obviously there was :(

The first load I started I instantly became of aware of a slight squeaking noise during spin cycle and as the spin got faster the noise went higher in pitched and then seemed to go away all together. Noticed the noise again during the 2nd spin but shortly after the spin started and the sound went away I noticed a burning smell and a very light & thin white smoke in the room. I immediately dropped the washer and it hasn't been ran since...

I'm really hoping that I haven't damaged anything seriously and can add more fluid to the machine to make it work correctly because my family can not afford a new/used washer or to pay for someone else to repair it..

I found multiple videos on how to replace seals or the whole transmission on YouTube but I really don't want to do either of those when I feel the machine just needs more fluid :/

So my question is obviously, did I royally screw myself or can I just add fluid to the machine? Follow up questions if I can add fluid is what's the best way to do so and etc?

If it would be easier for me to learn how to replace the fluid by watching a specific how-to repair video (but just ignoring everything but the transmission fluid part) pls let me know and I will watch them. If I can I would like to avoid doing that though.

Thanks everyone and anyone for reading this and hopefully being able to help my dumb ass 😅

Sincerely,

Not A Machine Guy