LEL8858DQ0 Whirlpool Dryer - Instructions

I noticed my dryer was heating, but not tumbling. I"m a 53 year old single female, and my dryer I bought used 3 years ago. I had no clue what the problem was. I texted my brother and said, "it heats but doesn't tumble - is it shot?" He texted back "probably the drive belt - pop the top and see." So I popped the top, and sure enough, the belt was broken. So I googled "diy + dryer + drive belt" and watched a You Tube video. I then drove all over town looking for a belt, and the only place that carried it had closed at noon (saturday). So I googled " appliance parts + dryer and came to this site, ordered the part and it was delivered in two days.
I borrowed a nut driver from my brother, removed the front of the dryer, used a plastic cup to prop up the drum. I put the belt on the drum, being sure to place the ribbed side down, looped through the pulley and onto the motor, removed the cup, put the front back on, dropped the top, replaced the lint trap and the two screws holding that in place, turned the dryer on and voila! All done.

Raised the top of the dryer then took the front of the dryer off. Took the drum off. Replaced the pulley and support rollers. Then, put the new belt on and put it back together.

Like others have descibed, place Dryer on back and remove two hex head screws on back two phillips screws under lint cover, front is "clamped" with two plastic clips that I popped with a standard screwdriver. The door has two screws on the door switch, I removed these although I'm not sure I needed to. Lift the front out of the way. Look at the belt before you remove it, the tensioner pully isn't screwed in place and drops once the belt is removed. It isn't hard to figure out how it goes back together, but you might as well save the swearing. Remove the belt and the drum lifts out. Remove the old seal and glue the new one in place. Another repair suggested clothes pins to hold the seal while it dried, but I opted for some spring clamps with a little more grip. While the seal dries vaccuum the inside of the dryer and vent pipe clean everthing up good by the time you're done the glue is dry. Put the drum back in using a putty knife to slip the seal in place. re assemble in reverse order of disassembly. If I were doing this repair again I would have bought the front seal too. It doesn't appear to get as much wear as the back, but while you have it open why not? Repair easier than expected, but took more time with the cleaning and glue dry time.

I removed the two srcews that hold the timer assembly in place. Then I removed each wire, one by one, from the old timer and reconnecting them one by one to the same terminal location on the replacement timer. When all were reconnected then I refastened the new rewired timer to the control frame with the two screws. The only difficulty was with getting the wires off the old terminals. They do not all pull off without minipulating the notch in the wire connector ... just take a little time and pull off carefully with a pair of pliers.

Opened access door, noticed main power wire to heating element was partially melted. This was caused by a bad connection to the drying element, loose. Removed heating element assembly. Cut bad section of wire and added new connection. While doing this the thermostats plastic casing cap came off ! Probably due to exessive heat / resistance from the bad connection. This confirmed why there was no heat. Intalled new thermostat and and am now good to go !

The dryer stopped heating, it would only blow cold air. I removed the back panel and tested the thermal fuse with a dmm. The fuse was open, so it was bad and I needed a new one. I tested the thermostat and the dmm measured continuity across the terminals, so I thought it was good, bad assumption. I ordered a thermal fuse from partsselect and it came with a thermostat. Like a dummy, I only installed the fuse. The 1st time I ran the dryer the fuse blew again, because the thermostat was bad. So, moral of the story, install both parts.

As the instructions say: first remove the drum. In the case of my dryer the drum is supported by two rollers on the back panel and the opening in the front panel. Remove the front panel and the drum almost falls out.

Replacing the seal was easy . Just tear out the old seal, lightly sand the rear lip, stretch the new seal over it, being sure the stitching is oriented properly, and then squeeze adhesive from the supplied tube between the seal and the drum lip.

In putting the dryer back together I couldn't figure out how to thread the belt. I suggest that people attempting this repair take digital pictures of the inside of the appliance before disassembling it.

A very good experience and I prolonged the life of the dryer a good ten more years.

There are two screws that hold the switch in place. And two wires connected to the switch. The most difficult part of replacement is to place the new switch and hold it in place to reinstall the mounting screws. The space to work in is limited unless you remove the front panel from the dryer, which I opted not to do.

Took, back cover out,but first i disconect the electricity,i give a fast look,looking for anything wrong and i saw a thermostar burn out in the element case,the bottom one,a thermostart
250 f. but a did a search in the internet,and found that when a bottom thermostart burn out, the top one had to be change,so i did a continuity text in the top one and was open ,i have it,a used one, change and connect the dryer to the Electrical outlet and (walac)it start the dryer,problem solve

removed back of dryer. Pull electical connections, removed heating element. Inserted replacement element, attached electrical connections and attached dryer back. Done -easily done.

Dryer ran with no heat. Replaced the Thermal Fuse and when that didn't fix the problem discovered the element was burned. Easy fix except the F-disconnect fitting broke when I tried to remove it and male fitting on the heating element is 0.375 and all I could find were 0.250 F-disconnect fittings. I finally found a supplier who had a 0.375 fitting and the repair took 10 minutes after that. The online videos at PartSelect are excellent.

Installed thermal cut-off kit. Dryer works fine now. Kit very easy to install.

I followed the YouTube video. Took the back panel off, took the lint thing off and proceeded as indicated in the video excerpt I didn't take the top off.

I am a teacher and teaching is my game. I have always, with my four children, taught them to do mechanical work themselves. I and most of my children have a PhD, but in having said that, I confess, we come from a very mechanically talented family. It shows and proves to be of great benefit.
OK, so much for the intro.

I gave my daughter the tools and said, "What do you think is wrong with the dryer and where would you start?" She tested it and said, "The motor is running, but the tub is not turning thus I conclude it is the belt because I can hear the motor running eliminating that as a cause.

She then opened the top, looked around and removed two screws from the lint catcher. She looked it over, looked a me, I shrugged my shoulders and she then took a rubber hammer and popped the top off. Don't ask me how she knew that, but I think she saw the rubber pins through the crack between the case and top. She raised the top after removing two screws in back to relieve the simple hinge and also disconnected the wiring clip and sure enough, the broken belt was inside the cabinet. We called you, the best, fastest and most accurate service on the Internet and ordered a replacement. I would like to add, the price is always more than fair and delivery very prompt.

When the part came, my daughter took it up to our laundry room and within twenty minutes, she tested it and everything was fine. She did smell a little burning smell which might be attributed to a new belt or the fact that there was no clothing in the dryer.
Thank you so very much.
Dr Robert E McGinnis

unpluged the dryer, took off the back, followed instructions and was able to take of the problem on my own.