MEDC465HW0 Maytag Dryer - Instructions

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do the repair myself. Happily, I was able to and my dryer works like new ! I figure I probably saved about a 100 bucks doing it myself rather than calling out a repair man. Oh, did I mention I am female and didn't have to have a man do this for me. :)

Following the instructions that came with the parts, I removed the top off of the dryer, which was very easy, two more 5/16" screws and I had the drum out. I confess, this was my second time at this repair. 1st time I neglected to replace the rear drum seal which I strongly recommend you do while you have it open. I only replaced the 2 wheels last time and it failed very soon afterwards.
Lesson Learned: Always replace the rear drum seal when you replace the support wheels!!!

Pryed the top off the dryer, unplugged the door switch, took the screws out of the front panel, then lifted the drum out. Placed the new belt around the drum and while my wife held it in place and steadied it, I reached underneath and looped the belt through (as per instructions), reassembled and back in business! Reaching under the drum was not that easy....VERY tight space to work in and there was no way I could get both hands through, I almost gave up, but one last try and a couple of good grunts, and it popped into place. Getting the wires back on the door switch was a bit of an ordeal too. Took about 30 mins. but still worth it. I'm sure I saved at least a $100 repair.

I ordered up a new heating coil. It was plug and play, real easy to do. Make sure to turn on the dryer with the before you put it back together to make sure the heating coils heat up. Be careful though, it will get real hot, so run for a second or two. Also, you may see a little smoke as the coil burns in, that should be fine. Once it is tested and works, let it cool off, then reattach it, put on the backplate and you are done!

I removed the four screws holding the
heating element, then I pulled the element out
and then put the new element in and hucked
the wires from the old element after I disconnected
them to the new element..no problem......

1. UNPLUG 2.Undo 8 screws @ back of dryer. Locate heating element midway down on right about 6"x10" has three thermostat wires connected to it undo the 2 screws & 3 wires either order. You will need to pry up GENTLY on the thermostat on the old element. Replace themostat to new element and make a test run to make sure its running and HOTand repeat steps in reverse order...

Took the back off with a cordless drill with an apex holder. I unplugged the old wires from the old heating element and plugged them into the new heating element. Put the back back on after testing it to make sure it worked and that was it. Since this element was in a housing it was really simple to reinstall the new one.

It was really quite esy remove the screws from the back and pop the top off . then remove 2 top inside screws from the front , lift the front off the sides , support the drum and lift out , you will then see the idler wheels, replace them with the new ones ,replce the tensioner , wrap the belt around the drum, need help putting the drum back in the case, have someone hold the drum in place while you lay on the ground and put the belt around the motor pulley and the tensioner on the bottom.you then put the front panel back into place and secure with the 2 inside screws, then put the rest back together in reverse oder. ... hope this helps someone

Follow the advice given in the partsselect website. However, while removing the blower, my hand slipped into the housing and cut my thumb. Connected the wires to the junction box on the motor but didn't realize that the contacts would hit the drum when reinstalled. The original junction box was at a 90 degree rotation relative to the new box. When trying to test the breaker tripped. Using the multitester I found out that I burned out the thermal fuse, and froze the door switch. I replace both those parts and started the dryer and could hear a grinding sound. Inspection revealed that the housing of the motor was rubbing against the drum. Removing the drum yet again, I rotated the housing and replaced the drum. The dryer was finally working well.

Took off the top and front panel. Found that the belt tensioner was worn out. Decided to pull drum out,and replace the belt and drum rollers also. Put it back together, and it works fine.

My wife reported that the dryer was not working. I checked it and it seemed to work fine. This went on for about a month or two. Every time I checked it, it started just fine.

Well, she threatened to go buy a new dryer, I took her more seriously. I thought perhaps a thermal protection was the cause. But when I dug into it, I learned that when those trip out, they are permanent (have to be replaced).

I finally noticed loud humming sound the motor made at start-up, when it failed to start turning on one occasion and eventually tripped out the motors thermal protection.

I ordered the new drive motor form PartSelect.com.

Replacing the motor was fairly easy if you like to take stuff apart. One thing that I had not anticipated was that the two foam gaskets on the exhaust duct were dry rotted. I went to my local part supplier to get them. They did not have them in stock. :( While I was there, I asked how much the motor was, they wanted $50 more than PartSelect.com :D

I put it back together without the new gaskets, and it runs like new. I ordered the gaskets from PartSelect and will add them when they arrive.

My wife is happy again, she can bust out the laundry in one day; it had been taking here all weekend.

I learned to take her at her word.

Replaced the belt and the wheels supplied with the kit. I also cleaned the inside of the unit. It looks and works like new.

**** Remove power cord from the wall****

As said earlier, you will need to lift the top. Drop the two screws holding the lint shoot and pop the top by sliding a screw driver into the corner on the front. Lif tthe top and rest against the wall behid the unit. remove the two (4 total) screws at the top and bottom of the front door assembly.
Place sometin under the front portion of the drum. At this point you'll see the need to clean everything! :) Slide the belt off and around the drum, (take note of the routing it takes.) Remove the drum by gently pulling it towards you. Set it aside. Clean more. :) (It is nice to have a vacuum handy.) At this point you really need to get to the rear of the system. So I tipped the top back down, and spun it around. Removed the rear panel and cleaned some more. (15 years of a lot of lint in there!) Then you'll need to remove the rear cover on the left side, covering the blower impeller. Get read for a whole lot of debris. Vacuum again. So now you have the motor exposed in the front and rear. You need to remove the impeller by turning that clockwise to loosen it. The trick is holding the shaft in place from the front at the same time. I used an old rag and wedged it into the impeller edges and worked it around until it jamed up. Once the rag was wedged pretty good, I went back to the front spun the shaft. Then you can remove the impeller by hand. Vacuum more. You may get by without having to remove the lint shoot completely, but I did just to clean it up more. I did have to remove two screws in the upper corner near the top of the lint shoot. (Basically the hold the back in place.) I took a few notes at this point about the wiring harness. Used a heavier screw driver (standard), You can push down on the clips that hold the old motor in place. Then work it out the front. Clean more. The new motor is not an exact replacement slightly differnt but the instructions with it were ok. Follow them for the correct wiring. You will need to remove one wire and cut and recrimp a spade lug or two. I used ty-wraps to secure the lines back in place. Look closely at the diagrams and make sure you set the motor down in the same direction the instructions say, if you twist it slightly it will sorta lock in place where it needs to be. Re-install the hold down clips to the front and rear of the motor. Clean up your impeller, and reinstall it too. Then basically reassemble the dryer...tracing your steps backwards. This isn't really difficult, it just takes time and as you can see, you will/should clean as you go !

I looked up the likely causes on this website and came up with two most likely causes: bad fuse ($10) or a bad timer assembly ($85). Since I suspected the timer assembly might be more likely cause but the fuse was relatively cheap, I went ahead and purchased both of those so I'd likely be able to fix it. Got the parts in 2 days, First I installed the fuse assembly using the video from this site as a coach. Took me maybe 5 minutes to replace, quite easy actually. Put it back together and tested to see if it had fixed the problem. It had not. So I replaced the timer assembly. I used the youtube videos of that for some coaching preparation. Again it was easy as pie. Took me 5 minutes to remove the old one and replace with the new one. Put it all back together and tested it. SUCCESS! that fixed it! So.. for about $100 in parts, I fixed it. The service call alone would have cost $150 not including parts, so I saved at least $150 doing it myself! Your diagnostic help advise was absolutely vital to enabling me to diagnose and find the right replacement parts! THANK YOU!

The dryer wouldn’t turn on at all. It was like it was unplugged from the wall. However, fixing it couldn't be easier. I simply removed the back panel, found the fuse, tested it with an Ohmmeter (to determine that this was the part that didn't work), ordered the part from this website, and replaced the part. The part arrived in about two days. The shipping was a little pricey, but overall the whole thing cost me $20 vs. whatever it would cost me to get someone else to repair it. The website helps to identify the problem, and it is helpful to read how other people fixed their problems. It was so easy and the service was so good, I will definitely use this website again and recommend it to others.