MCE8000AYW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

It was easy to remove the lint trap first, then the front dryer panel. The drum easily was removed and installing the new belt was a little tricky because the belt had to be mounted onto pulley while holding the drum in place. I had a little help from a friend to help me stabilize the drum as I placed the new belt. Once on, it was easy to re-install parts in reverse and have dryer working again.

First, I unplugged the dryer. I pulled up the lint filter, then unscrewed the two screws there. Then pulled up the top panel. I had a helper hold it up since it couldn't lean against the wall. Then I had to take the front panel off the dryer. The idiots at Kenmore used screws, not pins, so I needed to use a socket wrench to get those two out of the top corners. Then I lifted it up and off. I removed the broken belt. I put in the new one. I replaced the pulley, which had fallen without the tension of the belt holding it in place. It was pretty easy to figure out how it went, but I consulted the online community for a diagram. I threaded the belt in place, replaced the panels, and viola! It worked. Easy.

My wife noticed a loud racket coming from the dryer. I took a look at it by opening the door and spinning the drum by hand and sure enough, the grinding, clunking noise continued. After a day of drying clothes, the noise got worse and then my wife said the clothes weren't getting dry at all. She could see the heating element glowing but the clothes would not dry. Sure enough, this was the case. While the dryer was turning, the outlet hose was still cold but the heater element was on. I went to the PartSelect site, entered the model number and looked at the common problems associated with noise. It said that the blower wheel was the second most likely issue. It also showed how to open the dryer and look for problem areas. First, unplug the dryer! Then, I took a putty knife (screwdriver would work - flathead) and pryed open the lid at each corner and opened the top. I then tilted the lid back against the wall to support the lid. There are two screws that hold the front panel of the dryer to the sides. They are on the inside of the cabinet up high near the top. I took these screws out and the front comes off by pulling the front panel away then up. There are three wires attached to a sensor on the front panel. I took a picture of these for reference and disconnected these wires to totally remove the panel. With the front panel off, I could see large clumps of lint trapped at the base of the filter screen. Now is a good time to vacuum this clean. Inside the cabinet at the bottom right, you can see the blower wheel. It was totally broken off the shaft that turned it. You can still spin the drum and see the shaft turn but the broken blower wheel would "clunk" around causing the noise. There are a small handfull of screws that hold the faceplate of the blower assembly on. Take these off and you will have full access to the blower wheel. DOn't worry about the wires on the sensor attached to the faceplate. If you want to take these off their clips, take a sharpie and write the color of wire each clip takes on the front of the faceplate for reference. The blower wheel is held on to the shaft by a circlip that is easily pushed off with a screwdriver or pliers and also a spring clip that is taken off with pliers by gripping the tabs with the pliers and squeezing the clip open. Save these two parts because the replacement wheel does not come with these pieces. I ordered the blower wheel, it was here in two days and replaced the wheel. Note: The wheel will take some effort to fully seat it on the shaft. You can take a hair dryer and warm the center of the wheel where the shaft will go thru to make the install easier. Do not use a hammer to beat the wheel onto the shaft or you will be ordering another wheel. I put my left hand behind the blower as support and pushed the wheel onto the shaft with my right hand and using a towel to cover the wheel center as padding. Reinstall the spring clip over the wheel shaft support and then pry the circlip back on the end of the shaft with pliers, reinstall the blower faceplate, reconnect any wires, reinstall the dryer front panel by first leaning the panel out and dropping the front panel onto the cabinet tabs at the bottom and then closing the front panel and screw it back down with the two screws. Reattach the three wires, close the lid, plug it in and your back in business. It took me longer to write this than it did to repair it. Good luck!

Before ordering the part, I found this website by linking from a video on YouTube where several people showed how they did it. Simply two screws in the lint removel chute and pushed in the two clips holding the top and two inside screws holding the front panel. Held the machine tilted back onto a table and placed two 4" wooden cubes underneath it so it wouldn't come forward and one more 4" cube under the drum. After cleaning out the inside, I slipped the new belt around the drum (ribbed side down) and taped it in place with a couple of pieces of painter's tape temporarily. Hooked the idler wheel guide and looped the belt in it. Tested movement by spinning it by hand to check alignment and removed tape. Reassembled the front, side and top panels accordingly and tested it. Voila! This was my first attempt and I saved myself some bucks. The last repair was done by Se•rs and their service person took my credit card number for the invoice and promptly went out and charged over $3,000 on it. He was eventually caught. Great incentive to do yourself, huh?

Step 1. Read all the comments about how to do this job in this forum. (i found them very useful)

Step 2. Read the directions that come with the dryer (they helped a lot)

Step 3. Don't forget to disconnect the power cord before reattaching the door switch wires (oucH! ) or doing anything with your dryer.

Removed the two screws holding in the Filter and removed the filter.

Removed the two screws holding the front onto the dryer.

Put the belt over the drum and proped the drum up.

Reseated the tension spring and pully in the proper slot. (On my machine it is the position closest to the motor).

Reassembled the dryer in the reverse order.

-Took top of by prying with screwdriver.
-2 screws and door wire to take off front panel.
-proped drum with 4X4 piece of wood.
-looped belt around drum where the mark for the old belt was.
-looped belt through tensioner and pulled with the screwdriver over the motors drive shaft.
-manually spun drum to make sure everything was right.
-put panels back on and was done.

You cant go wrong with the included directions and belt diagram. this is the first repair I've done of any kind that went flawless.

I replaced it

First unplugged dryer from outlet. Lightly pryed up on top of dryer to disengage retaining clips. Removed 2 screws holding sides and front panels together. Diconnected electrical connector from door switch. Remove clip retaining electrical harness of door switch from front panel. Removed front panel and placed to the side. Removed screws using a nut driver to retain the blower cover from blower wheel housing. Note there are 2 of the screws used to secure the blower cover to the base of the dryer, a phillip screw driver can be used for this. Also there is some sort of brace on the LH side of the blower cover that needs to be removed as well. Can be removed with either a phillips screw driver of nut driver. Remove retaining clip from motor shaft. Remove retainer clamp that had broke off from dryer duct work. Was able to us needle nose pliers for both. Removed old blower wheel and broken pieces. Vaccumed out lint build up with Shop Vac. Installed new blower wheel to shaft of motor. Had to lightly tap with rubber hammer to slide on to "D" shaped shaft of motor. Manually turned blower wheel to check out. Re-installed cover, front panel and lid in reverse order. Plugged in power cord. Told wife the dryer was fixed and became a hero, (might be because I started the next load of clothes).

well, the hardest part is getting this thing apart - you have to take out the lint trap and remove the two screws from the top. Then I was trying to lift the top off - it's held in place by clips so you have to gently but firmly lift it off from the front end and let it open while still semi attached at the back (like a chest). Detach the electrical wires - they are just clipped in place. Then remove the screws (one on each side) that attach the front panel, and (and this is the hardest part if you don't know how it's attached). You have to SLIGHTLY LIFT the front straight up and then pull it away towards you. I just pulled it off, breaking the little attachers, which I subsequently had to weld back on with a welding compound and leave it overnight to set. the next day was pretty easy though...

The spinning drum is pretty easy to get out and you set it aside. Then I saw the belt pulley sitting there on the bottom of the dryer out of place -- fortunately with the belt there came instructions on how to instal it - READ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS - after that it's cake - put the belt around the center of the drum and feed it through the other parts underneath (this is easier if you tilt the dryer back a bit to get at it better. And you must pull back on that pulley after you have put it in place again - clips into the bottom of the dryer - it's supposed to have a lot of tension on it. Put it all back together and voila!

good luck!

Unplugged Power Cord, Removed Duct.
Pupped Top Lid Loose to Reveal Door Panel Screws. Removed Door Panel to Discover Blower Wheel had Disintergrated @ the Shaft..
Located Part from On-Line (as have in past) and
Placed Order, On-Line ( Of Course ).
Received Part, via: Fed-Ex in Two Days..
Whoo Hoo. Whole Family Welcomed the Repair.
ThanX . Satisfied Consumer :)

Removed the two screws at the back that hold the top of the dryer. Then I pried off the top at the front by inserting a screwdriver into the front to remove the top from the clips. Then I tilted up the top like a car hood.

I removed the two screws inside that held the front on and lifted the front off. Because of the wires attached to the front, I made sure to turn the front aside without pulling on the wires. After removing the broken belt, I put the replacement belt over the front of the drum, lifting the drum a little. Then I threaded the belt over the drive and around the tension wheel per a diagram I found on the web.

While I had the front off, I removed the lint trap and cleaned out probably decades worth of lint.

Then I replaced all the parts in reverse order, plugged it in and had a working dryer!

I pried the top of the dryer with a screw driver and then lifted the top of the dryer, I then removed the two screws "with a nutdriver" that held the door in place and then removed the door and drum. I then got the new belt and placed the belt over the drum and positioned the belt through the idler arm and then on the motor pulley. I had to hold the door and drum to lock the bottom of the dryer door to the dryer and then made sure the rear drum seal was in place and the belt did not slip off the motor pulley

- Unplug the electric dryer.
- Manually opened the top of the dryer.
- Unclipped the wire assembly attached to the front panel of the dryer.
- Removed two screws holding the front panel of the dryer, and remove front panel for access.
- Very Important!! Note how the old dryer is currently installed before proceeding.
- Rotated the dryer drum while working the dryer belt toward the rear of the dryer.
- Removed the dryer drum.
- Removed the old dryer belt.
- Put the new dryer belt around the dryer drum and put the dryer drum back onto the drum rollers and into the rear guides.
- Here's the hard part, lay on floor and reach into the pulley area and motor - wrap new dryer belt around these belt rollers as "noted" in the fifth step.
- Rotate dryer drum by hand to ensure the new dryer belt is exactly installed as the old dryer belt.
- Reinstall front panel.
- Reclip wire assembly onto the front panel.
- Manually close the top of the dryer.
- Plug in the electric dryer.

First, I printed one of these responses which were excellent and very detailed. The screws connecting the lint slot to the top of the dryer was frozen. Taking the front panel off was difficult because I did not read the instructions I printed out very well. After I took the top off I had a hard time finding the 2 screws located inside on the top of the front panel. They are located to the far right and left at the top. To take off the front panel you have to push it up to release the clips on the bottom, then it comes right off. Taking the drum out was easy. What was difficult was putting the belt on. There wasn't any slack and to put it around the pulley and the drum for me was difficult. After that is was a piece of cake. It works great.