MCE8000AYW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

First unplugged dryer from outlet. Lightly pryed up on top of dryer to disengage retaining clips. Removed 2 screws holding sides and front panels together. Diconnected electrical connector from door switch. Remove clip retaining electrical harness of door switch from front panel. Removed front panel and placed to the side. Removed screws using a nut driver to retain the blower cover from blower wheel housing. Note there are 2 of the screws used to secure the blower cover to the base of the dryer, a phillip screw driver can be used for this. Also there is some sort of brace on the LH side of the blower cover that needs to be removed as well. Can be removed with either a phillips screw driver of nut driver. Remove retaining clip from motor shaft. Remove retainer clamp that had broke off from dryer duct work. Was able to us needle nose pliers for both. Removed old blower wheel and broken pieces. Vaccumed out lint build up with Shop Vac. Installed new blower wheel to shaft of motor. Had to lightly tap with rubber hammer to slide on to "D" shaped shaft of motor. Manually turned blower wheel to check out. Re-installed cover, front panel and lid in reverse order. Plugged in power cord. Told wife the dryer was fixed and became a hero, (might be because I started the next load of clothes).

My wife noticed a loud racket coming from the dryer. I took a look at it by opening the door and spinning the drum by hand and sure enough, the grinding, clunking noise continued. After a day of drying clothes, the noise got worse and then my wife said the clothes weren't getting dry at all. She could see the heating element glowing but the clothes would not dry. Sure enough, this was the case. While the dryer was turning, the outlet hose was still cold but the heater element was on. I went to the PartSelect site, entered the model number and looked at the common problems associated with noise. It said that the blower wheel was the second most likely issue. It also showed how to open the dryer and look for problem areas. First, unplug the dryer! Then, I took a putty knife (screwdriver would work - flathead) and pryed open the lid at each corner and opened the top. I then tilted the lid back against the wall to support the lid. There are two screws that hold the front panel of the dryer to the sides. They are on the inside of the cabinet up high near the top. I took these screws out and the front comes off by pulling the front panel away then up. There are three wires attached to a sensor on the front panel. I took a picture of these for reference and disconnected these wires to totally remove the panel. With the front panel off, I could see large clumps of lint trapped at the base of the filter screen. Now is a good time to vacuum this clean. Inside the cabinet at the bottom right, you can see the blower wheel. It was totally broken off the shaft that turned it. You can still spin the drum and see the shaft turn but the broken blower wheel would "clunk" around causing the noise. There are a small handfull of screws that hold the faceplate of the blower assembly on. Take these off and you will have full access to the blower wheel. DOn't worry about the wires on the sensor attached to the faceplate. If you want to take these off their clips, take a sharpie and write the color of wire each clip takes on the front of the faceplate for reference. The blower wheel is held on to the shaft by a circlip that is easily pushed off with a screwdriver or pliers and also a spring clip that is taken off with pliers by gripping the tabs with the pliers and squeezing the clip open. Save these two parts because the replacement wheel does not come with these pieces. I ordered the blower wheel, it was here in two days and replaced the wheel. Note: The wheel will take some effort to fully seat it on the shaft. You can take a hair dryer and warm the center of the wheel where the shaft will go thru to make the install easier. Do not use a hammer to beat the wheel onto the shaft or you will be ordering another wheel. I put my left hand behind the blower as support and pushed the wheel onto the shaft with my right hand and using a towel to cover the wheel center as padding. Reinstall the spring clip over the wheel shaft support and then pry the circlip back on the end of the shaft with pliers, reinstall the blower faceplate, reconnect any wires, reinstall the dryer front panel by first leaning the panel out and dropping the front panel onto the cabinet tabs at the bottom and then closing the front panel and screw it back down with the two screws. Reattach the three wires, close the lid, plug it in and your back in business. It took me longer to write this than it did to repair it. Good luck!

Before ordering the part, I found this website by linking from a video on YouTube where several people showed how they did it. Simply two screws in the lint removel chute and pushed in the two clips holding the top and two inside screws holding the front panel. Held the machine tilted back onto a table and placed two 4" wooden cubes underneath it so it wouldn't come forward and one more 4" cube under the drum. After cleaning out the inside, I slipped the new belt around the drum (ribbed side down) and taped it in place with a couple of pieces of painter's tape temporarily. Hooked the idler wheel guide and looped the belt in it. Tested movement by spinning it by hand to check alignment and removed tape. Reassembled the front, side and top panels accordingly and tested it. Voila! This was my first attempt and I saved myself some bucks. The last repair was done by Se•rs and their service person took my credit card number for the invoice and promptly went out and charged over $3,000 on it. He was eventually caught. Great incentive to do yourself, huh?

It was easy to remove the lint trap first, then the front dryer panel. The drum easily was removed and installing the new belt was a little tricky because the belt had to be mounted onto pulley while holding the drum in place. I had a little help from a friend to help me stabilize the drum as I placed the new belt. Once on, it was easy to re-install parts in reverse and have dryer working again.

Ordered belt, received it two days later. It was a perfect fit.
The top of my dryer pops up from the front where 2 screws will allow the front to drop to the ground. Lift the drum slightly to get the belt on. Had to wrestle with the idler arm for about five minutes, but I won.

First, I unplugged the dryer. I pulled up the lint filter, then unscrewed the two screws there. Then pulled up the top panel. I had a helper hold it up since it couldn't lean against the wall. Then I had to take the front panel off the dryer. The idiots at Kenmore used screws, not pins, so I needed to use a socket wrench to get those two out of the top corners. Then I lifted it up and off. I removed the broken belt. I put in the new one. I replaced the pulley, which had fallen without the tension of the belt holding it in place. It was pretty easy to figure out how it went, but I consulted the online community for a diagram. I threaded the belt in place, replaced the panels, and viola! It worked. Easy.

The dryer was not difficult to repair. The diagram that came with the belt made the repair easy. The repair part came in a very timely manner.

Pull dryer out from wall about 6 to 8 inches step 1 - romove front/bottom access panel. Step 2 - remove lint trap and remove 2 screws (philips type) that is under lint trap door. Step 3 - push in 2 wood shime in front edge between lid and front panel (angled shims like door shims - a putty knife will work to, just be carful not to scratch finish) step 4 - fold lid upward and back (like on a hinge) step 5 - looking from where the bottom/front acces panel was losten 2 screws - one left one right about 3 turns - 9you can remove them it just makes it easier to reinstall the front panel. Step 6 - find appropriate pot or stacked 2 x 4 pieces - something to hold up the drum when you remove th front cover, and from underneeth support the drum. Step 7 - look thru bottm front access hole - there are 2 springs that come down from the door - and clip onto the frame of the fryer - unclip them and place on the side. Step 8 - remove 2 upper screws that hold front panel on, and remove front panel, if you left the bottom screws attached but loosened you have to lift up on the front panel a bit. Step 9 - looking from the bottom thru where access panel was - you will see motor on right with a additional roller (tensioner) - push upwards on tensioner to relieve pressure on motor and pop off belt (remember where tensioner is and how it clips in to base. Step 10 - work belt off of drum towars front - to remove it all the way you will have to lift up the drum slightly off of the pot or whatever you used for support so the belt can clear. Stem 11 - new belt goes on the same way you took to old one off - plat side away from drum with ribs against drum. Step 12 - again lift up on drum and work belt back on. Step 13 - tricky part is how to get the belt back on the motor - prentend you are threading a needle wht a folded over piece of thread - hold the belt with about a 4" loop with your left hand - hold up on tensioner and feed it back thru and work belt back over end of motor pulley, after front panel is back on with the 4 screws tightened spin the drum and make sure belt is between the 2 lines marked on the drum and remove the pot or whatever u used to prop up the drum. Dont forget to attach the springs for the door assemble all other components in reverse order. And dont forget to take the pot back out

Opening the dryer to discover the problem was easy. We put the belt up on a workmate bench - I think this made access better at the bottom. Getting the new belt on past the rear drum seal was ok, the instructions could benefit by including wording describing how to roll the belt flat under the 2 rear drum support pulleys to bring it to the drive motor shaft pulley. The instructions included with the belt had a diagram showing the position of the belt take up idler (the idler was found loose inside the bottom of the dryer), our dryer had a hole in the metal spring clip of the idler arm, so we thought at first that a screw to the chassis had broken - this is not the case the idler pulley is held in place by belt tension, so pulling the spring clip open while feeding the belt would have been useful in the instructions too. Other than those 2 head scratchers the repair was easy and saved us the cost of calling a repairman. Thanks PartSelect.

My 12 year old son and I took off the front of the dryer to see if we could see what was wrong. The belt was snapped and on the floor of the dryer. I ordered the belt from you--it came three days later. That evening, my son held the drum while I laced the belt through the pulley. We cleaned everything up--lots of lint! Put everything back together, plugged it in, turned it on--SUCCESS! We were wildly excited. I am a stay-at-home mom determined to save money any way I can.

well, the hardest part is getting this thing apart - you have to take out the lint trap and remove the two screws from the top. Then I was trying to lift the top off - it's held in place by clips so you have to gently but firmly lift it off from the front end and let it open while still semi attached at the back (like a chest). Detach the electrical wires - they are just clipped in place. Then remove the screws (one on each side) that attach the front panel, and (and this is the hardest part if you don't know how it's attached). You have to SLIGHTLY LIFT the front straight up and then pull it away towards you. I just pulled it off, breaking the little attachers, which I subsequently had to weld back on with a welding compound and leave it overnight to set. the next day was pretty easy though...

The spinning drum is pretty easy to get out and you set it aside. Then I saw the belt pulley sitting there on the bottom of the dryer out of place -- fortunately with the belt there came instructions on how to instal it - READ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS - after that it's cake - put the belt around the center of the drum and feed it through the other parts underneath (this is easier if you tilt the dryer back a bit to get at it better. And you must pull back on that pulley after you have put it in place again - clips into the bottom of the dryer - it's supposed to have a lot of tension on it. Put it all back together and voila!

good luck!

Unplugged Power Cord, Removed Duct.
Pupped Top Lid Loose to Reveal Door Panel Screws. Removed Door Panel to Discover Blower Wheel had Disintergrated @ the Shaft..
Located Part from On-Line (as have in past) and
Placed Order, On-Line ( Of Course ).
Received Part, via: Fed-Ex in Two Days..
Whoo Hoo. Whole Family Welcomed the Repair.
ThanX . Satisfied Consumer :)

Unplugged the 220 line, removed lint cover, (2 screws). Lifted top with a screw driver, (2 plastic fasteners) then unplugged a ground line at the front lip to separate the front panel. There was a 50/50 chance here that I would not put the wires back correctly, didn't not make note of the color differences. There was no lower panel, just a single panel on the front, which I first tried to remove like the top, but quickly saw no results, then lifted the panel easily, which I set aside. I rested the drum on a 4x4 piece of wood. I then slipped the new belt over the drum, aligned the bulkhead at the rear, and positioned the belt in the original position, there was a distinct mark showing this. Next I saw the idler pulley lying on it's side, hmm, thought this might take some time, but the illustrated instructions were very accurate, reset the pulley, pushed it toward the motor and doubled the belt around the pulley, it sort of felt right, according to the grooves on the floor panel. I then rotated the drum counter clockwise, then tested. It worked! Became a hero to my wife and found $1.86 in change, woo hoo! Total cost, including shipping under $20., two day delivery, amazing. Thanks.

Pretty much just followed the video - I'd never opened a dryer before, so I'd watch a step, pause and do it, then run the video a few more minutes, and repeat. These dryers are really extremely simple devices: just a heater, then a motor to spin the drum and run the fan (I think the same motor does both). So you loosen a couple of screws, pry the metal case open, and slip on the new belt. Done! I didn't keep track of time, but I'm psyched to have saved myself a $200 repair call! Standard delivery arrived in less than two days, just like they said it would.

Followed the instructions and the repair went like clockwork, took less than an hour. I spent more time brushing and vacuuming old lint from the innards of the machine than I did doing the actual repair. Finished up $0.78 richer, too, from the change I found inside the machine.