Maytag DE606 Dryer - Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kelly]

I have a Maytag DE606 electronic control dryer that was working fine until I moved it to clean under it. When I moved it back it wouldn't turn back on. When I try to turn it on the shut off solenoid shuts it off immediately as I'm pushing the button. The three limit switches test good and it comes on and runs with the shut off solenoid wire removed. The ohm reading on the solenoid is 55. The brush ring and drum sensor wire have good continuity.
The Reed switch in the electronic control box is closed with no power applied. Is the Reed switch supposed to be closed? It seems that it would normally be open to run. It will open when you hold a magnet near it. And maybe I'm missing the problem completely. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[lowefficiency]

Welcome to the forum!

If it worked fine until being moved, I would assume it is a "mechanical" failure of the electrical system, not a failed component.

Try checking all of the electrical connections. Grab every wire and wiggle it slightly at the terminal, to check if it is fully seated and/or loose. Do this for everything - the motor, the thermostats, the control box, etc. See if you find anything out of place.

 

[maytag85]

One of the wires that go to the motor may have worked loose, and I had that happen in the process of converting my Maytag DG606 to a DG306

 

[kelly]

Thanks for the input. I did just go through "all" of the electrical connections, checked them and tightened them up if they were at all loose. The dryer is still shutting off the second I turn it on but it will run fine with the solenoid disconnected.
Would anyone happen to know if the Reed switch is supposed to be open or closed when power is applied?

 

[qsd-dan]

This is a unique problem that I haven't seen pop up on this forum in regards to 06 electronic controlled HOH dryers. I went through my service manuals and came up with some tests that may be helpful (click the "View Full Size" box for a better visual)

Begin with "Dryer Shuts Off Prematurely" and go from there. I included a couple extra pages on electronic control testing for future reference to other members. Keep us informed!

 

[kelly]

Thank you for these photos. I will go through these tests tomorrow and report back! Appreciate it!

 

[qsd-dan]

I didn't find any tests for the reed switch in my service manuals but I dug out an NOS 303049 unit I have on hand. The reed switch sure looks open to me in the rest position.

 

[qsd-dan]

Bah, that's a neon tube not a reed switch. Disregard.

I'm not seeing a reed switch on this newer control unit.

 

[combo52]

MT 606 Electronic Dryer Control

This later control board does not have a reed switch on it, it uses an SCR electronic relay to trigger a shut-off. [ the SCR is the little black thing in front of the neon light ]

For the problem your dryer is having, it night be a shorted capacitor or a bad circuit board.

John L.

 

[kelly]

I ran the tests above with no avail. My gut instinct was this reed switch. I desoldered the reed switch, tube and coil this morning. The reed switched was stuck closed, I held it over a strong magnet with a continuity tester hooked to it until it opened and stayed open even when away from the magnet. I soldered it back and reinstalled it. The dryer is working once again! So technically, yes, a new circuit board would have fixed it. If it doesn't stay working I will buy another reed switch and solder it in (keep it original)!

FYI...here is a picture of the reed switch (the reed switch is a glass tube inside this white coil).

Thanks to everyone who added posts to this thread! I have more restorations so I might be posting again in the future!

 

[goatfarmer]

good deal!

 

[qsd-dan]

Awesome!

A rare problem and solution for the archives carried out with ingenuity.

Thank you for replying.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> The dryer is working once again! So technically, yes, a new circuit board would have fixed it.
>> If it doesn't stay working I will buy another reed switch and solder it in (keep it original)!

Good on you for working through, and finding the root cause!

So many people have abandoned these electronic control dryers, because they didn't have the chops to trace the schematic through that control circuit. Maytag issued quite a few service bulletins back in the day, imploring service folks to stop buying and swapping so many electronic control boxes on machines that didn't actually need them to be replaced, frustrating the owners with repeated service calls and unnecessary costs.

We're at a point now where there still are a few of these circuits left in the parts supply, but not many. Actually troubleshooting them and doing board-level repairs will be the key to keeping these machines running in the future.