Turn off hot and cold water supply valves feeding washer. Disconnect both water hoses from washing machine. Remove two screws (one on each side) from upper silver colored metal plate on back of washer to allow access to (blue) water inlet valve. Slightly lift the bottom portion of metal plate and slide to release hooks for easy removal. Pull back and tilt forward plastic control panel to get it out of your way. Disconnect two electrical connections (one on each side) of water inlet valve. One of these came off easily but the other one was stubborn and I had to force it off with a screw driver. If there is an easier way I don't know what it is. Remove two screws from water inlet valve. (one on each side) Gently pull up on stainless steel water temperature sensor located in the middle of the water inlet control valve. It has a black wire connected to it so be careful. Once you have disconnect the sensor you can remove the water inlet valve. If you look closely you will see a small blue O-ring in the hole where you removed the water temp sensor from the water inlet valve. The new valve DOES NOT come with a replacement O-ring so you will have to re-use the old one. I used a small jeweler's screwdriver to get the old out of the hole. Don't forget to install the O-ring or your washer WILL leak! Put everything back together in reverse order. Check hose connections for leaks. Hope this helps somebody. Wish I had known about the O-ring. It would have saved me a headache.
We had a steady drip of water coming from the top of the washer. I felt around to find that it was coming from the blue plastic piece from which the water comes when the washer is filling, which is the water inlet valve assembly. There was no water leaking from the hoses, and so I figured that the problem must be the water inlet valve. It was a very easy replacement:
1. Unplug the washer from the electrical outlet. 2. Turn off the water supply to the washer. 3. Disconnect the hoses directly at the back of the washer, remembering which one was on which side. You can also attach them to the new water inlet valve assembly at this time, as it can be installed with the hoses on. 4. Remove the two vertical screws at the back of the washer. They are on the far sides. Use a quarter inch bit to remove them. Keep them nearby. 5. You can now gently remove the control panel top by pulling up and toward the back of the machine. Be gentle so that you do not pull up any wires or dislodge any hoses! 6. You will see two electrical plugs attached to the inlet valves. Gently unplug them. One of them has a plastic tab holding it on, so pull that up carefully as you slide it off. 7. There is a small circular plug in the center of the blue inlet valve assembly. Gently remove it by prying it up from the metal circle. There is also a small rubber o-ring that should still be attached to that plug, but it might have come loose and still be in the water inlet valve contraption, so pull it out with something and stick it back on the plug with the circle metal piece. 8. Remove two small screws that are near each other that hold the blue inlet valve assembly in place. There is also a metal bracket holding it there that will come loose once these screws are removed. 9. You can now remove the entire blue plastic piece by rotating it and pulling through the hole. 10. Put the new water inlet valve in, and plug everything in the way it was, securely fastening screws and hoses. Be sure that no other hoses or wires came loose from the control panel. 11. Plug the washer back into the power, turn the water back on, and that should be it!