How to Clean a Whirlpool Cabrio Washer

Quick Answer

To clean a Cabrio washer, empty the drum and add one Affresh tablet or two cups of white vinegar directly into the tub. Run the 'Clean Washer' cycle with hot water and wipe down the rubber seals and dispensers once the cycle completes.

Here's the thing about HE washers like the Cabrio: they use so little water that gunk just stays. That waxy gray stuff techs call scrud is a mix of old detergent, fabric softener, and honestly stuff you don't want to think about. Ignore it long enough and you'll start pulling 'clean' clothes out that smell like a gym locker. And it can eventually wreck the pump and drive shaft too.

WhirlpoolWasherSeverity: low

Time to Fix

60–90 min

Difficulty

beginner

Parts Cost

$0 (no parts needed)

Tools Needed

Affresh washing machine cleaner tablets (1 tablet) or white vinegar (2 cups), Microfiber cloth

How to Clean a Whirlpool Cabrio Washer

Run this every 30 loads or once a month, whichever comes first. Honestly, most people don't do it nearly enough. You'll know you're overdue when you start seeing little gray or brown flakes on your 'clean' clothes. That's not lint. That's actual chunks of buildup breaking free from inside the tub and hitching a ride on your laundry.

Common Causes

Using too much HE detergent in every load, the excess doesn't rinse out completely and builds up on the outer tub walls over time until you've got a thick waxy paste in there.
Fabric softener residue coating the inside of the drum, basically a liquid wax film that traps bacteria and starts smelling within weeks if you're not running a clean cycle.
Closing the lid after every wash, which keeps the interior wet and turns the sealed drum into a perfect mold-growing environment, especially in warm months.
Hard water deposits combining with soap residue to form that thick gray paste you'll find on the tub walls and under the wash plate.
Washing a lot of heavily soiled loads like gym clothes or work gear without running a cleaning cycle in between, which loads up the outer tub with bacteria surprisingly fast.

Symptoms You May Notice

Your 'clean' laundry comes out smelling musty or like mildew, right out of the machine, before it even gets to the dryer.
Small gray or brown flakes showing up on dark clothes after a wash cycle, looks like the machine is shedding something. It kind of is.
That rotten egg or sour smell hits you as soon as you open the lid, even when the machine's been sitting empty all day.
Visible black or dark brown slime on the underside of the lid or around the top of the drum ring where the water never quite reaches.
Clothes feel dingy or not quite fresh even right out of the dryer, no amount of fabric softener is fixing it.

Tools Required for Diagnosis

Affresh washing machine cleaner tablets (1 tablet) or white vinegar (2 cups)Microfiber clothOld toothbrush or soft-bristled scrub brushSmall bowl for mixing vinegar cleaning solutionWarm soapy waterRubber gloves (if using bleach)

Diagnostic Checklist

Follow these steps in order. We start with the easiest external fixes before opening up the machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use bleach instead of vinegar to clean my Cabrio?

Yeah, bleach works great actually. Use one cup of liquid chlorine bleach and put it right in the drum, not the dispenser. But don't mix bleach and vinegar, ever. That's a bad situation you don't want in your laundry room. If you go the bleach route, run an extra rinse cycle afterward because any residue left in there will absolutely ruin the first load of colored clothes you throw in. Hot water plus bleach is honestly your most aggressive option for a machine that's really overdue for a cleaning.

Why does my Cabrio washer still smell after cleaning it?

If it still smells after a full clean cycle, the scrud is probably packed in under the wash plate or in the gap between the inner and outer tubs where water barely circulates. Pull the center cap off the wash plate and clean underneath it with a brush. Also check your drain hose. If there's standing water sitting in a low loop of that hose it'll smell like a swamp. Pull the machine out from the wall and make sure the drain hose has a proper high loop or goes into a standpipe at least 30 inches up from the floor.

How do I clean the lint filter on a Cabrio?

Most Cabrio top-loaders don't have a removable lint trap you can pull out and clean, which surprises a lot of people. They use a self-cleaning pump filter system instead. So the Clean Washer cycle is basically doing double duty as your filter cleaning too. It's one less thing to worry about honestly, but it also means skipping that monthly clean is a worse idea than you'd think. The pump has to handle all that lint somehow and a dirty tub makes it work a lot harder.

Is it okay to use fabric softener in every load?

Honestly, fabric softener is the number one thing I'd cut back on if you want your machine to stay cleaner longer. It's basically liquid wax and it coats the outer tub a little bit every single load. Half the recommended amount is usually fine for your clothes and way better for the machine. Or just switch to white vinegar in the softener dispenser, about a quarter cup per load. It softens clothes just as well and actually helps keep the tub clean instead of gunking it up.

How often should I clean my Cabrio if I do a ton of laundry?

If you're running 10 or more loads a week, honestly you should clean it every two to three weeks instead of monthly. Heavy use means more detergent residue and body soil hitting that outer tub on a daily basis. I had a customer with five kids running 15 loads a week and wondering why her machine smelled terrible after two months. She started doing a clean cycle every other Sunday and the problem went away completely. You'll figure out your machine's rhythm pretty quick once you start paying attention to when the smell starts coming back.

Models Known to Experience CLEANING Errors

This repair applies to most Whirlpool washers with this error code. Common model numbers include:

WTW8500DC, WTW7300DW, WTW8240YW, WTW6400SW, WTW8000DW, WTW8200YW, WTW7800XW, WTW5000DW

Written by

Mike Sullivan

Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 20 years experience

Last verified for technical accuracy on March 17, 2026