EFMC427UIW0 Frigidaire Dryer - Overview

When I described the noise to a YouTube appliance diagnostician, I was directed to check the felt seals front and back of the rotating drum for wear, tears, or foreign objects. As it happens the felt seals looked find and there were foreign objects so, not wanting to disassemble and reassemble the dryer more than I had, I ended up replacing all the replaceable moving parts that I considered possible culprits: The idler tension spring, the idler tension bracket (which includes a nylon pulley wheel), the drum belt, the five rubber-tipped bearings that support the drum and keep it in place, and the foam seal on the blower housing which seemed a little brittle and old, as well as high-temperature adhesive for the latter. The instructional videos here and on YouTube were extremely helpful (I doubt that I would have attempted this job at all, had I not watched these ahead of time). The most time-consuming aspect was waiting for the arrival of the parts as I didn't order them all at the same time or all from the same place (I ordered from whomever could ship me a given part the fastest. Disassembly took less than an hour. Re-assembly with the new parts in place took about the same but was a little more awkward because this appliance sits in a very narrow closet and it's difficult to ensure that the 4" flexible duct stays in place when sliding the appliance back into the closet. No regrets. Now I know the basics if this dryer needs attention in future and I also know all the parts that I can eliminate as suspects in any future maintenance (the parts that I replaced)

I watched and re-watched a YouTube video where these parts were recommended for a retro fit of the Electrolux 617 dryer. The original parts for this dryer allow too much lint to get past the lint screen and into the fan blades. To install these new parts you just need to be careful to pull the moisture sensor leads off of the old grill assembly and put them on to the correct prongs on the new grill assembly. (You will not use the leads that the new parts come with.) You may want to take a picture of how the leads were on the old assembly before you pull them off. You also need two, two-inch #10 screws that are readily available at hardware stores. I bought the "sheet metal" type screws. The YouTube video can be found by entering the words "Electrolux Dryer Lint Fix & Retrofit" into Google or YouTube search bar. If you follow it to the letter all will be well, but be careful to line up the holes for the screws. Having someone else holding a flashlight would be ideal, but it's not absolutely necessary.

So does this work? Yes, the parts fit just fine and they improve the situation a great deal but they don't completely solve it if you have a dog that has those little short sharp hairs and the dog sleeps in your bed, sits on your lap and leaves dog hair all over stuff that will be washed and put into the dryer. Those hairs will still get past the new clam shell filter but the good news is, you don't have to pull the dryer apart to clean the fan blades after you have installed these new parts. You can take the hose from your vacuum cleaner and just stick it in the fan blade compartment (after removing clamshell lint screen) and you will be able to capture most of what got past the screen. How is this different than before? The kind of lint that makes it past the new parts is much lighter and finer than what got past the old screen so the vacuum can easily pull it out.

PS I love Parts Select. This is the second thing I've ordered from them and I've been so impressed with how fast the parts arrived and how nicely they were packed. It's a first class organization in my opinion.

I removed the front, top and back panels of the dryer, installed belt around drum and through the pulley system so the belt was snug, replaced all screws and panels, and done.