MAT15MNAWW1 Maytag Washer - Instructions

I replaced 3 suspension springs, 3 tub wear pads and 1 leveling spring (for less than $35 delivered). The springs are all very accessible once you remove the cabinet. The wear pads are also easy to get to - just tilt the tube up a little on each of the 3 corners and pull the old pads out. Before the repair, the washer shook, banged and walked so much that I thought it surely was time to get a new one. After the repair, the washer worked like new (even though it's 11 years old). I watched a short youtube video about removing the cabinet, which is very easy once you see what to do. I searched on something like "whirlpool washer repair youtube" and got multiple good videos. This repair was well worth the effort.

I went to you tube and watched a video on how to take my machine apart.Everthing went great.I did need to buy a spanner for $23.00 @ an appliance store.

After watching some on-line vids, I determined it was the center post, or tub, gasket at the bottom. A cheap part, and easy to snap-out the old and snap-in the new - But - I had to dissassemble the washer into individual washer component molecules. Luckily, I'd done this recently to replace the clutch drive, then the motor, then this. Not too bad, really. Washer body off (2 screws and two snap-links); agitator out (7/16" socket on extension); bang off tub nut (heavy hammer and punch); bang off drive block (hammer again); and pull tub up an out. Tub drain disconnected (pliers); pull off level sensing tube; three spring mounts (nutdriver); then just yank tub up. Poke out Centerpost gasket; snap in a new one; reassemble. Piece of cake.

There are youtube vids on how to get the thing open. I just wish I'd known the following: 1.remove agitator BEFORE opening the unit up and leaning it back (much easier to work inside the tube with it upright). 2. be aware that a free-floating part known as the skate plate can dislodge while the unit is on it's side/back. It is a generally triangular piece of flat-ish metal between the base of the tub and the top of the drive-train chassis. If it doesn't line up properly after you replace the parts you're going to get a noisy, clanking spin cycle the next time you run the thing (as I discovered).

Very old washing machine began to make a horrible noise and agitator would attempt to agitate during spin cycle. Eventually determined that the problem was in the transmission. The way the transmission works is that when the motor runs in one direction a metal fork pushes on a cam mechanism and lifts a spring loaded gear on the agitator shaft from the gears that make it move, putting it in neutral so that it can spin freely with the basket in the spin cycle. When the motor runs the other way the same fork pulls on the cam and drops the gear down so that it engages with the agitator mechanism. The problem was that the plastic cam pieces on the base of the shaft had worn down to the point where they where not fully lifting the gear clear and it was partially engaging with the drive mechanism. Repair was relatively straight forward except the YouTube video that I was using showed the parts on upside down. All the other transmission parts are labeled with TOP on one side but oddly the cam pieces are not marked. For reference the U shaped protrusion on the cam parts goes on the top of the assembly, not the bottom. All in all it took me about 12 hours to do this fix, but at least 10 of that was simply trying to figure out how the mechanism worked and tracking down the problem. Be sure to refill the transmission case and use some RTV sealant to seal the cover back on when you are done, just like you would for an oil pan on an engine.

It was actually much easier than I expected. The worst part was dealing with the gear oil as I drained it to clean out the plastic pieces that came off the gear. To see how to fix things like this, I went to Google, enter my model and what the problem was and watched a repairman do it. It seemed easy and it was.