Whirlpool Washer Repair

Posted from Thousand Trails, Gloucester, VA


Have you ever finished a repair job and were just so happy with yourself for being able to diagnose the problem AND fix it as well!  Well, this is exactly what happened to us recently when we pulled into the Thousand Trails in Gloucester, VA.

UP FRONT WARNING!  If you don't have a washer in your rig or aren't really interested in ever trying to fix one,  please stop now and bail out.  This blog post isn't for you!
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We arrived last Thursday and Karen decided to do a load of laundry. Normally, when she closes the door and turns the load selector dial to a setting, several lights on the front panel illuminate and a countdown timer begins.  Today, NOTHING!!!!!   Not good.  Karen is none too happy.

We have a stacked Whirlpool washer and dryer positioned in the passenger side rear corner of our 2010 Tiffin Phaeton motorhome.  The washer model is #WFC7500V.  This washer has been in use in Tiffin motorhomes since around 2008 or 2009.  I'm not sure when they began using some other brands, but probably around 2011 or 2012.

Looking in from access panel

If you've ever tried to do anything with the washer and dryer in place, you know that access is very much unlike a sticks and bricks situation.  There is an access panel to the rear of our washer-dryer through a hole in the side of the rear closet.  It measures 4 1/2 x 22 inches and is basically big enough to turn the hot and cold water valves on and off, unplug the electrical plugs, and "maybe" replace the hot and cold water hoses.  I said maybe because I haven't tried that one yet.

Getting back to the washer problem, I checked the routine sources of the problem first.  Plugged a light into the receptacle to make sure that we were getting power up to that point.  Power was good.

Now I'm stumped.  It's time to go to the TiffinRVNetwork.com forum to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.  Several discussions about "other" problems, but nothing like the one we are experiencing. Remember, we have power to the washer, but seemingly no power is reaching any of the controls. I finally located a Whirlpool service manual online for this particular machine. Since several people have already asked for the service manual, I'm including a link to it here in my drop box account. (There's no need to have a drop box account for this.  When the splash screen on drop box opens, just click "X" and the manual will load.)

The more I dug into the problem, the more it sounded like an inoperative Central Control Unit (CCU) on the front of the washer.  Great!  I began pricing these online and they run anywhere from $200-$400 depending on whether it was a re-burbished or a new unit. I started checking the price of a brand new washer since this one is 5 years old.  Home Depot sells the same model for $689.  I'm beginning to not feel too good about the impending decision yet to be made.

I must give credit here to Bill (BillR22) on the Tiffin Forum as his correspondence with me indicated that he had a similar problem.  (He has a 2010 Tiffin Phaeton, as well).  He opened up his washer and found that some wires had come loose (presumably while bouncing down the roads).  I now had HOPE!
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On with the repair.  (I can hear the readers saying it's about time).
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These washers weigh about 170 pounds and are very hard to move around the way that they have been installed in the cabinet.  The height of the bottom of the cabinet shelf to the bedroom floor is about 14 inches and we also have an engine "hump" to deal with in this area.

To remove the washer from the cabinet I had to first remove the bi-fold doors.  Not hard, just three screws.  Remove the two bi-fold door latches on the left side of the opening, then remove a wooden spacer at the bottom of the washer.  Pretty easy so far.

The next task was to figure out how to build up a support shelf to pull the washer out of the cabinet.  I knew that if I ever got it down to bedroom floor level that I'd probably never get it back into the cabinet again.  A trip over to the TT maintenance shop and I returned with several cinder blocks and bricks.  These just happened to be the almost correct height.

I placed two pieces of 24" x 24" (1/2" thick each) on top of the block and bricks to make a temporary shelf.

Broken screw in washer

Ok, I'm ready to begin pulling the washer out.  It's not budging!  If you go back to Picture #1 in this blog you'll see that Tiffin placed two pieces of wood as a stop on the rear of the washer and dryer shelf.  Well, they had actually screwed thru the wooden stop block right into the metal washer cabinet.  After I finished cussing, I began to pry the wooden block to free the screw and the screw eventually broke.

Because the washer has four rubber feet on each corner which I needed to lift up over the front edge of the surrounding wooden cabinet, I used a strap to assist.  Karen pulled while I tipped the front upward to clear the cabinet, then I used the strap to move the washer totally out of the enclosure.  Fortunately, the water hoses were long enough that there was no need to disconnect them.

Here's a picture of the washer totally removed from the cabinet and sitting (quite nicely, I might add) on my temporary shelf.

Any access to the front control panels and circuit boards begins with the removal of three screws on the top rear edge of the washer. (The three nut drivers are positioned just to show the location of the screws.)

Once the screws are removed, grasp the top cover on each side of the washer and slide it backwards toward the rear of the washer. The top cover can then be removed.

The power cord enters the washer on the top right corner (when viewed from the front) and is attached to an AC line filter. EUREKA!!!  There's the problem!!!

As you can see in this picture, one of the wires is totally disconnected, and the other is just about to fall off of the terminal.

I love it when a repair is this easy.  I just re-connected the black and white push-on tabs and secured them with several turns of electrical tape.  Hopefully, they will stay in place much longer.






All that's left to do was to re-install the washer top cover and move the washer back into its' position in the cabinet.  (Oh, yes, I tested the washer before doing any of this. Worked perfectly again.)

The "beast" is a bit tougher pushing back into the cabinet, but we succeeded.














Believe me when I say that we were two happy people on the day of this repair.  I envisioned a trip by a appliance repair man at least.  Then, when all else failed either a replacement of that aforementioned CCU board, or worst case scenario, the replacement of the entire washer.

We had a working washer again and saved several hundred dollars in a service visit. Looking back, I see that this is a pretty long post, but hopefully it will assist someone else in at least removing their washing machine from the cabinet should the need arise.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!