DE180 Maytag Dryer - Instructions

If I had waited until I reviewed the pack-up date that came with the part, the disassembly would have gone much faster. The part arrived in record time, several days before anticipated. Outstanding website, parts and repair experience!

I removed the old element and replaced it. There were only two screw to deal with once I had the front panel off of the dryer. The electrical hookups were easy and the part I got fit exactly like the old part. I had to work at it a bit to get the back end to fit into the exhaust hose, but once that was taken care of this was one of the easiest appliance repairs ever. I agree with the repair man that first told me to fix it, these old machines are worth a few dollars to keep running. They work great!

No manual on this so had to remove about 12 screws to figger out disassembly,after locating the right ones[front]the job was easy.Remove front plate,remove drum bearing,remove blower front cover,remove snap ring,remove broken fan,clean fan shaft,slide new fan onto shaft[there is a flat in the bore of new fan]instal fan retainer on stub of fan,reinstal snap ring,reinstal the rest of the parts,test drive system[all sat]The part was exactly as ordered,thanks,Jim Thompson

No big deal about replacing a lint filter , take the old one out and put the new one in.

I opened the back acess panel and started the dryer. Looking at the motor and idler pulleys it was obvious by the frequency of the squealing noise that it was coming from the idler pulley.
I pulled the retainer clip and tension spring from the idler pulley and removed it. I applied some grease to the shaft and reinstalled the idler pulley.
The squeal was gone confirming that the pulley bushing was dry. I ordered the new idler pulley and when it arrived the next day I cleaned the grease off of the shaft and installed the new idler pulley. Problem solved.

The 2 screws that hold the front cover to the dryer was hard to see because they are facing down.
After the 2 front screws were removed from the dryer, the heater was easily accessed. All I had to do was to remove the old heater assembly and transfer the limit sensor and wire on the assembly. The hardest part to the repair was fitting the rear end of the heater assembly to the back duct. I just bent the edges to conform to the rear duct where they mate together. Once I got the heater to line up, the rest was easy. Remember to use a shop vac to clean up the inside of the dryer since you have it all opened up. You'll be amazed at what you will find!
My dryer was up and running in no time and my wife was happy and so was I that we didn't have to buy a new dryer!!!

Using a "Fix it Yourself book" and following a simple test method (measuring ohms) to determine if heating element or if it could be a heat sensor or something else was bad. Going slow the heating element was ID'd to be the problem in about one hour. Searched on line and found your site, ordered the part and in 1 day had the part. It took about an hour to install. Wife is very happy. Overall an easy task. Thanks much.

Insure the double pole breaker in the breaker box is functioning properly.

The repair video is terrific and many others here have thoroughly described the steps involved to replace the drive motor.

The biggest hurdle for me was that the motor came with a new switch that required a different wiring configuration. No wiring diagram was included. Several others had posted questions about wiring in the Q&A and unfortunately PartSelect kept copy/pasting the same confusing and incomplete answer over and over:

"The Yellow goes to T6, Red to T5 Black to T2, blue to T1 and the white you will remove the blue jumper lead between the switch terminal 4 and 1/4" protector tab, connect the grey harness lead to the 1/4" protector tab."

Reading that doesn't tell me what to do with the white wire, doesn't address that my blue and white wires were crimped into the same connector from the factory, doesn't address that I had 2 black wires crimped into the same connector from the factory, and doesn't address a factory ground wire that connected the frame of the OEM motor to the bracket that the motor sits in.

With all the other excellent info supplied by PartSelect, this was surprising and frustrating. The sales dept ignored an emailed question from me, and the Q&A section didn't allow me to post a question.

Searching the internet, I found a wiring diagram on aceappliancesd dot com that addressed my dryer's OEM wiring configuration. Here's what I ended up with:

TI - Blue and white, crimped together into a single connector
T2 - Black & black, crimped together into a single connector (the wiring diagram I found said this should be black & brown, but they both look black to me)
T5 - Red
T6 - Yellow
1/4" Thermal protector tab - Grey (from the harness)

The new motor switch had a grounding tab with nothing connected to it. I removed the screw holding that tab into the switch and connected the (also grey) OEM short ground wire from the motor frame to the mounting bracket.

I had to cut 2 of the pieces of tape holding the OEM wiring harness together in order to get enough slack for all the connections to reach. If you do this too, make sure all the wires are still clear of the moving parts and the hot bits. You may need to retape the wires together at a different location to keep things tidy.

I also laid the belt over the drum and put 2 pieces of tape over it to hold it in place while I got the drum positioned, then I reached through the back access panel to loop the belt around the motor pulley and idler. Once that's done, just reach over the top of the drum and peel the tape off. I found that much easier than trying to loop the belt by reaching through and past the drum.

Disassembled per instructions. Additional time used to clean inside unit.. Its much easier to install belt on motor pulley and tension pulley ( Roller) from rear access panel. Also ensures proper belt alignment on all items.

Installation of drum support kit was difficult because my snap ring pliers would not fit in the snap ring holes. Had to use pliers and screw driver to get them off and to put them back on. That took much patience and time. Installation of front guides was a bit difficult because the rivets were loose and turned when trying to drill them out. Also they were bigger and I needed a larger drill bit than the 1/8 told about in the video. Used drill, screw driver and pliers to get the rivets out. Also took more time and patience to do this. Belt did not need replacement but felt it a good idea to do it as long as I was in there. Belt installation was easy because my dryer has a rear view opening and I could use it to thread the belt. Tried it from the front as shown in the video just to see if I could and found it impossible. Could not even get my hands to hold the belt. Also vacuumed out 20 years of lint and dust that was inside the dryer. The videos were excellent in showing what to do and how to do it. Not sure how well I would have done without them.

Door switch was very easy to replace as it simply snaps in for the outside and you just clip on the two control wires that already have clips on them.

I began by unplugging the dryer cord to cut any power to the appliance. I removed the front two screws that hold the front cover on and removed the front cover. I began by cleaning the lint and dust out of the dryer. After getting a look at it, I Googled Maytag to get an idea of possibilities of the problem. I took out the 4 screws that held the heating element into the dryer, and unhooked two wirers,( making sure there was no electrical source). I pulled the heating element out and immediately saw that the element wire was broken. I called Partselect and the person on the other end of the line was extremely knowledeable and willing to help. I was given the option of ordering the heating wire and stringinging it in the original housing or I could order the comlpete heating unit for a little more which woold save me from the extra work of installing it and also insure that the insulators that the wires went through were all new and I would not have to inspect each one and possibly have the same problem later if I missed a bad one and the heating element would short out and I would be back where I was now. I felt good that in hard economic times I could get my appliance up and running without calling the repairman @ 100dollars an hour. There was a fantastic sense of accomplishment that I fixed it myself! I could brag about that. Before I would throw the appliance away and get another used one. I had already shopped the local papers and craigs list but did not need to leave the house for it and arrange hauling because the parts were sent to my house and I was able to repair it myself. It was really a rewarding experiance and turned out fantastic! Parselect was a pleasure to deal with.

All you need for a Maytag is a snub nose Philips screw driver. The screws on the front panel are at the bottom angled down, so a regular length Phillip's won't work. Just unscrew the 2 screws, then lift the panel up and out. Careful not to pull out too far, there are 2 wires attached to the switch. The replacement switch is NOT an exact copy of the old one. My Maytag is over 30 years old and it only had 2 prongs on the switch. The new one has 3. Don't let that throw you. It is the same size. Just attach, 1 wire to the bronze connector & the other to the silver. Push the switch into the door opening, re-attach the door. Total time 20 minutes. Saved well over $100 in a service call. Anyone with an IQ above freezing can do it.

Took the front off , removed front drum support, drilled out existing rivets, & replaced slides,riveted them in place,and re-assembled.