Maytag Dishwasher control panel

[cam2s]

As I was packing to go home for the holidays, my Grandma told me to pack my screwdrivers because the control panel on her dishwasher was coming loose. (It is a 3-4 year old Point Voyager Maytag) Once I got it apart I realized that the plastic had cracked on the side and the screw posts that hold the control panel to the door liner were snapping apart. Again this machine is only 3 or 4 years old so a bit disappointing, especially since my 20 some year old Maytag made Maytag is chugging along My first gen Point Voyager KitchenAid also has not had any problems like this either. I think part of the problem is how the latch assembly is set up. This particular machine has the same latch as the models that had the top controls and the big grab handle...in this case there is no unlatching button to push you just grab it and pull, there is a spring in it and you have to overcome to force of the spring to open the door. In the control top models though the metal door panel runs the full length of the door so the grab bar is screwed into that metal panel which itself is attached to the metal door frame so all the force is routed through stronger parts. In Grandma's machine, you have to pull on the plastic control panel so the stress of overcoming the spring is being applied to the plastic panel. My KitchenAid has a latching mechanism, you push the button and it unlatches so all the force is applied to the button and not the entire panel. I know several other people here have these Point Voyager Maytag, has anybody else had this experience or was this just a fluke?

Cameron

 

[mark_wpduet]

My Maytag point voyager

is around 1.5 yrs old. It also does not have a latching mechanism that you unlock, but you have to pull..But you don't have to pull super hard..Geez, I hope this problem doesn't develop in my machine in the future.

 

[askolover]

Planned obsolescence

And I'll bet the control panels are NLA

 

[mark_wpduet]

I dunno, maybe just a fluke?

I don't shut mine all the way between washes - like if I add a dirty dishes but not washing that day because it's not full, I don't close it all the way. I always leave it cracked unless I'm closing it to wash or opening it to unload or let dry. But just now, I tried opening it by grabbing the sides without touching the control panel and I could...

What does NLA mean?

 

[LaVidaBoem]

NLA>>

Hey Mark,

Means No Longer Available,

Eddy

 

[mark_wpduet]

Oh

LOL! Thanks.....I think these control panels are all available but they are expensive. My last Whirlpool point voyager lasted over 9 years with zero problems. 9 years isn't horribly long but it isn't that bad for a modern appliance I guess. But at 3 or 4 years and something so STUPID as a door panel falling off from pulling it open the way it was designed would piss me off.

 

[thomasortega]

It reminds me certain president at my room's door yelling "meeting room.... NOW" and that horrible face...

I swallow dry, slowly close my laptop computer, and walk behind him. (at this point I realize we're all going to need new underwear)

In the hallway, i see all my close coworkers and other executives... For some reason the designers and engineers look desperate, the executives have rolling eyes.

Meeting starts..

Gentlemen, didn't we agree on 8 years? Why the f***ing hell there are several 15 year old LE 750 and LE1000 running out there? and there are consumers calling to thank us! They're not even yellowed or rusted! Who had the F***ing stupid idea to use F***ing NGK bearings? Don't you understand we're not the F***ing Mother Theresa of F***ing Calcuta?

LQ11 8 years.... eight yeaaars, did you understand? do I need to draw? 3000 f***ing cycles! and forget those two F***ing screws on the lid. Use the f***ing Sikaflex! If everything goes f***ing wrong at least the F***ing Sikaflex will dry and the F***ing lid glass will F***ing fall. If you don't F***ing know how to do that go back to the F***ing college!

Adhaury, show them the F***ing graphics... what will be the losses if the F***ing LQ11 lasts 9 years.... 10 years... 12 years?

See, gentleman? We're talking about losses, not about profit! The f***ing executives want my f***ing head on a f***ing tray in a f***ing icon oven if we continue making f***ing programming mistakes. We're not in f***ing 1990 anymore! Wake up f***ing idiots! What you're doing is a f***ing suicide! You're F***ing trying to destroy this F***ing company and be F***ing unemployed!

Now get your f***ing asses out of here and do what you got to do! F***!

As far as I remember, this was the meeting where I've heard the longest sequence of F-word ever. He was totally out of control and the only thing I could have in my mind was... "What the F*** is he doing?" Nowadays, i "F***ing" understand he was "F***ing" right. (and my LQ11 is 13 years old and running F***ing well, but totally yellowed.. Oh, and as soon as MY unit arrived, i put the two F***ing screws that made a F***ing difference. The lid is ok until now.

Thinking of (f***ing) you.

 

[LaVidaBoem]

What a Foul Mouth "Damp Back">>

Hey Ortaygiie...

 

What's up with the Foul Mouth from Hell??

 

When you drop in LA, why don't you come to 'here' for a while...

Me a few Jew Boys, and a Couple of Brothers would like to check your NGK washers...

 

Give you a Free adjustment.

 

Hugs & Kisses

LaVidaBoem

 

[thomasortega]

Thanks for the invitation but No one touches my "washers". That's why they're intact since they were "manufactured" and they will still intact.

Not even my husband can touch them... (Unless he decides to use this as a painful suicide technique)

It's obvious I won't take my washing machines with me (Except the Brastemp Eggo)

Anyway, when it's possible, Darryl and I will be glad to visit you and your friends. Oh, and I don't care if they are Jew or Catholic or Atheist, black, white, or blue with pink speckles. We're all humans, we're all only one.

Tom

By the way, my last name isn't that difficult to spell.... Ortega (Soon Ortega-Banton)

 

[mark_wpduet]

Yep -

I'm sure meetings go like this...But planned obsolescence = bad reliability = bad name. Do they not take this into consideration when engineering things to fail too soon? Pissed off customer upset that their oven/dishwasher/fridge died too soon - pissed off customer spreads the word to not buy anything made by Whirlpool - that would = losses as well.

 

[murando531]

I think this was one of the reasons behind moving to the slimmer 2.5 inch panel. The panels on those earlier Maytags and Whirlpools caused the handle to be too far away from the latch. You were practically pulling from the middle of the door panel. My granddad's Kenmore Elite has the handle above the panel, which makes more sense because it's right at the latch.

Mark, I don't think you'll have to worry about it on yours, because the handle was made more sturdy and it's closer to the top, which is closer to the point of tension of the latch and spring. It's the same idea as a refrigerator handle; if the handle were in the middle of the door, it would take more force to open and the stress would be concentrated on the panel itself rather than the edge of the door frame where the seal is causing resistance.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Thanks Andrew

(relieved). I was all set to start opening it by grabbing the sides LOL

 

[toploader55]

What does the "Point Voyager" mean ?

Is it a style of machine ?

 

[cam2s]

I believe that Point Voyager is simply the internal designation Whirlpool gave to this design of dishwashers. The last series of machines were designated as Power Clean dishwashers, although I do believe they actually badged the first ones they made as Power Clean dishwashers. If you do a google search for Point Voyager dishwasher or Power Clean dishwasher you can find the technical literature that explains how the mechanism works and how to fix most of the major components.

Many car manufactures give their cars internal designations as well in addition to the actual names that they are badged as. For example my 2005 Mercedes C230 is internally designed as a W203, and if you really want to get into the nitty gritty it employs the M271 engine.

 

[yogitunes]

epoxy for plastic....

you could actually mend/strengthen those stress areas with epoxy....

for a similar issue with a door, I was able to add a strip of metal for reinforcement to the 'pulling area' imbedded with the epoxy....works like a charm...

 

[thomasortega]

I can say what I've seen from inside the second largest manufacturer in brazil (and at that time, the biggest in the world)

Everybody does the same. There's no "competition" between brand A and B at this point.

The wheel needs to continue spinning. Consumers will be pissed off, and buy other brand, have the same issues and come back to the first brand, then they'll realize all the brands are the same. While that, people will need to do laundry, do dishes, store food in a cold place, cook.... so they will continue buying.

It's sad and i don't agree with that but a company that produces something really reliable nowadays is commiting suicide.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Why hasn't this always been the case then?

In the 1970s, 80s, even 90s, appliances were very reliable. So then why was planned obsolescence not in full swing then? Surely by the 1980s and 90s, companies considered this, so then why did they not design them to fail then?

 

[yogitunes]

well, you have to figure in during these early years, it was about quality and dependability, getting your money's worth......old school, and run by old timers from the earlier years......

now factor in the next generation, and their way of thinking, and wanting new stuff all the time, like a new car traded in every two years, but there is not exactly a trade in area for appliances, just replacement......add in from companies way of thinking to produce how many more appliances to sell, the more they fail, the more they sell, the more profit they make.....its all about money...

I was told many years ago, an example was Maytag, once the older guys retired and died off, that company will be gone in about 10 years, those repairmen were right!....the das of quality and testing before releasing a machine into the field are long gone.....just produce and put it out there, we'll figure out issues later.....at the customers expense.....

too many factors come in to play for what the future holds, and its only going to get worse.....

I really think on some items, like printers and DVD players, that there is a self destruct built inside....it will last a certain amount of time, and then be gone....off to get a new one, again

 

[mark_wpduet]

Makes total sense to me

But I do not think they plan it to fail that fast, 3 or 4 years. I read average life span of a dishwasher is 11 years. I'm thinking that, like Andrew said, this was something they redesigned because of problems like this in the earlier generation point voyager models. In this case, I think this was something they fixed in later models and wasn't a part of their designed planned obsolescence. My OLD 2005 Point Voyager that I got 9.2 years out of - the motor just started sounding like a horrible grinding sound...And I took great care of that machine over the years.....so that was probably designed to go out..I can live with a dishwasher lasting 9 years..as long as new ones aren't total crap performers.