Hello--I have had the same problems with HE2 washer made in 2004 -- with a dryer stacked on top of it, it has traveled just a little, not across the laundry room. But the vibrations have been very violent and scary so I got a repair person in to take a look, and then spoke with additional repair people to be sure I was hearing the right answer. Repair people told me the bearing (which holds the basket) is wearing out and the cost to repair this is more than a whole new washing machine. This is a problem with most front loaders--the vibrations that get so much water out also wear out the parts. I have just ordered a unitized laundry center with washer and dryer--I much prefer top load with agitator to the front loaders anyway. And I have to replace the dryer because the stacked units will only go with each other and I can't stack the dryer safely on another washer. FYI, repair people tell me that 8-10 years is unfortunately the expected life span of a front load washing machine, which seems awfully short given the cost of these. If you can keep your dryer, you are lucky; mine is working fine but as noted I can't keep it since no room to put the machines side by side.

I have a Miele front load washer that had a terrible sewage/rot odor for years. I live in AZ so it's very dry here, but we always leave the washer door open, thinking maybe that would help. I tried running baking soda, vinegar, Smelly Washer, etc. through the machine and they all helped for a short time before the smell came back. All of our clothes gained that gross smell to some degree and God forbid you leave the clothes in the washer for more than 5 minutes after the wash cycle was finished. After cleaning the door gasket even though there was no mold there whatsoever, we finally switched to POWDER DETERGENT and the problem went away after 4 or 5 loads and has not returned over the last few months. We make sure to run a hot water load once a week, but I think the rotten odor was 100% caused by liquid detergent (we never use fabric softener). Even using small amounts of the HE liquid detergent perpetuated the problem. It's hard to find dry detergent these days, but it's worth it to hunt some down! It SOLVED OUR STINKY WASHER PROBLEM.

I am so very happy to have an old-school top loader again. My front loader finally bit the dust and we didn't even bother to try to have it fixed. It was here in the house when we moved in - we're kicking ourselves for paying extra to keep the set, we should have installed our old ones - and these were awful from day one. The first pain was the kamikaze clothing that leapt out from both washer and dryer when the door opened or you pulled something big out. It sucks that something you've just washed has to wait to get cleaned again. Plus, with a bad back, I didn't like bending down so far. It is infuriating that you need to spend extra money on those pedestals to raise them up, and laundry baskets won't fit under either door without them, so, again, when the door opens, things can hit the floor, which is horrible. The machines come out of the box with this huge flaw and you need to spend $150.00 minimum to make them work as they should. They should just be taller from the outset. Also, I like pulling things up out of the washer and then putting them straight into the dryer without having clean wet clothes go into a basket that has previously had dirty clothes in it. Then came the smell. Now it's possible that the previous owner pre-fouled the thing, but that gasket? Where water ALWAYS was? Yak. Mold city. No amount of bleach and cleaning would keep this thing clean. My clothing is now much cleaner after just a week of having a top loader again. I'm very sensitive to detergent left in fabrics, and mine are once again clean and my towels are far more absorbent. It's possible that a new machine, for way more money than I just paid for my new GE top loader, might be better, but we didn't want to spend that much and are happy to have the old style machine back.

Yes, a vent for the tub. All frontloaders have them. Sounds like oversudsing as GeorgeCT says. By the way, 796 is not a full Kenmore model number. It's probably just the first three digits (which indicates the machine was manufactured by LG). All the rest of the numbers after the 796 are needed to properly identify the machine. Pics show a 2006 Whirlpool Duet. Vent port on rear of the tub. Vent duct. Back of machine.