Two laundry problems--HELP!

[Juliacat]

Dh changed the oil in my car over the weekend (yay!) and used a flat cloth diaper as a rag (boo!) and I guess thinking I might want to use it for its intended purpose again, threw it in with the regular laundry...socks, underwear, towels, half our bedsheets since the kids have been messing them up....I didn't realize this when I washed everything. I ran everything through twice and ALL the clothes still smell STRONGLY like gasoline. I hung them out on the line, afraid to put them in the dryer for fear the smell might bake in or, worse, ignite them. (Oh, and I threw away the offending flat. Not for my baby's bum, please!)

Meanwhile, the washing machine--a seven-year-old front-loading Frigidaire--started making a REALLY loud, scary spin cycle noise, like I was afraid it was going to fall through the floor, and started squeaking, too.

I have no idea if the two problems are connected, but they did happen at the same time.

Help me:

1. What do I do with the big load of laundry that smells like gasoline???

2. Is there anything I should do with the washing machine, other than call the repairman?

Thanks everyone!

[CariOfOz]

Do NOT NOT NOT put them in your dryer. Most dryers come with warnings not to even put items that may have gotten cooking oil on them into dryers, as they may ignite due to the heat I don't know of anything that will remove the smell/chemicals of gasoline from fabric though I'd absolutely be tossing the sheets if it were me, as I couldn't trust sleeping on something that had been soaked in gasoline even after the smell was gone

I'd guess the washer trying to explode is likely coincidence, and would just have it checked out.

Hopefully someone else has better advice?

[34me]

The washer may be the pre-filter. Ours was clogged with change, pieces of gift cards and dog fur. We found the schematics on the Internet and pulled it apart ourselves. Works great now.

Have you tried oxy clean soaks for the laundry? Our old day car provider's son was a mechanic in high school and she soaked his things in Lestoil. It worked for his work shirts but you might have to rewash a couple times to get the chemicallyness off your sheets.

[Juliacat]

Well, what I ended up doing was leaving the laundry on the line for 3 days, until the smell went away. Then I put it away like normal, so most of it I couldn't throw out if I wanted to now, since it got all mixed in.

The washing machine has a bad bearing. Repair bill will cost almost as much as it would cost to get a new machine but I think we are going to have it repaired anyway, because it is still a little cheaper and it would be a pain to find a new machine that would stack neatly under our dryer. Fortunately I can do laundry at my mom's house.

[Poddi]

Ours is a 7 year old Frigidaire front loader, too. It just got really loud lately. We had someone look at it and he said the bearing is worn out. Apparently this is typical for them at this age. If you do some search on Google you'll find lots of people have similar problems, with Frigidaire or Kenmore front loaders. Replacement bearing cost hundreds of dollars, we're just waiting for it to stop working and then buy a new one.

[34me]

Good to know about the washer. Ours is 2. It wS an unpopular color so it was cheap. We stack them too.