The 6E error code on this dryer part of this pretty decent stacked laundry unit means there’s a temperature control problem. Le Manuél identifies three suspects: thermistor, wire harness, and control board. Now, if you were to put on the blinders and go by only what Le Manuél says, you may miss something else altogether that’s causing the problem. A clever DIYer posted the results of his struggles with this very problem. I’m posting his report here for your edumucation not so much for what he found, but to illustrate the process of troubleshooting and problem-solving needed to fix anything, whether it’s a broken dryer or a broken economy. The mental skills are the same: you need to be willing the see the problem as it really is so that you can apply the correct remedy. In other words, the first step to problem solution is problem identification. And not all problems have cookbooks solutions. The single best tool you have in appliance repair– or in any other problem you’re grappling with– is that oil-based computer betwixt your ears.

I thought the following may be of interest to anyone tussling with the Maytag SE1000 stacked dryer-washer unit. I have been experiencing an intermittent problem of the unit dying with the cryptic message 6E on the dryer readout. I discovered this was fixed by jiggling the connectors to the microprocessor board. But finally, it died and didn’t come back to life, no matter how I harassed it.

So I took the microprocessor board out of the unit and looked it over very carefully with an Optivisor, in the hope of finding a bad connection or something else which might explain this behavior. Because the message 6E is supposed to mean that the ambient temperature is too low, I concentrated on the wiring to and from the thermistor. Then I found that the thermistor, which is off the board, is connected in series with a small potentiometer, which is mounted on the processor board on the opposite side to where the connectors are. So it is hidden until you remove the board and panel unit.

This potentiometer was faulty. It registered a much higher resistance than it should have, and I found it was prone to go open circuit when I stressed the board slightly. So I presume that the frequent temperature changes in the dryer cabinet have, over the years, caused the potentiometer to wear a dead spot in its track. By simply turning the potentiometer very slightly, I was able to get it off the dead spot and found it working properly again.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that a potentiometer in that environment would be a weak link with a high expectation of eventual failure. But tweaking a pot sure beats paying $300 for a new processor board!

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Dryer Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.