I love my old dishwasher.
All of a sudden it started to hum, like a solenoid was stuck on. I spoke to a repair guy who said to check the belt. I opened the front, and sure enough, the belt was off. I reattached it and the old girl hummed like a bee but by the end of the cycle the belt was off again.
Full of water dishes got wet so I am stuck.
Iād hate to have to replace the whole machine with some dumb new one. They donāt appear to make `em like this one any more.
You are absolutely right - old time quality does not exist any more.
Another thing which I absolutely agreed with you - the new belt should fix it.
Here are the breakdown diagrams and Replacement parts for MAYTAG WU502 Dishwasher - Undercounter | AppliancePartsPros.com
Gene.
I already ordered the belt. Still less than a new, less quality machine. Is the age of the belt enough to make it fall off? Like itās stretched out? Is there some sort of tensioner?
There is no any tensioner. This belt has to be lubricated. The grease comes in the kit. The old belt just dried out.
Gene.
I didnāt see your reply, but the belt(s) arrived and I realized I couldnāt (easily) remove the old one. But I [COLOR=black]did [/COLOR]lubricate the old one and it seems to have run through a cycle without falling off.
Question: The pulley at the bottom of the motor is so close to the bottom of the cabinet, that It looks like I have to remove/loosen the motor to change the belt. So, is there a trick, or could part of the problem be that the motor needs to be boosted up somehow?
The belt easily fits between the cabinet ant the other pulley (on the central thing-a-mabob) Anyway, so many questions. Any suggestions?
It is pretty tight, but you do not have to do anything with the motor. It will fit.
Gene.
P.S. The new belt should be lubricated only after installation. Otherwise you will never be able to install it.
Hmm. I donāt see how it could fit under the bottom pulley of the motor it is a whisker away from the metal of the cabinet.
In fact, I was wondering if that might be part of the problem: could the pulleys not be properly aligned, causing the belt to fall off?
As stated, the belt stayed on, so I am hoping it just needed a little lubrication.
I believe it happened just because of the belt being dry and a little lubrication solved the problem.
Gene.
From other posts here and other forumsā¦just as Gene explainsā¦looks like you have to āroll the belt on, then apply lubricant.ā
I spent several hours trying to place a belt on my old Maytag WU700 dishwasher. I attemted to āRollā the dry belt on from the front lower access panel, then loosened two screws on the motor bracket to see if that would help, and finally lifted the motor and braket out (bracket has screw slip out slots) thinking I could stretch the belt on if I heated the belt in boiling water (to make it softer or in a plastic state) but found it was almost impossible to get the motor and braket back onto screws with softened belt around pulleys (shy by a 1/2" or so).
Either the belt, (ordered eslewhere PART NUMBER: 902115 made by FSP), I got was manufactured to incorrect dimensions or there is some other trick.
Not sure how or what the trick is though.
Is this done from front lower access panel or pull out dishwasher, lay it on itās back and ārollā on from bottom? If from front panel, how do you apply leverage on the belt to get it to ārollā on?