Patting myself on back.

[ainitfunny]

lLast night my washer quit. Checked breaker-OK. Restarted cycle and thing would work agitator but just quit at end of wash without draining or filling for rinse. It dawned on me to take a rat tail comb and poke the door switch down to see if that was keeping it from working, and PRESTO! the thing started working. I looked and saw the "finger" that activates the "door closed" safety switch had broken off. Got some pliers and bent the sheet metal enough to allow me to insert a long bolt into the mounting hole where the plastic "finger" had been mounted and tightened it down making the extra long bolt into a replacement finger to again activate the safety switch when the washer lid was closed.

I'm so proud of myself. It works great now.

 

[Brutus]

Good on ya'!

Imagine what a repairman would've charged!

Better yet, stop and think how many folks - if the machine was 10 years old or more - would've just said, "Well, I guess that's the end of that one. Let's go buy another."

Boy, it really pisses me off how many folks just throw something out and don't even TRY to have it repaired, much less take it apart themselves and see if they can locate an obvious problem.

My own sister, a few years ago, went and bought a new washer because the 8 y.o. one she had would just turn off from time to time for no reason. I was over to her house several days after she bought the new one and before she got rid of the old one (Thank the Lord!) and with a few basic tools, figured out what was wrong in about 30 minutes. After a trip to the hardware store I had it running good as new for about $10 and less than 2 hours time including the store trip.

The culprit: A loose power cord connection up inside the machine that was shaking loose from contact whenever the spin cycle set the machine to rocking! The old cord wasn't in real good shape so I just replaced it, but it probably would've worked and hence wouldn't even have cost $10 in parts. It's still running 5 years later at my other sister's house.

 

[ainitfunny]

A rel blessing to have a mechanic in the family! I bet youre family would be absolutely lost without you and considerably poorer!

 

[Brutus]

Thanks for the kind words, but I'd hardly call myself a mechanic - mostly just a "talented tinkerer"! About the only thing that I have any real qualifications to work on are hydraulic pumps, motors, cylinders, and valves.

And my sister who chucked the old washer........

......she ain't worried, she's married to a doctor!

 

[north runner]

I have a new Maytag washer with an incurable slippage problem. On big loads the transmission doesn't engage right wrrrrrr. Under warranty had it replaced and it still does the same thing. :sb:

So now I do small or medium loads and never use the max load water setting. At least it doesn't walk across the floor by itself.

 

[Brutus]

You need to pester the Hell out of 'em while the machine's still under warranty. Don't let them get away with pushing you back until it's out of warranty so that they can charge you for a repair.

As much as Maytag likes to crow about how good their machines are, you'd think that they'd be all over any problem.

Bug the Hell out of them!!!!

 

[Bigbng]

DW's windshield wiper delay switch broke off in the extreme cold. (Not the whole thing, but the tip with the delay controls etc.)
Well the duct tape repair wasn't too attractive, and I was reluctant to spend the 80 bucks fo a new unit, AND ripping the steering colum apart to repair it. Ended up getting a broken arm at the wrecker, ($5.00) and after examining how it was attached, figured I could fix it by sliding off the cover of the arm, and replacing it it on the DW's car. Worked like a charm.

Also, The LOW speed setting on both our GM cars didn't work.
Service dude at the dealership was obviously bored and informed me that these thing are always failing....but it's NOT the switch. There is a resistor just off the fan motor that is the culprit 90% of the time. (They even supplied me with an explodedview map so I could replace it myself.