Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Oh Yeah, I Am The Man ... the appliance repair man.


(Shiny new appliance appendage)

About a week ago, the door latch on the Maytag dishwasher went kaflooey, rendering it impotent.



After some poking and prodding, it was obvious that the latch was broken, not just jammed. So, I went online, found the right part for about 25 bucks, and ordered it immediately. A quick search for "How to replace a door latch on a Maytag Performa dishwasher" came up pretty dry.

In the appliancerpairrranting forums, the question came up often enough, but answers were few and less than detailed. I gleaned enough info to know that it was frustrating for the folks asking the questions and that the latch is an electrical component.
That last little bit is fairly important ... wasn't really expecting that.

Armed with several cups of coffee and a slice of poppyseed cake, I grabbed my trusty 30 year old Sears Screwball screwdriver and went at it.


"Good boy, hold it right there... perfect."

Bear was his usual helpful self and in no time we had the inside door panel off and the old part exposed.
Sure enough, the latch was in two pieces.

The only thing difficult about this job was disconnecting the wiring as both sets of wires were attached by a tight friction fit.
Just took a little "umph" and patience to wiggle the wires off the old latch and onto the new.
It really was a cakewalk ... I should post a detailed, how to do this task post.
I took plenty of pics. That's my insurance during any operation ... I want evidence of what the sick appliance looked like before I messed with it.



There's kind of a Romeo and Juliet thing going on with Bear and Tyrion. I told him not to get too attached to her.

She is growing too fast by the way. To enter the fair, she can not be over 280. When I weighed her Sunday ... after fixing the dishwasher, she was at 255.
Not good with a month to go.

So she is on a diet exercise regimen.

It's just one thing after another around here...





Here's one of my baby datils.

Welcome to the world, little hottie.

15 comments:

robin andrea said...

Good job on that dishwasher door latch! And Bear does look like the perfect assistant.

jean said...

What would you do with out Bear to help you? He is such a cutie too.

Pablo said...

Good work on the dishwasher. And glad to see you back in the blogosphere!

Florida Native Mom said...

Your pig and I are both on diet-exercise regimens. I think maybe I should be embarrassed to admit that.

Anonymous said...

How are you on icemakers? I need to replace the one in my freezer.

R.Powers said...

Robin,
He's got a nose for repair work.

Jean,
It's getting harder to remember when there was no Bear here. He's such a handydog.

Pablo,
Thanks! Necessity is the mother of DIY.

NativeMom,
It's good for all of us I think :)

Wren,
That's a frontier I haven't crossed yet. Dryers and dishwashers so far.
You guys actually need to MAKE ice up there in the frozen wastelands?

Bill said...

I have a Maytag dishwasher also. It is the worst ever. The latch broke on ours and it still works, just no latch. It is the constant cleaning of the coil that is killing me. Plus the thing runs forever and a day every time you start it.
I bought it because it was on sale at Home Depot and it is a "Maytag". I will not make that mistake again. I was hoping the latch was going to be the death of it but evidently not.
Thanks for sharing.

Billy

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Unknown said...

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AAAASC said...

Nice job on the dishwasher door latch. Thanks for the post!