Maytag MAH8700aww washer--wet clothes

[westernva]

This is going to be a little long, so please bear with me.

Our Maytag MAH8700aww washer is about seven or eight years old.  These were manufactured by Samsung for Maytag, and we bought ours at Lowe's.  Unlike many other posters on the internet, we have never had problems with excess vibration, walking, etc., for which these models are infamous (I find out now).

Last week, immediately after we ran a (successful) load, we got a "Sr" error, which indicates a relay problem with the control board.  Replacement was the only option offered in the manual.  Sure enough, when my husband inspected it, he found a small burn spot at one pin when he removed one of the cables.  Nothing would run.

He looked for a replacement at a dealer in a nearby city, but it was out-of-stock.  There are two different control boards for this model, depending on the series - ours took part #34001494 (whirlpool part, as they now own maytag).  I looked online, and talked to a rep at a major parts dealer.  She said the shortage was nationwide - all their warehouses were also out-of-stock.  I found one on ebay and purchased it quickly.  It said "new in box" and the seller had a very good rating.

The seller rushed the part to me, and it does look new.  There were a couple problems, though.  The newer boards come with an additional part, a new "motion control sensor" designed to deal with the vibration/walking problem noted above.  It is supposed to attach to the control board with a cable.  The board we received had the motion sensor in a separate bag, but the five pins were damaged, bent down to either side.  The cable had five holes in each end, but there was no five pin plug on the control board anywhere to receive the cable, so we're not certain if this is really a newer board, or one of the originals.

Since we had never had the motion sensor part before, and had never had a problem, my husband installed the new board without the motion sensor.  It seemed to be working fine.  All the controls acted just as they had before.  We ran a load, and there were no error codes, but it came out more damp than normal.  My husband did all the diagnostic tests we could find that seemed related.  The spin speed will not go above 180 rpm.  The max spin rate is supposed to be 1100.  The low setting is 400. 

Out of desperation for clean laundry, I ran another load, hoping for a miracle.  The tub seems to be wobbling around in there much more than before, but maybe this is just because it's going so slowly there's no centrifugal force built up.  That load came out dripping wet.  Still no error code.

We don't want to throw good money after bad.  The board cost just under $200 (although at most sites now it's over $300).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  We have a large family and live in a very rural area; the closest laundromat is 45 minutes away, and I now have a mountain of dirty laundry.

Thanks!


Central Control Unit 34001494 Order now for same day shipping. 365 day return policy.

[westernva]

Logged on to see if there were any way to delete my prior post, but don't see a way.

The washer is fixed!  My husband simply overlooked the plug on the board for the motion sensor.  When we had it apart again tonight, I spotted it.  He straightened the pins on the damaged part, plugged it all in, and it works perfectly. 

After reading online about all the problems others have had with this machine, I just feel very blessed that ours has worked so well.

Thanks for giving me a place to post - - writing it all down helped me think it through.

[AJ]

Glad to hear you found the problem.
Thanks for updating your topic.

Logged on to see if there were any way to delete my prior post, but don't see a way.

If we let people delete topics after they found the problem we would not have much of a forum.


Your topic will help someone else down the road that runs into the same problem.


Thanks for posting. 

[westernva]

If we let people delete topics after they found the problem we would not have much of a forum.

LOL, I hadn't thought of it that way!

Blessings!

[Pehooper]

I am trying to locate the instruction sheet for this new control board which was not included when I ordered it.    As with this person my old board did not have the control module and the new one does.   The PCB has a connection point but it is not evident where the control module itself should be mounted?  The instruction sheet for control board 34001494 is a Maytag document number 16027320 as reflected on other sites that sell this board

[AJ]

Here you go...