Author Archives: Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Whirlpool-Kenmore “Even Heat” dryer: lights come on but the motor won’t run

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Don’t let all the fancy electronics on this dryer fool you; behind all the glitz and glam and beep-beeps of the fancy-pants electronics, it’s still just a dumb dryer and it does the bidness of drying clothes like even the simplest (and more reliable) dryers out there.

If you’re dealing with a problem where the lights come on and the controls seem awake but the motor won’t run, sure, it may be a problem with the control board or the motor relay. But take a look at the highlighted motor circuit in the schematic below. What else do you see in the motor power circuit? Well, there’s some pretty dang simple stuff like the door switch, belt switch, and the thermal fuse. If any one of these is open, you’re gonna have a dead motor situation. You feel me?

Whirlpool-Kenmore Even Heat Dryer Schematic Diagram with Motor Power Circuit Highlighted
(click to enlarge)

To learn more about your dryer, or to order parts, click here.

GE JB968T0K2WW door lock operation

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This little diagram explains the operation of the motorized door lock in your GE range. A great troubleshooting aid for those troubling times such as when the oven door won’t open and dinner is stuck inside. Download it now and share with all your friends. Fun for the whole family!

GE JB968T0K2WW door lock operation
(click to enlarge)

To learn more about your range/stove/oven, or to order parts, click here.

Maytag MAVT446 washer with a melted motor pulley

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The Quandary: Is it really just as simple as replacing the pulley or does a deeper, darker, more insidious problem lurk deep within the bowels of this beast?

Nah, just replace the cheesy pulley. It’s just a freakin’ piece of plastic, whaddya expect?

Pulley part link: http://www.repairclinic.com/SSPartDetail.aspx?s=t-21001108-%3d%3di1472&PartID=1472

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

GE refrigerator freezer section back wall keeps frosting over every few days to a couple of weeks and everything in the fridge starts warming up…

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…but fret thou not, my leetle grasshoppah, because this is almost always a simple problem of the defrost heater burning out. Usually a simple inspection is all that’s needed to tell it’s bad.

Remove the back panel from the inside of the freezer and get some peepers on the evaporator coil. If it looks something like this…

Photobucket

… then that’s what I’m talking about. The defrost heater is at the very bottom of the evaporator coil, with the orange arrow pointing to it. It’s supposed to be a clear glass tube with a shiny metal spiral running through it. If it’s blackened or smokey or green, it’s fried. You need to replace it with the upgraded heating element. The new element is a dualy and looks like this:

Easy to install, it’s a plug n’ chug kind of a deal. And, in case you need it, the new element comes with complete destructions. You can get the new defrost heating element ratcheer:

http://www.repairclinic.com/SSPartDetail.aspx?s=t-GSS20IEMBWW-%3d%3dc42i1399613&PartID=1399613

To learn more about your refrigerator, or to order parts, click here.

Whirlpool Cabrio dryer WED6400SW1: drum won’t tumble but the heater still fires up

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This can be a head scratcher because the heating element in a dryer should only come on when the drum is tumbling. There’s still power to the display and you can run diagnostics but the motor won’t turn on. In fact, this is one of those cases where simply running the diagnostics without any insight into how dryers work can only lead to more confusion.

For example, in a recent topic in the repair forum, running diagnostics gave the following results:

Diagnostic Mode: 3 errors Displayed
F28 – Moisture Sensor – performed test on Moisture sensor and got the all clear. Not an issue.

F30 – Air Flow – checked lint filter and vent hose. Lint filter filthy, wife obviously hadn’t cleaned it in several cycles.

F31 – The mystery code. The tech papers do not list this code for this model. Only info available on F31 is for a Whirlpool Duet (L2 Line Voltage) and a post here on these forums (Bad thermal fuse)

Read more: Whirlpool Cabrio WED6400SW1 no tumble but has power – The Laundry Appliance Repair Forum – Do-It-Yourself Appliance Repair Help – ApplianceGuru.com: The Samurai Appliance Repair Forums http://applianceguru.com/forum2/27493.html#ixzz10BPfhKDe

What’s a grasshoppah supposed to do with this? What’s anyone supposed to do with this? This doesn’t help narrow down the problem.

But what does help is keen insight into how dryers work. A big clue here is that the heat still comes on even when the drum isn’t tumbling. This means the heating element is getting power through “illegal” means. In this case, a grounded heating element was letting the element get power when it wasn’t supposed to. A grounded element just means that the element wire has broken and one end is contacting the element housing, like this:

Grounded Dryer Heating Elemement
(photo courtesy of ApplianceAid.com)

The element shown above is not the same one that goes in this dryer, but they’re all basically the same, just different shapes.

The fact that the motor isn’t running but the control panel still gets power is a sure sign that the thermal fuse is open.

The fix is to replace both the thermal fuse and the heating element. Easy job. Here are the part links:

Thermal fuse:

http://www.repairclinic.com/SSPartDetail.aspx?s=t-WED6400SW1-%3d%3dc44i1455409&PartID=1455409

Heating element:

http://www.repairclinic.com/SSPartDetail.aspx?s=t-WED6400SW1-%3d%3dc42i1201501&PartID=1201501

To learn more about your dryer, or to order parts, click here.

Daily Summary of Samurai’s Tweets, 2010-09-21

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  • GE TFX22 refrigerator ice dispenser door not closing; disassembly, troubleshooting, and repair http://j.mp/cqcRte #
  • Miele's new line of recirculating vent hoods "float" over the cooktop http://post.ly/ykOV #
  • A brisk Autumn day with gusty winds and forever views from the top of the Ragged Mtn. ski area today. The cooler … http://post.ly/ylQg #
  • A "transorb" in GE dishwashers? Is that to help transorb the water? Not quite, but it can cause headaches! http://flic.kr/p/8uMQNP #
  • Q: What's dumber than a spammer-phisher with a broken spell checker? A: People who fall for it. http://post.ly/yoRY #
  • Amana refrigerator tech sheet for SBIE20TPSW and related models, see link for complete listing. View online or downlo… http://post.ly/yopn #

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How to put your Whirlpool Duet gas dryer into diagnostic test mode to help troubleshoot it

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Example model number: WGD9550WL

Diagnostic mode is your first kata when you’re doing battle with a weird problem with this dryer, such as stopping mid-cycle. These dryers have so much electronic ca-ca in ’em that it’s hard to troubleshoot without running the test mode. So, here’s the keyboard dance:

DIAGNOSTIC TEST MODE

1. Be sure the dryer is in standby mode (plugged in with all indicators off,
or with only the Done indicator on).

2. Select any one button (except Pause/Cancel and Controls Lock/ Unlock)
and follow the steps below, using the same button (remember the button):
a. Press/hold 2 seconds.
b. Release for 2 seconds.
c. Press/hold 2 seconds.
d. Release for 2 seconds.
e. Press/hold 2 seconds.

3. If this test mode has been entered successfully,
all indicators on the console are illuminated for 5 seconds
with 8:88 showing in the Estimated Time Remaining three digit display.

If there are no saved fault codes or active fault codes,
all indicators on the console will momentarily turn off,
then stay on with 8:88 displayed.

Opening the door should cause a beep and
an alphanumeric number (such as P:3 ) to be displayed.

Closing the door should cause a beep and 8:88 to be displayed.

Maytag Atlantis washer quick transmission diagnosis tip: if the agitator is going back and forth while the basket is spinning, the transmission is toast

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Example model number: MAV7700AWW.

The agitator may be doing one of those lazy numbers where it’s still going back and forth but slower than it does during the normal agitate cycle. Doesn’t matter; if the agitator is working at all during the spin cycle, then the transmission is toast, fried, smoked, FUBAR. The gears inside this transmission are all plastic. This is what we’ve come down to: cheap plastic crap not made to last but made to be repaired every few years or, what they really want, throw it away and buy a new one.

Anyway, if you’re married to this washer and want to replace the transmission, be my guest; here’s the part link to the transmission:

http://www.repairclinic.com/SSPartDetail.aspx?s=t-MAV7700AWW-%3d%3dc25i1472816&PartID=1472816

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

Electrolux french door, bottom-freezer refrigerator; ice maker evaporator in the fresh food compartment ices up every month or so and makes a knocking noise

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Heads up on the Electrolux french door bottom freezer refrigerators, example model number EI28BS56IS0, with the ice in the refrigerator compartment and has it’s own evaporator. The problem we’re starting to see in the field is that the unit will run fine for about 30 to 45 days. Then the ice accumulation on the ice maker evaporator starts and this makes a knocking noise in the fridge. See the pic below:

Ice accumulation on the evaporator in the ice maker compartment of an Electrolux french door bottom-mount refrigerator

To get rid of the noise, the refrigerator will need to be shut down for a couple days to melt the ice. Then the unit will run fine for another 30 – 45 days and the whole knocking noise, ice formation starts again. And these units are less than a year old! What’s a disgruntled Electrolux customer to do?

As it turns out, Electrolux has a re-work kit for this that they’ll send out free of charge under warranty. This is not a fun job and if you can get a warranty servicer to do this for you, you’ll be much happier.

To learn more about your refrigerator, or to order parts, click here.