How to Open a Maytag Neptune Washer By xC0000005 in xC0000005's Diary Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 02:50:57 PM EST Tags: Boring, reference, appliance repair (all tags)
	Anyone remember those old commercials that featured the maytag repair man, an elderly man who was always bemoaning the fact that he was un-needed? That guy was an idiot. He has a corporate job that pays him whether he fixes things or not, all he has to do is sit there and pay union dues and cash his check. I could have used his help though, day before yesterday, when I came downstairs to find that the washer was surrounded by a puddle of soapy water.

ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor: rusty This space intentionally left blank ...because it's waiting for your ad. So why are you still reading this? Come on, get going. Read the story, and then get an ad. Alright stop it. I'm not going to say anything else. Now you're just being silly. STOP LOOKING AT ME! I'm done! comments (24) active | buy ad ADVERTISEMENT This is in a way an effort to help me remember how to open the washer in the first place. It is likely even more boring than my rants on insects, which is saying something. I don't care. Each time I've had to do it I've wound up saying "there's something I'm missing". Neptune washers sometimes have problems with the wax motor assembly, the latch mechanism, or the door boot. The same method is used to open the washer for all of them. Maytag Neptune front loading washers are tricky to get into, because the obvious bolts don't need to be removed at all. In my case an examination of the rubber "boot" inside the washer showed that it had a split which had allowed most of the water in the tub to leak out onto the floor. Then the washer refilled to rinse and that leaked out too. The rubber boot is a gasket that forms a seal between the door (which is held in place by a latch mechanism) and the drum holder (which does not rotate). Anyway, to get into the neptune washer you being by unplugging it and turning off the water supply. Then on to removing the door. Two screws go through the hinges and into the facing of the washer. Remove these and the door will slide out if you lift it slightly. On the opposit side will be two place holder brackets. These cover the slots where the door hinges go if you reverse the door. Take them out as well, removing each screw will let the bracket just fall off. Once the door is removed and the opposite brackets are off, grasp the front apron of the washer near the top (but no holding on to the top) and pull. It will come loose and you can lift it up off the hooks on the bottom that hold it in place. Now you can see the drain assembly, the inside of the washer and the latch mechanism. To lift up the top of the washer remove the hex head bolts on the underside of the the front corners. There are two of them, and when the are removed the washer top will NOT open. it will lift but catch. To completely lift the top flip up the plastic lid covering the detergent holder. There are four screws holding the decorative facing to the detergent holder, one in each corner. Remove all four and now the washer top will lift up, rotating on the back hinges. Rotate it all the way up and prop it up so that it does not remove fingers or damage skulls by falling back. With the front removed and the top up, you can now see the two things most likely to cause problems on a neptune: 1. The wax motor assembly (source of the class action lawsuit). It's on the left at the top, usually a brownish red cylinder. If you are replacing the wax motor assembly this is all the disassembly on the front of the washer you need. If you need to repair/replace the central control it is accessed by the back service panel on the top. 2. The door latch mechanism (which I replaced last year) is in the center at the top. It is held on with two hex bolts, which must be removed to access the door boot. 3. The door boot, which while thick can be damaged, causing leaks. Once the latch mechanism is removed the front facing for the interior will lift directly off - slightly up and forward. The door boot has a lot of slack so you can pull this forward two inches or so, enough to clearly see if it is loose or not. At the bottom the drain (if your model is fitted with a drain) is held on by a squeeze clamp. Remove it with pliars. The final barrier to removing the boot is the tension spring. Look at the top of the drum holder - the back side of the boot has a nylon & steel cord wrapped around it with a high tension spring holding it on. Gently remove the spring using a tool. Be careful - the spring will tend to fly off if you do not hold on both ends of the tension line. It will hurt you. Once the spring is removed the rubber boot just slides off. Reverse pliars or brake spring tools are extremely helpful when it comes time to put the spring back on. I considered replacing the bearings and belt while I was at it but laundry downtime is not welcome at our house. I'll wait a couple more years and then do the full service on it. The washer is now up and running with a nice, new boot from the appliance parts stoor, the laundry's a going.

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