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How to replace the ‘Direct-Drive’ coupler

part # 285753

1) Unplug the washer. Remove the 2 Phillips screws that retain the console. (On some machines, these are hidden under console end caps that must be pried off. On newer models, they’re on the back of the console). Rotate the console fwd, then up and back; it will hang back out of the way if the washer’s away from the wall far enough.
2) Unplug the white lid switch plug and pry up the 2 large clips that hold the cabinet to the washer back panel.
3) Tilt the entire cabinet forward and it’ll unhook from the retainers on the base. Lift the cabinet off and set aside (not as heavy as it sounds!)
4) Pry the two clips off the pump and pull it off the motor shaft. Push it aside, leaving the hoses attached. (Note: If there’s any water staining around the pump drive area, now’s a great time to replace it, because it’s been leaking! Most common pump is part #3363394 – we usually have them on sale on Ebay!)
5) Remove the motor harness plug, and capacitor wires (if used). Remove the 2 shipping screws from the 2 large clips that hold the motor and pry them off, bottom one first, then tilt the motor down and remove.
6) Pry the round, white plastic coupler pieces off both the motor shaft and gear case and discard. (If the gear case section is really tight, this’ll be easier if you remove the motor mounting plate by removing its 2 bolts). You’ll probably find the rubber portion of the original coupler badly worn, and one or more of the plastic drive pegs broken off.
7) Using the large, female end of a 3/8″ ratchet extension and a hammer, gently tap the new, triangular plastic coupler sections onto motor and gear case.
Before proceeding, lube the brake to prevent lockup. Takes only a minute, but can prevent a ton of problems. I’ve seen violent brake lockup ruin a brand new coupler in only two loads! Here’s how: DD washer brake lube
Put the rubber portion on the gear case, and align it with one of its holes at the 12:00 position. Turn the motor to match, and carefully (trying not to rotate the motor shaft), push the motor back into place. This may take a couple of tries, because it’s easy for the motor to rotate out of position as you reinstall it. Supporting it in place with one hand, snap the top clip on to hang it, then the bottom clip. Reinstall the 2 screws through these clips.
9) Reinstall the motor harness plug and capacitor wires, if used (they plug back on either way). Put a light coating of Vaseline on the motor shaft and push the pump back on, rotating the motor slightly if necessary by reaching back and turning it by the coupler. Reinstall the pump clips.
10) Open the cabinet lid, and, looking down through the lid opening, hook the cabinet front under the washer base while keeping the cabinet tilted slightly forward. Rest your foot at the cabinet bottom to hold it in place, and tip it back down onto the base. Snap the 2 cabinet clips back into place, and look down the back corners to ensure there are no gaps between the cabinet and back panel where they meet at the bottom. If one side’s gapped, it means the rear, bottom retainer on that side isn’t hooked. Pop the clip on that side, tilt forward slightly, and push the side down into place. Then reinstall the clip.
11) Plug the lid switch and power plugs back in, rotate the console back down, reinstall its retaining screws, and pat yourself on the back! You just saved at least $75.00!

Copyright 2003 www.DavesRepair.com
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Compliments of Samurai Repair Man

Now why would a drill-totin’ gal even dream of calling a repair guy when she’s found Samurai Appliance Repair Man? Come with me now on journey through your refrigerator’s defrost system.

For your refrigerator with a defrost system failure, you have correctly reduced the problem to one of three components: defrost timer, defrost thermostat (also called a defrost terminator), or the defrost heaters. Now, we could get all technical talking about esoteric gobbledy-gook like measuring current, voltage and resistance at various points but the Samurai is gonna show you a low-tech way to diagnose these no-defrost problems.

First, let’s turn our Vulcan squinties to the defrost timer. On your fridge, the timer is item #257 in the fresh food compartment but can be located in different places on different refrigerators. Whatever you do, unplug the refrigerator before you go rootin’ around for the timer.

The topside of the defrost timer is shown to the left, and the bottomside is shown to the right. Now, the reason I’m showing the seedy underbelly of this beast is because there’s a knob that I want you to turn. Dig into your purse and pull out quarter to turn the knob with–New Hampshire commemorative quarters work the best. Turn the knob slowly clockwise until you hear a big click. This means the defrost timer is now in defrost mode.

Now pull your head outta the refrigerator and plug it back in. The light should come on, but you should not hear any motors running. Open the freezer and wait a few minutes. If the heaters and terminator are working properly, you may hear sizzling or even see an orange glow. Listen and look carefully. The other thing to look for is a steady trickle of water dripping into the condensate pan underneath the refrigerator. Give it a good five minutes. If it looks like the defrosting system is doing its thang, then the defrost timer was stuck in run mode–replace it. Otherwise, if nothing seems to be happening, then you can conclude that the problem is either the defrost heaters or the defrost terminator. How do you tell which one is bad? You don’t care–replace ‘em both! Yep, the glass rod defrost heaters are usually the problem in this case but the terminator is so cheap that it’s not worth quibbling about–replace it, too. In fact, you can buy the defrost heaters and terminator as a single kit, shown here to the right.

Now, this bidness of replacing the defrost heaters and the defrost terminator at the same time is only true for refrigerators with glass rod defrost heaters. Some refrigerators, like Whirlpool-built refrigerators, use calrod defrost heaters instead of glass rod. Calrod is the type of material that electric range elements use in the oven or stove top. Calrod defrost heaters rarely fail and to fix defrost system problems on these refrigerators, replace both the defrost terminator and the defrost timer–these parts are inexpensive and prone to failure.

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