Maytag Neptune Washer and Dryer Saga.

Our Maytag Neptune washer has had troubles lately. When we bought it with our house the MAH4000 and its dryer sibling were already a little over ten years old.

Dryer in pair was the first to have trouble. Gas would not stay on. Pilot light was starved. Went through the process of replacing the solenoid. Turned out to be a bit of dust in the relief inlet (external pressure equalization) of the regulator valve. Was as simple as using a pin/needle to open the orifice up.

Done.

Last winter the MAH4000 belt started coming off. And the main bearing seal started leaking. Lots of brown water/rust thrown off the main pulley.

After some searching and diagnostics... Came to this link - Neptune Bearings by M Little . Actually found the above site very early in the process... but thought it was a parody (an ironic way of saying "Do not even try this!"). BUT it turned out to very straightforward - if somewhat long and drawn out.

Seal kit 12002022 has extras one does not need... read included instructions very carefully/literally. 6206-2RS and 6207-2RS are easy to get. Worst part was getting bearing back in. Hard to align and very tight. Advice: Grind and polish. Dremel. Marine grease during insert and for sealant.

Was good exercise. Got the front boot/seal clean in the process. Drum exterior also got a good scrub. Lots of grease on bearing rotating parts. Were a fair number of coins removed from the pumps.

Wax motor (for the curious this is a wax motor) had black plunger and was okay. And related - motherboard did not have fried triac Q6 and resistor R11.

All good.

Two months ago the MAH4000 stopped spinning. All the lights looked right at every stage of rinse and spin (will come back to this).
Checked all three imbalance switches on blue cable. All okay.
Checked connections to wax motors and safety switches. All clean and good.
Checked main control board R11 and Q6.
Checked all connections (reseated everything).
Was about to go after motor and controller. Then saw this.
Youtube: Neptune no spin. Not the normal failures.
In effect it is answering "So I tried everything but the main motor - any ideas?". The wax motor Z-spring backing led to an investigation of how well the "real" safety switch was working (the one on the right - not the one on the left that operates the door closed light). The switch was fine BUT the plunger that pushes the switch had worn down enough to not go far enough. Put a piece card board shim in front of the plunger.

All good.

Then last month the MAH4000 started to make an awful noise. And it stopped fast spinning (though it would try) and would only weakly slow spin. Looked through all of the above again. Did the J4 removed test. Bad motor or controller. Ordered kit with motor, controller, harness and instructions 12002039 . And a spare belt for good measure 12001788

Whole motor, harness and controller replaced. But though it looks completely alien to this machine, motor and controller fit perfectly. J4 fine, Power fine, GND(s) (there is a new case ground to screw to the base) - all hooked up fine. Even sounds better and seems to vibrate less.

And away we go again.  

So if a deal like this appears, and one feels handy enough, seems one should go for it?... Mercy Save Neptune Set  [Maybe check craigslist for one unloved.]. Also starting to ponder feasibility of an Ethernet interface to the IO - ala Internet of Things.

Of course each failure had a load of wet clothes associated with it that had to be hand wrung. Consider: Hand Wringer at Lehman's .  Lehman's has all sorts of interesting stuff. Or look at Amazon.

Ah for a "simpler" life... But refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, ovens, and toasters are part of that life now.