Maytag Neptune MAH3000AWW flooding

[pulsator]

A friend of a friend contacted me recently offering me their Maytag Neptune purchased new in 1998. The only catch is that they are replacing it because it flooded. I'm not sure if this happened more than once or it just freaked them out so much they decided to replace it but, I'm going to pick it up sometime tonight! I'm wondering what some of the possible issues might be that would cause it to flood? Am I in for replacing an inlet valve or something far more expensive?

 

[cfz2882]

probably just a seepy inlet valve-my '98 neptune 3000 sometimes does that-i find
a little standing water in the tub.

 

[yogitunes]

inlet valve, pump, boot, seals........could be any one of a number of reasons......

it would help more once you get it, run a few cycles with the panels off, just to have an idea of where the water is comming from.....

with just an answer of flooding the floor, it may not even be the machine, the standpipe could have been clogged....

 

[combo52]

Neptune 3000 That Floods

Carefully check the air-dome hose from the pressure switch down to the outer tub, we have seen several of these that chaff on something and wear through and they will flood big time. 2nd most likely thing is a bad inlet valve, and there at least 10 more possibilities, usually flooding is not a fatal or expensive thing to fix, except for the property damage it can cause, LOL.

 

[pulsator]

Well, I've yet to hook it up to water but I've already run into a problem... at least I think it's a problem. I dumped a small bucket of water into the tub to make sure the pump was primed and put it on a spin cycle. The motor made this very strange clunk noise every time it switched direction. At first I though the pulley might be loose or worn but after taking the back off, it's clearly secure. I took a video of it, wondering what it might be?

 

[pulsator]

Well, I hooked it up to water..... It seems that if the timer is on anything but off, the inlet valves are open. The whole cycle. And don't close until I open the door, then they shut off immediately. It also won't start a cycle. I put it on Regular, pressed start until it beeped and let go and the water and motor shut off right away. I put it on rinse or spin and it works just fine (except for the water valve never closing).... What on earth is going on?

 

[pulsator]

Well, thanks to my amazing boyfriend, the water inlet valve issue has been fixed! It turns out these little tiny traces arced and welded themselves together! He took a razor blade and a small wire brush and separated them again and now it works just fine! (Now we just gotta seal and insulate them!) The only issue I have now is the remaining clunking motor... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[arbilab]

The photo shows a basis of what went wrong at Maytag about the time Neptune came out. Pardon my French but power traces that close together is shitty design. They shouldn't even be that LONG much less that narrow.

The idiot who designed that was a college grad. The management who hired him didn't know that college grads require INTENSE supervision before being handed a project for completion because they don't know their ass from a golf course in the real world.

See also 'wax motor' and 'boot'. That machine was designed almost entirely by amateurs. It was the beginning of the end for Maytag. But the errors are now known and the fix is in. It can be a fine machine once the schlock engineering is replaced.

I was going to buy one. The only thing that saved me was it didn't have a window. The ElectroFrigiWhite I bought instead is still working.

 

[cfz2882]

early neptune motor sound

looks like that circuit board got wet and some traces arced over...
My '98 neptune makes the same noise as the one in the video,though possibly not
as loud-hard to tell from the video though.
Noise has not changed at all since i have been using the neptune-i think the
motor is designed to have a few degrees of "free"rotation of the rotor on the
output shaft to allow the "switched reluctance"motor to start rotation easier
-some clock and timer motors are made this way.
Love the early neptune spin runnup motor sound-kind of a "rising UFO"sound.

 

[combo52]

Funny Noise When Motor Reverses

The sound is just a slight slip of the belt as the motor starts, it will not hurt anything and all these early machines do it to some degree. You can try tightening the belt or even replacing it if you like, I always though this sound was kind of neat as since you can't watch the machine at least you know it is reversing, and it may be as BD says more common on the machines with the original style motor.

 

[pulsator]

It's the belt!

Awesome! I'm glad it's just the belt slipping! I was able to make the belt make the same sound by hand so I'm convinced! It seems to slip a little bit on the plastic drum pulley making that distinct sound! I'll look up the belt and get one if it's cheap. That way I'll have one on hand when this one goes! Thanks for the help guys!!! I'll post more pics and vids once I get it working!

P.S. I forgot to add, I looked up the date of manufacture: July 1997! Does this mean it's a very first generation Neptune?

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Yes, it's gen one of the Neptunes. Sometime around 98, they moved to the MAH4000 with a stain cycle and a recirculating pump. The belt is a stretched, waxed belt and does make that noise as it wears. The old belts were Dayco sourced while all the new ones are from Hutchinson. It's a chinch to replace. Make sure you check the door lock wax motor to see if it needs to be upgraded to avoid a possible control board blowout with the r-11 resistor. Have fun! I still use my Neptunes and love them (I can just hear John choking as he read that... LOL!).

RCD

 

[pulsator]

Thanks for the belt info!!! I will look into getting a replacement belt as well as the wax motor!

Another question, what is the difference between the red Regular cycle and the grey cycle?

 

[aladude]

I believe grey is shorter and can be delayed several hours but otherwise is no different.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Exactly!

One side is a little longer on cycle where the other side has a time delay option.

RCD