HE3t teardown...My misery-Your entertainment

[wash&where?]

Sorry

I hate to tell you after all of the labor you have put into this but.....I may have been a very simple fix. On the back of the machine at the top is a round vent cap that attaches to a vent tube. If the vent tube has became loose or if the cap is off, then it will allow the tub to smack the tube at low spin speeds. I purchased Duet at Lowes for 500.00 several years ago and it was missing the cap and it allowed the vent tube to slip and become loose. When it did I noticed just what you were experiencing. It was a super easy fix and has worked fine since. Hopefully you can remember how to reassemble it.

 

[mayken4now]

LAWD, maybe pet hair?????????????????????

 

[jetcone]

David it looks so much more

complex than my Bendix yet it just does the same thing. But I can tell if that seal isn't water & vapor tight the bearing will fail in a year with regular use. So even if it is something else that seal still needs to be addressed. And it should be addressed by Sears.

David, I was told these machines are like razor blades to work in once you get them open? Is that true??

jon

 

[partscounterman]

I have no intention of taking NO for an answer.

Of course I should have known that Sears would do ANYTHING to get out of thier warranty obligation. I agree with Veg that the water on stone method may be the way. However I am NOT going to bitchslap any of the salespeople-I used to work there; they are my friends. In fact was greeted with a hug by the department manager on saturday (she must be desparate for employees!) So will try to use whatever warmth is in that relationship to get the problem solved.

Just a few comments about my working at Sears: I took the job at Sears appliance dept. knowing that I would hate it and not be there long. I did need a job pronto, and most employers here are hesitant about hiring newcomers. The small family dealer I worked at in St. Paul would sell me appliances for 10 percent above cost-Sears gave me a lousy 10% off this machine. Sears did turn out to be a hellish place to work. The people I worked with still gripe to me about how horrid it is. What shocked me was the complete disconnect between sales and service. As salespeople, we did not even have a phone number to the service department right here on Maui! All we could do to help people with problems was to give out that damned 1-800 number.

I wanted to try to deal with this today, but had a coworker come over from Honolulu, so I actually had to WORK ALL DAY (Veg, can you believe it). Those Oahu boys are a little more under the thumb than I am here on Maui. Should be alone tomorrow so I can take care of my business during company time, the way it should be.

Buying a new washer is not really in the family budget right now, besides I just want this one fixed. If Sears will not help me with this I will put it back together, run it til it really blows up, then go out and get the cheapest plastic tub toploader I can find.

Jon- The machine was not at all like razor blades- I have coffee machines that are deadly that way at work. It was not EASY to take apart. The teardown took about an hour and a half, while I could take apart a direct drive machine in less than half that time with one hand tied behind my back.

wash&where- I wish it was the vent cap. The tub definately has this strange play in it, which the new machines don't have. I wish this was the problem.

Lawrence- I do still have that Calypso. Veg and I played with it while he was here and it did seem to work. It is still sitting under the mango tree, covered with a tarp. Perhaps I need to take another look...

Austin-Just what Maytag are you refering to? I hope not an Epic! I wish I could lay hand on a nice pre-1990 Maytag. Heck, I wish I had that Thor-O-Matic I found for Robert in St. Paul last summer-then I would have a machine that WORKS

Just for fun- A picture of Veg and I under the mango tree with the Calypso

 

[Unimatic1140]

Very cool pictures David! Not that I'm surprised, but there sure is a lot of plastic in there.

 

[toggleswitch]

Sears succeeds despite themselves.

oh David Good luck.

I never hated Sears until I too sold appliances for them. UGH!!

You are being WAY too kind in your writings of them. Thank you for posting about your Hettie.

 

[gansky1]

Did you try putting it back together and tightening that nut? There is a weep hole in the bearing seal assy. and some oxidation there is normal and harmless.

 

[partscounterman]

Greg-No I have not tried that yet...I will try that later today.

Steve-Yes, it is funny how they do so well, in spite of themselves. I really cannot believe how they treat people once they have the money.

Here we do not have a great deal of choice in appliance dealers. We have Sears, Home Despot, Lowes and a local dealer called Hamai. I did try Hamai, but they weren't all that nice and I know plenty of local people who will NOT deal with them. You could make business with a dealer on Oahu and have Young Brothers barge your stuff over, but why spend your money on another island? We buy Maui when we can to keep the money on this rock.

 

[tomturbomatic]

David, Greg is right. We have had to tighten that nut on the big pulley when we got knocking noises, but once tightened, it seemed to stay tight.
I wonder if the cat could walk around in the tub like one of those hamster ball things?
Best wishes,
Tom

 

[whirlcool]

And from the way people talked about those Duet's you'd think they were indestructable! Thanks for those photos!

That's nice of you to treat your freinds nicely, for those who are wondering about this bitchslap remember, there are several variants that you can use. Here is a refresher of the applicability of the various versions:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bitch+Slap

 

[alr2903]

Gosh i hate to sound stupid...

Thanks pulsator for replying to my post, might be my vision, that center hub that whirls the drum (and 20 pairs of jeans), is seated in plastic. is there some kind of metal support that secures this bearing in the center of that plastic shell, that connects to another metal part, of the cabinet or somekind of suspension system? Im not an engineer but if that came loose during a 1000 rpm spin, i have visions of it doing some serious damage to your house, and anyone near the machine. Not to diminish or disrespect anyone, I find this entire thing scary. must admit i have never heard of one flying apart.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Plastic tubs...

These are usually polypropylene, reinforced with glass beads to make them resilient.

Even so, make sure that you empty all pockets of coins, screws, keys, etc., as the spinning drum can cause the object to be shot clean through the outer tub, causing a lovely flood!

 

[48bencix]

Pump Guard

Thanks for the great pictures and story!

It appears that the pump guard is accessed by removing the front panel. In the old bendix front loaders, the filter had it's own door. Does this guard collect coins?

Modern manufacturers probably don't want to include an easy to service feature like the old bendix, because, as you can see it's pretty full of crud. Just let it build up and fail and then you can buy an new machine.

Martin

 

[partscounterman]

Update-

So i did get around to taking Greg's advice. I remembered to grab my 15/16" socket from my work truck (that's the one I use to adjust the grind on certain Bunn coffee grinders). Didn't want to get the nut all gnarly from my channel locks. So I went and I tightened. And tightened. Rested a few moments and tightened it some more. The handle on my ratchet was darn near bending. Is that tight enough? Check the tub. Nope, it still wobbles from side to side. Crap!

Went down to Queen Ka'ahumanu Sears, hoping to get some help from the department manager who was oh so happy to see me the other day. Of course, she was off today. None of my friends I worked with were there either. The new haole girl who was there has been thoroughly trained in Sears avoidance techniques. She said that I could NOT return the machine for even a portion of the purchase price (something they used to do when I worked there). She calmly listened to my rant then told me she would call the special hotline they have for pissed off customers. They woman on the "pissed hotline" told me that it was the LAW that they send a tech out to verify my "claim". Gosh, those jerks will tell you ANYTHING. She did assure me that if in fact the parts are defective (like I took my machine apart just for the hell of it-there is so little else to do here on Maui)that I will not be charged for the service call. I'll keep you posted on how that all comes down.

So I go back down to where I work and am raving to my coworkers about how Sears is a bunch of blankety-blanks. Our branch manager told me that all Sears service calls are running eight days out. I asked him what makes him so intimate with the inner working of Sears Service Dept. He tells me that his buddy works there. He said that Maui is suppose to have 10 service tech. They currently have seven. Three of those have already put in their notice-including his buddy. This will leave 4 techs and only one of those is license to work with refrigerant. Can you imagine waiting this long to get a fridge or freezer fixed in the tropics. So if any of you handy-dandy types are looking to relocate to paradise, apply at Sears.

A gal Dennis' works with is also having troubles with her Kenmore HE5t. It keeps giving her a "blocked drain" code but her husband got himself a mouthful of hot soapy trying to check it. She got major run-around too and the Sears folks even hung up on her. Her husband was NOT pleased. Husband just bought a used washer from a coworker to get them by. Tori says she has gone from the bling-bling washer to the ghetto washer. At least the ghetto washer works.

Also noticed that Sears is now showing LG machines. I thought of Pete and shuddered.

 

[mixfinder]

Came Loose at 1000

The stainless tub in my Equator combo came loose during it's 1000 rpm final spin. The outer tub is stainless as well. The entire washer banged side to side between the cabinet and the wall in a space with a foot on each side. I thought an airplane had crashed in the apartment. It was horrific and it was tiny.
Kelly

 

[appnut]

OMG. The Sears website has the two different SteamWasher models (for a total of 4) as well as an entry level washer without a heater.

 

[partscounterman]

Finally-Some Satisfaction!

So Dennis and I are sitting 'round the house this (saturday) afternoon and the phone rings. It's Sears calling to see if they can come out today instead of Tuesday. Well yah sure you betcha I say!

So the tech come over and I show him my now disassembled machine, explain the noises it makes and show him the play in the tub. First thing he says is that my warranty may be void as I took the machine apart myself. He would have been wiser to wave a red blanket in front of a bull! My tone starts to go up a notch, so he says he will call his manager (who is over on Oahu by the way). He goes out to his truck and calls the manager. He comes back in to tell me that the manager is in a good mood today and that they will send me the parts I need-he even agreed that I do need both the bearing and the new tub. He did make me sign off on some liability thing stating that I would be responsible for reassembling the machine, which is no problem for me. He said the part would arrive in about seven days, which sound awfully quick to us Hawai'i residents.

Oh and I did NOT get charged for the call, so I am reasonably happy-just too bad they didn't just give me what I wanted in the first place. They sure do take chances with burning though a customers good will.

Turns out this Tech is the buddy of my branch manager at Hawaiian Isles. So after we got the business out of the way, we sat for a spell to talk stink about how Sears is pooping on both its employees and its customers. This fellow said he has been with Sears for nearly 10 years and the whole thing has been crumbling with Sears chipping away at his benefits and being so inaccessable for customers. Today was his last day with Sears.

David

 

[appnut]

Ugh. sounds like there's no place decent to buy appliances anymore. Now that sears doesn't seem to be willing ot stand behind its customers like it used to, everybody is now the same.

 

[launderess]

Be fair, there were many customers that used Sears as a "Rent-a-Center" for appliances. Buying appliances, keeping them for a month or so then returning under Sears former liberal return policy. Some had problems to be sure, others simply "tired" of the model and wanted something different. There was a gal over on THS who must have bought and returned every washing machine brand Sears carried. Am sure at some point the sales people saw her coming and wanted to bolt the door.

It also wouldn't hurt if customers did some homework before buying major appliances, other than go into a shop waving the latest issue of Consumer Reports.

 

[panthera]

great!

I'm happy you got the parts! Let's hope they last 10 years this time...instead of ten months.