Two years ago my basement flooded with about 5 or 6 inches water and this washer seemed to be OK after that. Then about 1-1/2 weeks ago it flooded again with 10 inches water. This time I think the washer was turning valves on and off while the water was rising, and again when the flood water was going down because I could hear water running.

Since then all the front panel lights seem to behave normally, but when I press Start it just humms quietly for a few seconds and nothing happens. A few seconds later it flashes "do", and sometimes it eventually flashes "FL". I tried to dry it with fans. That didn't work! There was a lot of other flood damage to deal with, so the motor controller board and discharge pump electronics remained wet about a week until I had time to dry them with a hair dryer.

I've taken off the rear, top and front pannels, and ran some of the diagnostics, and here's the details:

Model (p) MAH5500BWQ
Serial NO. (S) 74793793ZY
Style (Y) Y7909216
Machine Control Board Number: 60C21280302, Software Version: 11

Help Code.....Cycles Ago.........Service Code.....Cycles Ago
....19..................0......................04...................0
....47..................0......................17..................56
....16..................2......................17..................--
....40..................2......................17..................--
....16..................3......................17..................--
....19..................3......................17..................--
....16..................5......................--
....13..................6
....19.................10
....--

I do remember some incidents in the past where the door did not lock when it was supposed to. I tried everything that could be done in service mode (without a VOM) but could not make anything happen.

Membrane Pad Check: ........Passed
Board Input Test: ..............Passed, except Fails "Latch Position" test
.......................................(shows "L0" even when I manually trip the switch)
Board Output Test: .............Fails everything I can see/hear
Fuse on Motor Control Board: OK

The connector terminals on the Lower Tub Displacement Switch and on the Pressure Switch have a lot of corrosion and thick foam-like mineral deposits on them.

On the Machine Control Board, "R102" gets very hot and has burnt the board around it almost black. Also, "C100" is domed on its top end.

I have basic knowledge of analog and digital electronic circuits and have designed and built some simple gadgets, but no electronic troubleshooting experience. With a little expert guidance I would like to find the bad transistor or whatever if possible. I have been out of work for some time and need to fix this at minimal cost. Please help!

Thanks!

There may be an alternative approach to my problem, but first with regard to fixing it myself:

I spent many hours searching the internet for a manual following one dead end path after another, but did stumble across a manual (size 8.4M) for the MAH3000 that I could read part of before it would cause my aging computer to hang-up. I was not able to download this one (many attempts) even with my firewall turned off. I found another manual for the MAH3000 (size 10.2M) that I downloaded and it does have at least a couple pages devoted to my model, BUT, the body of the document is completely out of sink with the table of contents. It looks like parts of different documents have been pasted together. In sharp contrast to the table of contents, the only troubleshooting information it contains is a crude flowchart that basically says to just replace one (crude guess) major component after another until it works, with no regard whatsoever to the service codes (or cost to the customer - thank you Maytag:mad:). Do you have a link to a valid service manual? Can you link me to a circuit diagram for the Machine Control Board and Motor Control Board?

The alternative is that Maytag may owe me a free fix. It appears that my washer was designed to fail in exactly the way it did:mad:! There was a class action lawsuit in Illinois over this model having failures of the Door Latch propagating to the Machine Control Board, the Motor Control Board and other electronics. My service and help codes are entirely consistent with this, and not at all what I would expect from flood damage. This door latch issue has been creeping up for years! Who should I complain to? Could you advise on how I should go about it?

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Thanks for the manual! I am still at a loss to troubleshoot that circuit board with no diagram, if it indeed has a problem. Is it normal for that resistor (R102) to get very hot? Have you ever seen a domed electrolytic capacitor on a Maytag circuit board? Could the hot resistor (if not normal) just be a result of a flood damaged motor control board?

The door lock switch does not send a signal to the MCB even when I trip it manually. As I remember, this machine never did anything it's not doing now until it sensed that the door was locked. Are the symptoms I described consistent with a door that won't lock? Could the problem be as simple as that?

I suspect at the very least the door lock/unlock selenoid and door lock/unlock switch could be defective. The service codes show these have been problematic for years. What should be the resistance of the solenoid coils? Can I get just those two parts without replacing the whole door latch assembly?

When the manual says to check the voltage between P1(5) and P8(2) I assume this means connector P1 pin 5 to connector P8 pin 2, but do I check this with the connector attached to the board, or do I check the board pins / connector contacts with the connector pulled off?

What would be the cost to replace the two circuit boards? I am having trouble finding them. Do you have link?





Here is a link to the class action suit which includes my model: Maytag® Front-Load Washing Machine Settlement

Can you tell me what a wax motor is and why it is called that?

I would start with the door lock assembly. If you buy from this site and the part does not fix the problem you can return it, see the returns policy for details and conditions.

The older Neptunes had a wax motor, which is just what it sounds like. Wax would heat up, expand and lock the door. This caused severe problems, and your machine does not have one.