Maytag Neptune TL FAV9800AWW

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Excuse me guys, Figuring out how to navigate through the new site. Started searching the site for the washer and entered the info in the wrong place. But, I would love to find and buy one. I like the FAV6800AWW model.
 
Very few of these exist, they were trouble prone and most parts are obsolete now. Certainly not washer I'd use as a daily driver.
 
Finding parts for a Maytag Neptune top loader is more difficult than finding parts for 1966 to 2006 Maytag Helical machines.

If something was in production for many years and was popular, it’s going to be fairly easy to find parts. But when you have something that was a niche product and was more experimental more than anything, finding parts is going to be difficult, if not impossible.

The Neptune top loader was only in production for a couple of years before Maytag ended closing up shop in 2006, the Neptune front loader was more popular but even then locating parts is difficult for those as well.

While the Neptunes were interesting machines, they are too restrictive for my tastes. Should be able to choose the agitate and spin speeds along with the wash and rinse temperatures, water level for sure. My Maytag 806 and soon to be Whirlpool Imperial Mark 18 set gives you the ability to select everything independently, definitely will put the gentle wash with fast spin to use on the Imperial Mark 18.
 
Neptune TL doesn't need a water level selector, nor do the frontloader specimens any moreso than other frontloaders. TL has a choice of 3 spin speeds, and Max Extract which extends the time a bit. Wash/rinse temps are selectable (hot/cold, warm/warm, warm/cold, cold/cold), as is wash time (via soil level, not directly in minutes).
 
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One of the worst washers ever made. While they were unique, their reliability was horrendous, it’s very rare to find a working one these days.

Even worse than the GE HydroWaves in my opinion.
 
Is it still working tho? Most of these have been scrapped a long time ago.

My FAV6800 is working, although, to be fair, it's not my primary machine. I used it as my primary machine for 6 months, when the clutch/pulley failed and I swapped-in a different machine. That was wayyyy back in 2008. It was repaired under warranty (of course). The clutch/pulley was acting up again several years ago. I pulled it, disassembled, cleaned and greased the needle bearings. I continue to use it occasionally. I've been using it for summer yard-work clothes the past couple years, among a few other things.
 
Surprising that it works. Still an awful machine tho. One of the most unreliable washers ever made. The front loading models are a little bit better but on those the bearings commonly fail. Everything about these machines were terrible and nothing was good about them other than the fact they were interesting to look at.

Every review said on these machines was negative when they came out (and it deserved it). This is way maytag was bought by whirlpool, their last machines were awful.

If you want Maytag either by the early whirlpool made ones that are direct drive, or go for a pre-2000, both are great choices.

Maytag can’t go independent again like others mentioned, Maytag has since gone out of business and is not a brand anymore.

Whirlpool also acquired the trademark and Maytag is now all Whirlpool’s property. Saying Maytag will go independent from Whirlpool at this point is like saying HotPoint will separate from GE, Amana will start making their own appliances, or that Kenmore will start making their own appliances.

Even a Calypso is better in my opinion but those had pretty bad reliability too.

High efficiency washers have significantly improved although I think the new new ones have went downhill. GE is probably the best washer to buy in the modern day and age, used to recommend Whirlpool but those have control board issues.

At this point when someone wants a whirlpool I just tell them to get the Maytag model since they have a better warranty and is essentially the same machine. Many Maytags are also at a similar price as the Whirlpool units.

For a newer washer, I would not recommend brands like Insignia, Crosley, or even modern Kenmore stuff because they are made by so many manufacturers and can be hard to order parts online.

If Whirlpool didn’t buy Maytag, the brand just wouldn’t exist anymore.
 
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Surprising that it works. Still an awful machine tho. One of the most unreliable washers ever made. The front loading models are a little bit better but on those the bearings commonly fail. Everything about these machines were terrible and nothing was good about them other than the fact they were interesting to look at.

Every review said on these machines was negative when they came out (and it deserved it). This is way maytag was bought by whirlpool, their last machines were awful.

If you want Maytag either by the early whirlpool made ones that are direct drive, or go for a pre-2000, both are great choices.

Maytag can’t go independent again like others mentioned, Maytag has since gone out of business and is not a brand anymore.

Whirlpool also acquired the trademark and Maytag is now all Whirlpool’s property. Saying Maytag will go independent from Whirlpool at this point is like saying HotPoint will separate from GE, Amana will start making their own appliances, or that Kenmore will start making their own appliances.

Even a Calypso is better in my opinion but those had pretty bad reliability too.

High efficiency washers have significantly improved although I think the new new ones have went downhill. GE is probably the best washer to buy in the modern day and age, used to recommend Whirlpool but those have control board issues.

At this point when someone wants a whirlpool I just tell them to get the Maytag model since they have a better warranty and is essentially the same machine. Many Maytags are also at a similar price as the Whirlpool units.

For a newer washer, I would not recommend brands like Insignia, Crosley, or even modern Kenmore stuff because they are made by so many manufacturers and can be hard to order parts online.

If Whirlpool didn’t buy Maytag, the brand just wouldn’t exist anymore.
Just like Chrysler bought American Motors/Jeep they destroyed the brand and made them cease to ever exist again.
 
Honestly, whirlpool didn’t completely destroy the brand. If whirlpool didn’t acquire Maytag, the brand just outright wouldn’t be around anymore.

And the latest real Maytag stuff was awful. The top loading Neptunes were the worst ones. They had so many control board issues and the transmissions often failed. Horribly designed machines.

If Maytag was still Maytag they’d likely push neptune TLs further. I doubt Maytag would use a VMW design they’d probably use the Neptune TL design for their high efficiency washers. While that’d be interesting, that would give Maytag a worse reputation.

Maytag also had the Amanatags, Atlantis’s, and the Performas, those washers were pretty bad too, premature bearing issues were common, as well as pump issues, and transmission failures.

Even if Maytag was still Maytag, they’d probably just push Neptune TLs all the way which were much worse than the VMWs, or they’d be bought by something else (like Midea or GE).

If GE bought Maytag instead it’d be a disaster because we’d literally have model Ts and HydroWaves under the Maytag brand and since those were so unreliable machines, it would give Maytag a worse rep than it does with Whirlpool buying them.

If you want a Maytag Maytag, pre-2000 is the best way to go as most of the pre-2000 models were dependable care, if you get 2000-2006 you can, but gotta watch out for the Amanatags and magic chef type Maytags since those weren’t that good machines, a lot of those Maytags now just get scrapped and don’t get fixed anymore, similar to the GE Model-Ts and HydroWaves.

As for plastic tubs, I don’t hate plastic tubs in fact they seem to be one of the most reliable designs of tubs, in fact, GE’s plastic tubs rarely broke, sure, they break if you put a brick in it, but washers are not designed to spin with bricks. They didn’t rust and they were durable plastic. The tubs used on the Maytag performas and Amanatags also worked well.

The porcelain tubs seem to be the most prone to issues. Stainless is obviously the best one tho.

Maytag should’ve focused on the dependable care system if they didn’t want to be bought out, not the Neptune or the dependable care replacement, if they didn’t, they may be still around. They should’ve never thought about the Neptune top load washer. Maytag knew what they are doing too.

Also, not all Whirlpool-built Maytags are VMWs/VMAXs, there are also direct drives branded under Maytag, and those machines were just as good as the Whirlpool and Kenmore branded ones, and they used the same wash action. They made them with porcelain and stainless tubs.

The brand faced financial challenges because Maytag has significantly cheapened out their products. If Whirlpool didn’t acquire them, Maytag would probably now be out of business.

And if Maytag stayed independent, brands like Amana would also be affected as those were Maytag brands. They also should’ve made dependable cares for Amana (which Maytag bought out in 2001).

So the reason why Maytag declined is NOT Whirlpool’s fault, in fact, they improved the quality significantly over Maytag’s latest stuff. The pre-2000 Maytag washers, were awesome and I can’t say those were bad.
 
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