Maytag MAH3000AWW Door Boot Seal

[georgiabowles@msn.com]

I would like to know how to replace the door boot seal, part # 12002533


It is full of mildew.

Model MAH3000AWW

[AJ]

Hello,

Disconnect the power to the washer.


Remove door and front panel.








Remove the front of the old boot from around the washer frame. Just pull it off like in the photo.








Open the soap dish door on top the washer and remove the four screws in the corners.






Remove the front corner screws that hold the top down.






Now you should be able to lift the top.






Remove the lid switch/door lock.






Remove the front of the washer that you took the front of the boot off of.








You can not get to the back of the boot. There is a cable and spring that you will be able to just pull off. Getting it back on is a little tricky, but it can be done.





Hope that helps you out.
Let us know how it goes, good luck..

[georgiabowles@msn.com]

Thank you very much! We purchased this to save water and yucky, yucky, yucky. I guess that after the exchange of the boot we will have to wipe it dry after every use. You are so nice to help with the project.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Georgia

[AJ]

Glad I could help.

[The Dress Diva]

Wow, great pictures.  I have the same stupid lemon, and I am tired of having the Maytag repairman come out.  We are attempting to replace the boot ourselves.  Big Mistake.  We have done everything as shown, except when we wrap the cable around and try to hook the spring, the boot keeps slipping.  What are we doing wrong.  Some thread somewhere said to put windex or dishwashing detergent on it, but doesn't say where or what that accomplishes...  We got the front of the boot on, but can't get the back to stay on when we try to stretch that cable to infinity to attach to the loop.  Any suggestions?

[Repair-man]

Here are the 9 steps to successful boot replacement:

1. Align the door boot with the D-shape toward the front, with the flat of the D toward the bottom. Also, locate the large tab toward the top center of the shroud.
2. Stretch the rear lip of the door boot onto the tub cover.
3. Move the rear door boot lip along the face of the tub cover until the locator notches in the door boot align with the locator ribs in the tub cover. Check alignment of the six rib marks and reposition if necessary. This is necessary in order to have the locking tabs on the inside perimeter of the door boot align with the  corresponding tabs on the front shroud.
4. Carefully loop the wire loop with spring around the lip of the outer tub cover and
place the spring at the 11:00 o'clock position, just left of the top rib of the outer tub
cover. Hook the end of the spring over the nearest tub cover clip to hold the spring
and wire in position for final hookup to the other end of the wire loop.
5. Using either the hold down bracket or the outer tub spring, grasp the hook end of
the spring and apply pressure on the clamp wire into the door boot.
6. Pull the spring hook toward the wire loop to engage the spring with the wire loop
7. Reposition the front shroud on the front of the washer and secure
8. Pull the front edge of the door boot and locate the widest locking tabs, located
at the 12, 4 & 8 o'clock positions. Insert the locking tabs into the large interlocking
slots in the shroud. (Spraying the surface with window cleaner or a soap solution aids reinsertion of the tabs into the plastic front shroud.) Press the thick rubber section of the door boot into the groove in the shroud so the locking tabs
engage in the slots.
9. Press the remaining locking tabs into the perimeter of the shroud.

[The Dress Diva]

Thanks so much...  This was a little more in-depth than some other instructions.  Long story short.... You put the back part of the boot on first!   That was so much easier.  Took 2 minutes!  Last nite, we put the front on first then the back, and it kept slipping.  Thanks so much for your help.  Save me a bunch of time, effort and $$$!

This is the 2nd time the boot has been replaced, and frankly, after this, I'm junking this lemon.  I figured I'd hang onto it because I keep thinking Maytag will send me a voucher for the $1,000 lemon I bought.  I have yet to hear that anyone actually got anything out of the class action lawsuit and frankly, I'm tired of waiting......

Here's some pics of the nasty thing that we pulled out and replaced.  I am sticking it back in the Maytag box and mailing it back to them.  The thing is so covered in mold, it must be toxic.  I guess they think that this is "to be expected".  Whatever.  Piece of Garbage.  Does Maytag realize that Neptune owners don't EVER want anything from that company ever again? ?  What a major rip off.


Maytag Washer Door Boot Seal Part # 12002533

[boxer]

I took this on yesterday (Sunday) with some trepidation, but it’s well worth doing – saved about $100 to $150 in labor costs. It did take a few hours, but a lot of that time was in cleaning all the gunk in the machine. It’s very doable, the only difficult part is getting the wire loop and spring back on. I couldn’t stretch the spring using just pliers, so I made a simple tool (picture attached, it is simply a screw hook screwed into a wooden dowel).  And it definitely is a good idea to have another person to help when getting it back on – I know I couldn’t have done it without another set of hands when stretching  the spring. Also, be very careful not to let the stretched spring snap back and hurt someone – watch for potential safety issues at all times like getting fingers caught etc. Also, remember or write down where each part came from, the sequence of removal of parts,  label all of them once you’ve removed them (especially the screws), and take lots of pictures to help you remember.

Also, I think having a basic idea of the anatomy and terminology helps. The rotating tub (perforated metal, where the clothes go) is inside a stationary outer drum, which is suspended on springs.  The outer drum has a light grey colored hard plastic cover (Outer Drum Cover) which is held against the drum using several metal clips around the perimeter. The rear of the rubber door boot is then attached to the drum cover using a wire loop and spring. The front of the boot is attached to a white plastic plate called the door shroud – this is the part that is visible when the door is opened (with the various warning sign on it). The boot attaches to the shroud by means of locking tabs on the boot which go into slots in the shroud.

The pictures and instructions above are very good, but I found my model was slightly different, and others might find the same. For example, to remove the lid switch/door lock I had to remove a small Philips head screw from under the assembly.  I am attaching a couple of pictures to show the inner & outer drums and the outer drum cover attached to the outer drum (after taking off the boot).

After removing the front of the boot from the shroud, removing the shroud, and then removing the back of the boot from the outer drum cover (as  instructed in the first set of directions above), I strongly recommend taking off the outer drum cover also (by snapping off all the metal clips). This will allow a thorough cleaning (almost certainly you will find a lot of gunk on and behind the cover), and also you can mount the boot onto the cover first in a convenient location (rather than struggling trying to get the wire loop on within the cramped confines of the washer). Just make sure to line up all the alignment marks and ensure the small indentations on the drum cover mate with the small recesses in the boot – this is really important. Once the back of the boot has been attached to the outer drum cover with the wire loop, then you can reattach the cover to the outer drum using the metal clips, then finally attach the front of the boot to the door shroud.

Also, make sure you thoroughly clean the boot drain hose at the bottom of the boot. Very likely it has become clogged and could be a reason why the boot holds water (and causes all the smelly problems).

Hope this helps and good luck!

[AJ]

Awesome, thanks for posting. 

The pictures and instructions above are very good, but I found my model was slightly different, and others might find the same.

Care to share the model number of your washer with us?

Thanks.

[boxer]

First, thank you for posting your great pictures and directions, they helped me a lot!

My model is the same MAH3000AWW, but it did seems there were some differences from the pictures you had posted, maybe they made some slight changes over time -- nothing very major but just enough to confuse a little.

I took quite a lot of pictures but I thinl I'm limited to posting only 3, so I picked the ones that I thought might most help someone else who is trying to do this repair.

[AJ]

I took quite a lot of pictures but I thinl I'm limited to posting only 3

Yes, three attachment per post.
So if you would like to add a few more photos just attach them to your next reply.


Good idea with the home made tool, I like it. 

[workspc]

Nice pictures . 

I think I did it with fewer steps and some common cents .

1).  Unplug the washer from electrical outlet.

2).  Remove the door, front panel, and soap dispenser bezel

3).  Remove the boot.
        a).  carefully prop up the top of the washer with a large bottle or box of soap.
        b).  Detach the boot from the washer fame or front.
        c).  Roll that spring that connects the cable tie forward and out of it's groove to easily detach the boot from the tub.
        d).  Disconnect the drain hose from the bottom of the boot
4).  Install new boot.
        a).  Attach the front of the boot to the washer front or frame.  This makes aligning things nice and easy and holds the boot in place.
        b).  Attach the boot to the tub, making sure the boot is perfectly seated in the groove around the tub bezel.
5).  Install the cable tie.
        a).  Place the cable around the boot, carefully laying into the groove over where it seats onto the bezel of the tub.
        b).  Wedge the spring open using pennies.   Using 63 cents worth of pennies to wedge then into the spring open so it easily attaches to the cable tie.
                 - Do this by wedging one penny into each turn of the spring, then replace those pennies with a stack of 2 pennies, then go and replace most of those with a stack of three pennies. This is sufficient to stretch the spring out so that no tension is required to connect both ends of the cable together.
Note: The spring will curl into a "C" shape as it is wedged with the pennies, but it is still very pliable and easy to install this way.
        c).  Install the spring connecting it to each end of the cable tie, being careful not to allow the cable to slip out of the groove.
        d).  Remove the pennies.
        e).  Attach the drain hose to the bottom of the boot.
6).  Install the soap dispenser bezel, front panel, and door.
7).  Plug in the washer and run a cycle to test for leaks.

P.S.  I used pennies because I have no fancy tools to safely stretch the spring and connect both ends of the cable tie.  I tried needle nose pliers and they always slip .  To avoid possible damage to myself or the washer, I decided to stretch out the spring using wedges rather than try using pliers.

 

[tgoods]

I secure the end of the cable with a few inches of duct tape and use visegrips to stretch the spring. Takes about 15 seconds.

[AJ]

Wedge the spring open using pennies.   Using 63 cents worth of pennies to wedge then into the spring open so it easily attaches to the cable tie.
                 - Do this by wedging one penny into each turn of the spring, then replace those pennies with a stack of 2 pennies, then go and replace most of those with a stack of three pennies. This is sufficient to stretch the spring out so that no tension is required to connect both ends of the cable together.
Note: The spring will curl into a "C" shape as it is wedged with the pennies, but it is still very pliable and easy to install this way.

Interesting way to do it.

I have been using the small vice grip and needle nose plies as shown in the photo above for years without any problems.
Just have to make sure the vice grip has a good tight grip and make sure I use enough strength the first time to stretch and hook it.

The penny thing is interesting though.
Thanks for posting.

[workspc]

Vice grips would surely be the correct tool as long as they are very tight.   I didn't have them so used the pennies to wedge and stretch out the spring.