FDE7977ES0 Frigidaire Dryer - Instructions

I looked in my appliance paperwork, found the model number, keyed it in, located and ordered the knob. It arrived in a few days and voila, pushed new knob on and dryer is back in great working order. Thanks!

1. Unplug dryer from outlet
2. Using Lg. flat screwdriver, pry under the front edge of the top and release two spring tabs
3. Lift up top and tilt back out of your way
4. Unscrew two phillips scews on inside of front panel
5. Lift up and out the front panel. Two spring clips at bottom.
6. Rlease tension on drum belt at the motor. Access panel at rear of dryer.
7.Unscrew 3 screws from inside, center rear of drum.
8. Remove drum through the front of the dryer. You may have to spread the sides apart a little bit for it to fit
9. Lift up on the rear drum bearing to remove it from the bearing retainer. ( U shaped plastic socket)
10. unsrew 2 screws and remove the bearing retainer, ground ball. Ball retainer is on outside of dryer.
11. Vacuum everything--duct, blower, lint trap, ect.
12. Intall new bearing retainer and grounding ball, an assistant is helpful at this time, one to hold ball retainer on rear of dryer, one to screw it in from the inside
13. reassemble remainder of parts in reverse order.

Disconect the dryer from the main power source.

1) Remove the two screws from the rear / upper panel (below the control panel).

2) Snap the front side using a flat head screw driver.

3) On the inside front, remove two screws (one on each side) from the upper side and snap the door assembly off.

4) Remove the rear motor access panel (two screws) and appying tension to the spring remove the belt.

5) Pull the drum upwards (verticaly) unnapping it from the rear wall and remove it horizontally through the front panel.

6) Disconect the four leads to the heating element and remove the four screws from the rear of the dryer and replace the heating element.

Follow the same steps backwards to put the dryer together again.

Unplugged Dryer.
Opened top of Dryer, over the drum.
Removed Thermal Limiter.
Tested the Thermal Limiter - found it was open.
Checked all vents and exhaust tube for lint build-up.
Replaced Thermal Limiter.
Closed top of dryer.
Plugged Dryer back.
Tested Dryer - it works.

I was getting brown spots on my clothing since I bought this used dryer. Went to partselect.com Fine with me, but not my wife and daughter! Anyway, after ruling out rust, I ended up here and found Randy's story - without it, I'd be lost! Basically, the felt seal crushes over time, and clothing gets caught in the gap stuck against this nasty old brown felt and leaves a mark.

Replacing the belt was a very good idea, though as mentioned, the drum support bearing is just a "nice to do" - not necessary, but it gives you the excuse to re-grease it (I used a thick Molly impregnated grease from my motorcycle).

The only other advice I can give is that I used a chisel to scrape off the old felt - it came off in very little time, and I didn't end up needing to really do much cleaning of the drum afterwards. Just use a sharp one you're not afraid to dull - it'll be metal-on-metal contact.

Using the spring-loaded clamps that you can get from the hardware store was also a huge help - it just needs to keep the upper glide stuck to the drum for the 30 minutes for the glue to cure - I used 6, but 3 would work. The bottom seal doesn't need them as the felt will tend to stick to the drum when the glue is applied.

You might not NEED to replace the lower seal, but I'd suggest it. It's cheap enough, and this job is "not fun" enough that it only adds a few minutes total - good insurance that you do a complete job.

You also might want to get some aluminum foil tape and re-tape your blower extension tube - mine was ripped off from moving from house to house over the years.

Unpluged dryer. Removed the top of dryer by pushing in a retaining clip on both sides of the front lip with a screw driver. Remove the two screws on both sides of front panel. These screws are square head or phillips #2. Unplugged the wiring harness to front panel (make sure power has been disconnected). Support drum and lean front panel away from dryer body. Front panel will pull off of tabs at bottom. The old drum glide is fiberous and hard to remove. I removed most of it with the pliers, but had to carefully scrape the balance of the glide off with the wood chisel. The adhesive that comes with the repair part has an acetone base, so I used acetone (or you could use nail polish remover) to remove the old adhesive. Once the acetone has dried, I applied an 1/8" snaking bead of adhesive to the front panel. There is more adhesive in the tube than you need so do not use too much. Make sure that you get adhesive as close to the base of the lower seal as you can. Follow directions on adhesive tube and then attach the glide. I let it set up for about 30 seconds. Place the front panel back on the tabs of the dryer. Carefully lift the drum an fit it on the front panel and insert the two screws holding the panel to the base. Reconnect the wiring harness and make sure it is not in contact with the drum. Check to make sure that all of the electrical connectors on the timer are still in place. Reassemble the dryer. Reconnect power.

I found a electrical diagram and some common problems on some websites which led me to check the thermal limiters. There are two right up top near the back of the dryer - one mounted closer to the heating coils and one mounted directly to the sheet metal on the inside back of the dryer. Using an DMM on the "Ohms" setting, I checked each sensor to make sure that they were "closed" (near zero ohms). Sure enough, the sensor mounted on the back of the enclosure was open (high resistance) which prevented the dryer from starting. To confirm, I shorted the two leads going to the sensor together temporarily and wrapped them with electrical tape and then tested the dryer - it worked perfectly. The part from Part Select was ordered and shipped very quickly. Since the sheet metal screws holding the sensor on were difficult to access with the drum in place, I used small machine screws/nuts to fasten the sensor - this allowed me to tighten the nuts from the outside of the dryer, making it very easy to attach.

I unlatched top panel then removed two screws holding front panel on. I then lifted drum out of hanger to make room to remove element. Disconnect wires to limit switch and element. I then removed four screws on back of dryer that hold the pan. I removed old assembly and replaced with new one. Assemble in reverse.

Had to first remove the top of the dryer this was done by removing the clamps on the back. Next I removed the front of the dryer by removing the two nuts the frong in the inside, these are somewhat hard to reach. Next the drum was removed. then the heating element shield. Replaced, the heating element then secured it into place. replaced the drum bearing assembly, and put back together.

pulled old knob off. pushed new knob on.

1) Removed Top Dryer Cover (pushed 2 compression clips on front side 1" from top and 2" in from each side) to gain access to terminal block in rear.
2) Removed 2 screws over terminal block cover and 2 screws holding bad terminal block in place. Removed 3 screws holding bad power cord,
3) Removed good terminal connectors from bad terminal block and reinstalled them in the new terminal block.
4) Cut dryer wire from bad terminal block connector and soldered (optional) them to the new terminal block connector. Installed this connector into the new terminal block.
5) Installed new terminal block in dryer with 2 screws.
6) Installed new power cord on new terminal block ensuring contacts were tight and cord had pull guard properly installed. Reinstalled terminal block cover with 2 screws.
7) Reinstalled Dryer Top Cover.

It was too easy: 1) remove the back of the control panel 2) disconnect wires to the switches and mark them for reassembly- I used masking tape and gave each wire and connector a letter- "a" "b" "c" etc; 3) remove the top of dryer by using a flat head screwdriver to pop the 2 pressure fasteners on the front; 4) remove the front of the dryer- remove the 2 screws fastening the front panel to the sides and lift up until the bottom pressure fasteners pop; 5) remove the belt from the pulley and tensioner- I used a digital camera to take pictures so I knew how to re-thread the belt; 6) remove the drum- pull up on the back of the drum with the belt and then pull the drum through the front of the dryer-it's a little smaller than the front opening so you need to pull on the sides of the dryer; 7) replace the heating element by (a) removing the overheat sensor and (b) removing three screws to remove the heating element from the back of the dryer; 8) replacing the rear drum bearing by (a) removing the bearing asssembly from the back of the dryer-2 screws, and (b) removing the bearing roller from the back of the drum- 3 screws; 9) assembly is the reverse of disassembly. Again it's too easy. I'm a lawyer with no mechanical training. Thanks to Parts Select for making finding the parts easy and saving me a lot of money.

The first thing I did was cheked the electrical panel and breaker, then I checked the electrical cord, then I did check the motor on the bottom of the machine (that may be is the blower motor) looking for any indication of burned parts or broken, then I checked the on-off switch with a voltmeter looking for continuity and it was fine. Then I checked the timer switch and it was fine as well. Finally, I took the lid off the top of the dryer machine to check the thermostat and themal limiter fuse. The thermostat was fine but the thermal fuse was open. So after doing some research to understand how the fuse work I decided to place an order to get a new fuse. I installed it and the dryer started working again. After replacing the fuse I monitored the dryer machine while operating it and worked fine. Why the fuse was open or was damaged? It is the first time I have problems w/ the dryer. I checked the end of the conduct line that guide the air out and I noticed and have to clean the end of it because it was dirt. Because it was not completly clean, the dryer got overheated. It took me sometime to figure out the problem but I learned, save me money and the best part was that I do it myself : )

I removed the broken door latch & strike with pliers. Then I pushed the new parts into place

First, I removed the top panel which is held on at the front by pressure clips. Second, I removed the entire front panel which entailed removing 2 screws and 2 wire couplings. Third, I removed the 3 screws on the inside center of the drum which turned out to be unnecessary. Fourth, I slid the drum forward in order to access the rear bearing. Lastly, I replaced the entire bearing assembly including the shaft, bracket, bearing, grounding ball and clip. Again, probably not needed but I had ordered the parts in advance in preparation for the worst.