Thanks for all the good ideas so far.

What's weird is that now that I've used it even a few more times, the pattern seems to be a few good and normal washes, and then a few washes where the water is stuck and the debris is coming out - and still a lot. It's like 6-8 table spoons full. And once that's all gone, it goes back to a few more normal washes.

I already ordered a drain pump (since it's not that expensive, and also a good backup to have anyway in case ours is not broken), and we'll see if that makes a difference.

There's no grinding noise when it runs, but we'll check for that too once we open the machine - hopefully we'll be able to put it back together at the end!!!

Also, I wasn't aware that the drain pump should be cleaned once a year. Makes sense, now that I know!

Does your upstairs neighbor put cat litter down the drain?

is there a grinding noise when it was running? my washing machine did this a couple of years ago. it turns out the main bearing on the steel container that holds the laundry broke/wore off and when it is spinning, was grinding on the sides, which produced some funny looking debris that clogged the whole machine

It's probably the little motor for the drain pump that is failing. This is a very common problem in small and compact washing machines. The "propeller" of the motor is exposed to lint, stones, sand and whatever is in your pants pockets at the time.

I have a Bosch Axxis washer and every year or so, I take it out, use WD-40 to get the gunk out and then put it back. The propeller has to be able to spin freely for it to work well. Hope this helps.

Is this happening to anyone else?

We live on the 2nd flr of a brownstone in Downtown, and since Sandy, our front-loading washing machine has been acting wonky!!! Initially, it was not working because the water was not draining out (I had to drain the water manually through the drain hole in the front of the machine), and then during my last desperate try (before hiring someone to fix it - we thought the drain pump was dead), it actually worked - but there was a LOT of little stones coming out - they're like the size of sand, but black / grey and white in color. So I thought perhaps it was the debris that was clogging up the drain pipe, and now that they're all out, no more problem and I can keep my money in my pocket (instead of the repairman's)!

Sadly, the washing machine worked a few more times, and then it stopped draining again on its own. After a few more tries (and manual draining), it worked again - with a tons of the small stone / debris coming out again.

I'm very confused as to what's going on. Apparently, no one else in the building is having the same problem.

Any ideas???