MGT3800TW1 Maytag Washer Dryer Combo - Instructions

First, let me start off by saying - this part wouldn't normally break. Because it's a stackable, and my dryer motor went out, the repair company had to move the entire unit from the cubicle. When the repairman tried moving it by using the washer lid ... lets just say he broke the clip. And then we could never get them to come fix the part they broke!

So, I finally ordered the part myself after studying schematics online. I am not a repair person. So, if I could figure this out - anyone can.

Take the middle cover between the washer and dryer off. There are 3 screws holding that panel on. Set the panel and screws aside. There are two "S" shaped clamps at the back. Lift (hard) the front of each one. They will snap free - freeing the whole top of the washing machine. The top has the lid connected. Pull the top towards the front and then rotate it counter-clockwise. It will come right off. This will free up the area the clips go on.

Take the lid completely off to get it out of the way. The clips fit in the holes on the front left and front right. The large square side goes up, and the small side snaps into the hole on the base. Make sure the groove is facing forward for the top cover to slide into. To get the clip to snap into the hole, put the front side down, and push (really hard) on the back side - the side towards the back of the washer. It should snap into place with some pressure.

Now, just put the top cover (with the lid attached) back on, rotate it clockwise, re-clamp it down and replace the middle panel and 3 screws.

Easy, right?

3 online people recommended tilting the machine on the side and replacing the 3 suspension springs. Someone else recommended changing the tub pads. That is the wrong approach. It is actually easier to remove the case than turn the machine on the side. Once you do it once or twice it takes less than 2 minutes and it doesn't distort the suspension. You don't even have to disconnect the hoses. When I originally examined the machine lying on it's side I saw that the tub balance spring was still attached to the tub but the other end had detached. I looked for the place to reattach it. I found a place on the glide plate. Unfortunately this was the wrong place and the machine continued to bang away. When I realized that the spring had to be attached to the lower frame rather than the glide plate (one week of looking). I even wrote to the Repair guru. Once I found my mistake the repair took 5 minutes and no tools other than the phillips screwdriver to take out the 2 screws for the case. I replaced the tub balancing spring for good measure. The machine works great.

removed the catch and the pin and replaced it. We were sent a couple different sizes so we tested the one that looked like the closest match. I think the pin was made with different thicknesses of metal. Worked great and saved us from having to get a new dryer!

Checked four thermocouples all showed continuity with my multimeter so they were all good. I'd read that the coils commonly went out and that these were the symptoms. Hey, it's very simple in there. Not much else could be wrong. I had a Maytag repairman come out. At first he said the problem was a blocked vent. I knew he was wrong. Then he said one of the thermocouples went out. It was $80 for him to come out. It turned out that his second diagnosis was wrong too. To repair the dryer by Maytag would have cost me $240. I gave him $80 and bought the coils for $37. They are EXTREMELY easy to replace: two screws held a bracket that held two coils. With the bracket off, I took off the old coils and slid on the new ones.

Basically I followed the great instructions provided on the Part Select webpages. I would consider myself to have more common sense than mechanical skill. I didn't want to have to keep going back to purchase more parts so I decided to buy the motor coupler (under $5), new clutch assembly (Under $30), new motor (under $160). The shaft on the original motor wore down to a cylindrical shape which should have been more of a rectangular shape to fit precisely into the motor coupler and provide the grip strength for the washer tub to spin. Usually the no spin problem is linked to a faulty motor coupler. I was glad that I had to removed the motor to reach the motor coupler because in my case the coupler had not failed. That is when I saw the motor shaft had worn. Since I had all the new parts I replaced them all and since 6/13/19 the washer is running like new. Oh, the problem was most likely caused by someone in my family "overloading" the wash machine one too many times over 11 years. Guy's / Gal's you can do this and save yourself from buying a new washer for between $850 - $1,200. My repair expense was under $240 including tax and next day delivery of my parts. Thanks Part Select !!!! Neil

Getting to any of the parts in the Maytag dryer is easy. Tip the dryer back and slide a 4 x 4 block under the front edge. You remove the whole front panel after you remove two screws at the bottom corners of the front panel. You need to tip the dryer back to get a screwdriver on the screws. Swing the front panel up to release the top of the door panel from the top. Watch the short wires to the door switch. Unhook the door switch wires and move the front panel out of the way. The timer on the top is accessed by re-moving two screws along the top edge. There are four screws. Remove them all and tip the top of the front panel forward. You then see that two screws hold the panel and the other two screws just hold the trim.

The dryer started normal. The drum motor run when the start button was operated. The fluff cycle operated normal to indicate the timer motor was OK. On the dry cycles, the igniter heated up. The gas came on. The dryer run for some period of time and then the flame went off. The thought was that the low temp cycle thermostat sensed the dryer was hot and thus switched over to time the cycle to its end. However, the low temp cycle thermostat tested good with a meter when the sensor was removed from the dryer and heated with a light bulb. Burnt contacts in the sensor were a possible problem. I also though the radiant sensor may be bad and not recycling after it got hot. After time, the igniter would cycle on but the gas flame would not come on. I thought the radiant heater might not be tripping the secondary coil on the gas valve. The gas valve coils tested good. I was checking them cold after the dryer had cooled down. I ordered a number of parts.

I got lucky and did a test on the coils while the dryer was still hot. One of the coils in the dual booster holding coil was going open when hot. When cold it had enough continuity to let the gas valve cycle on once. After the coil got warm it went open and shut the gas valve off. When the coil did cool off, it again had continuity. I was about ready to trash the dryer when I finely found the problem. I am happy I persisted and worked the problem through to a solution. I purchased several extra sensors but saved money in the long-run. I rate this problem at the high end of complexity for the do-it your self home owner to solve. The problem was an easy fix once the real problem was found. Only 4 screws and 3 push on wire connectors (two were on the front panel for the door switch).

!. Removed agitator from inside
2.Removed outside cabinet
3 Removed pump, motor, and transmission.
4. Slid the entire drive unit out of the tub from the bottom
5. Removed the clutch assy. and installed new.
6. Reverseed the procedure to re-assemble.

The repair was fairly simple and while it made the spin operation quieter and and a bit more stable, it still gets out of balance. Disconnected power, shutoff supply lines and disconnected them from the unit.

Laid washer on its front and replaced the two more visible springs fairly easily from underneath using a little leverage with a 2 x 4 to take any residual tension off the springs.

Then I turned the washer over on its back (gently and with a little support (board or old thick towel) so the weight of the unit didn't rest entirely on the water intake connectors

Again, lifted the tub with 2 x 4 and disconnected the power and control connector to the motor to make a little more room to get to the spring.

If you do this, be sure to re-connect that connector before you put the washer back and test, otherwise it will fill and then sit.... I had to siphon the tank out, disconnect everything, flip it over and re-connect that power connector!! After that the unit ran better than before, especially on the spin cycle. Over all this washer is 15 years old and worn a bit so we are still careful not to overload it and balance the loading as much as possible. Large bedspreads and king size sheets or mattress covers will always spin out of balance but for 90% of regular washing it was an improvement.

Removed four screws that hold the top control panel to the base and hung over the back panel in order to remove the main wrap-around body of the machine. Took off top plastic ring fastened to side of tub then removed old Balance ring. Installed new balance ring. Unfortunately, this did NOT fix the problem. This was a suggestion from Justanswer.com and failed miserably. Does anybody know how to fix this problem? And it's not the springs or the little plastic shims around the base OR the cross coupling to the motor...

Nothing to it. Just remember to put the insert in the knob, NOT on the selector stem. Line up the flat part of the insert with the flat part of the stem and push the knob in place.

Don NOT ram it on the selector stem. When it's seated, don't push any more. That's all there is to it. It works. If the pointer on the knob indicates the selector is lined up correctly, but it isn't, the problem is the selector, not the knob.

First, I unplugged the dyer and then I removed all of the screws for the panel that covers the rear of the dryer. This exposed the cycling thermostat's location. I then removed the wires, one at a time so I would be able to put them back on in the same place. Then I removed the one screw using a nut driver and then put the new cycling thermostat in place. It was pretty easy.

We ordered both the motor coupling and the clutch assembly based on our troubleshooting, and because we figured both parts were inexpensive enough we might as well have them both. We initially thought it was the clutch assembly, but as we were taking the washing machine apart, we noticed that actually one of the bolts was missing completely and one had snapped in two. We then realized that the spin cycle problem was actually related to the instability of the motor because of the missing/broken bolts (they didn't even have washers!). All we had to do was replace the bolts and use a bolt extractor to get the broken bolt out, but we went ahead and replaced the clutch assembly as well for good measure. Everything ran perfectly after that! I was very skeptical to do the repair myself, but it really is easy, as long as you have someone with muscle to help out. You can also look up videos online that show you a step by step repair process for the clutch assembly, and I would highly recommend doing that so that you have a visual. It will make everything seem 100x easier.

Followed the excellent video instructions. They say you can perform the repair without removing the enclosure, but when I saw how easy it was to remove it, it definitely improves the access and speeds the repair. Have a piece of wire handy to to hold the pump assembly out of the way. Installed new clutch kit and it runs like a champ.

Old door catch came out, new one slipped in. All works great.

Followed the video instructions. Had no problems. The video was accurate.