[Jstout]

I have an electric Whirlpool Duet Sprt dryer that will not start . Control panel lights indicate it senses wet clothes but will not start. Went into diagnstic mode and got an F-26 code (motor drive system failure). Door switch checks o.k. and jumpered the thermal fuse to eliminate it and still wont start. Any suggestions ??

[Gene]

The control diagnosed motor drive system failure. Next step you should do is run the Test #2 on the page 5 as recommended in the Tech Sheets.

Gene.

[Jstout]

Thanks for the advice , but I'm not experienced enough to do the checks,so I had a sevice call and the machine control electronics board was diagnosed as bad. (about $160 for part and $80 for service call)

[ridge111]

Mine also would not start and the lights on the control panel were acting funny. Also when you turn the dial it would go to a random selection. Sometimes shutting off the breaker for a few minutes and back on seemed to help but then that stopped making any difference. After reading these forums and finding a link to the service guide, I got the error code F-02 "Keypad/User Interface Failure". No surprise there.

Since many people seem to be having this problem and it doesn't start to happen until months after buying it (mine is about 18 months old), I suspected (hoped for) cold solder joints on the circuit boards. For those who don't know, a "cold" solder joint means that the soldering was not done properly. Soldering is welding, and if you don't get it hot enough to saturate into the metal then you end up with a joint that is more like glued together (surfaces touching) than an actual weld. Over time these joints will come loose or oxidation builds between the surfaces and you get an intermittent connection. It's not uncommon. The joints will usually have a dull grey color if they're bad, rather than smooth and shiny silver.

So I removed the control panel and looked at the circuit boards. There are 2 main boards where the buttons are mounted and a small one containing the rheostat for the dial. Immediately it looked to me like the joints might be cold. So I resoldered the joints on all three boards and it worked! Dryer works like new again and I saved a couple hundred dollars.

This is a manufacturing defect. If you're under warranty then you probably want to just make the call and hope that the service guy gets it right the first time. Mine was out of warranty so it was worth a try. Plus I know how to solder. If you don't then find someone who does or pay for the repair. It's not the most difficult soldering job but if you haven't done it before then it will be a real mess. Hope this helps.

[Gene]

ridge111,

Thanks a lot! Very helpful information.

Gene.