3LER5434BQ1 Whirlpool Dryer - Instructions

Bought a new one and installed.

Looking at the schematics, it wasn't clear exactly where the motor was located. I took off the rear panel thinking I could get to the motor through the blower. Realizing that was a no-go, I did some web searching and found that the lint screen chute had to be unscrewed, the top had to be lifted to gain access to the top 2 screws holding the front panel to to the main body. The barrel was then dropped and the rib belt removed from around it so I could set it aside. The clips were removed from the front and the back of the motor to gain access to the blower shaft. .The motor shaft is screwed into the blower shaft but it took me a while to figure out how to grab the blower shaft( made of hardened plastic?) with an adjustable wrench while torquing the end of the shaft with a (3/4"?) socket wrench. Access to the rear was rough, but getting the motor out an back in was easy. The spring tensioner for the belt was the next hurdle. With the s-curve facing outward and clipped to the base, the belt with the rib side wrapped around the barrel, the belt was slid between the roller and the tensioner bracket and wrapped around the motor drive rib side inward. I had to take the old motor to kind of prop up the barrel so I could at least see the tensioner and motor interface. I had to do a balance trick where I held the barrel up while centering it to the belt and the rear panel while ensuring the cloth seal was seated to the outside of the chamber. The front panel went on, and the front cloth seal was seated by spinning the barrel. The rest was just a matter of reversing the steps. Tons of lint/dust is probably what crashed this motor. Disassembling the front and the back allowed a thorough clean up - vacuuming and wipe down. Should go another 10 years/

Everything worked perfectly---thanks to the suggestion of your call center agent. She suggested that since the replacement door handles were no longer available, I should consider repainting them--it worked like a charm. Please tell her she was a life saver. We rent that house in Fl and my returning tenants had complained about the discoloring refer handles. Thank you

Do to age and heat the dryer door handle was brittle and broke. Ordering was easy on line. Part was delivered faster tan expected. Oh and the repair time, Less than 1-minute.

Thanks for the great service.

I was reluctant to call a repair service. Typically when an appliance is as old as my dryer (14 years old), service people encourage you to replace, not repair. I had replaced the dryer's motor within the last 5 years and believed my dryer still had life to it. At first, I tried cleaning the lint build up from the dryer cavity and hoses. This worked but only for a couple of days. After reading other successful repair stories on the website, I decided to try replacing the thermal fuse. It was so easy. The part was easily identifiable. It was just a little hard to yank off the connecting wires. Good as new and no service call.

UNPLUG THE DRYER!!!!!
First removed the two screws holding the lint filter in place. Then slipped a screw driver between the top and the dryer body to remove the top. Using a nut driver removed the two screws holding the front of the dryer in place, remove the two wires for the door switch., lift the front cover of the dryer and set it aside. Support the drum ( two extra hands would be nice) and remove the drive belt. Then remove the drum. A thorough cleaning to remove all of the scorch like stain from the drum and back plate. Remove the seal and glue the new one in its place. Put it back like you found it. Make sure that the seal is not tucked against the back plate. Dryer works better than new and no more stains.

My dryer timer would run through the heat cycle and move in to the cool down cycle. It would not move past the cool down cycle, and would not shut off automatically. I tried replacing the Thermal Fuse first, since I'd already removed the back panel to diagnose the problem. There was no change - the dryer did not shut off automatically. Next, I removed the back cover to the timer console. The Timer Power Resistor looks like a black circle and a rectangle joined together. It was attached to the back of the on/off switch by a single hex head screw, and the resistor has orange and black wires attached. The replacement Power Resistor doesn't look like the resistor that was in my dryer. It is rectangular in shape with 2 male spade connectors. I attached the orange and the black wires to the new power resistor. I started the dryer and it went through a full heat/cool down cycle, and automatically shut off with the end of cycle buzzer sounding. Total part replacement time was about 10 minutes.

Safety First - I unplugged the power source. I removed the console by simply removing several screws. However because the nut fastening the resistor was in a really tight spot and I had little room to work, I decided to remove several screws from the back of the console to open it up. (This step is not necessary - but for me, it just made the job go quicker). I was then able to use my ratchet/socket set to remove the nut from the resistor. I then attached the wires from the timer to the new in-line resistor. I closed up the console, re-attached it to the dryer and DONE!!! The dryer works fine!!! By the way, the set is 25 years old. I initially thought it was the timer itself but after explaining the problem to Rebecca at this iste , she quickly identified the problem as the timer power resistor. Many thanks Rebecca??

Troubleshhot problem, used multimeter to verify current to motor. Once that i was sure motor was getting proper voltage, I used a meg-ohm meter on A/C motor windings and physically tried to turn motor and found that it was siezed. I then cleaned inside of unit inspected belt and drum rollors. Due to the cost of the items, I decided If I was going to replace the motor I should replace all moving parts, and install new belt. Everything went easy. WHAT WAS MOST IMPRESSIVE! was that the Parts people sent the correct parts on time the first time, with no hiddin charges. There web site should accurate diagrams of parts and internals of machine. I was really pleased and will use this service again. Thank you

First I pulled out lint catcher, you will see two screws ,removed two the screws on top ,( philips head screw driver) I than took a putty knife and pushed in the front of the dryer under the lid and lifted the top up, I than removed a self tapping screw on each side with a 5/16 wrench and lifted the front panel out. I than pulled out the drum and this exposed the two rollers, I than pulled of the nut locks with athe pliers , took off the plastic triangle snaps and pullled off the old rollers , replaceing them with the new ones,put the triangle locks on and that the lock nuts on , I than put the drum back in, than the front panel, replaceing the two self tapping screws , snapped down the top,replaced the other two screws again on top and replaced the lint catcher, I was done.

The most difficult part of this repair was making sure I purchased the right part !!! Part Select.com has a great website with pictures of almost every part you could ever need. I was able to select the right part and from there the repair was easy.

I took the dryer apart by visually looking at it and removing screws, etc. until I had the top off and the front off. I took the dryer apart so I could get the part out and use it visually ascertain I was ordering the same part.

I bought the replacement part and only then did I have the instructions to take the dryer apart. It was further apart than the instructions said. I had to take the front off to retrieve the broken part which had fallen inside the front of the dryer.

I put the front back on the dryer and installed the new part, which, fortunately could only be installed one way. Once I had the two screws tightened into the part, the remainder was to simply follow the instructions that came from your web site and put the link filter and top of the dryer back on. Of course, I plugged in the dryer and checked to see that it ran before completing this.

I am amazed that I was able to find this part for a 30 year old dryer. The part hasn't changed at all. I guess, if you have a good part, there's no need to modify it.

Solution: electric motor replacement as the integral centrifugal switch lever (plastic cam) wears over time causing the start windings' switch poor contact. Took it all apart, (back panel, front and top) including lifting the drum out to completely expose the motor. Needed to wrench the plastic fan from the inside motor shaft. Tricky part was swapping the original pulley (6 rib belt, still good) for the one supplied for 4 rib belts. I needed to file another flat onto the other side of both motor shafts (old and new) to break them free, using a vice to secure the pulleys. The dryer works perfectly! It's a great dryer that can be repaired by a determined novice. The enclosed instructions were helpful, although if followed about cutting the original motor shaft to obtain its pulley might require drilling the shaft from the pulley = nonsense. Thanks again Parts Select.

Took back cover off
Disconnected part
Put new one in
Reconnected wires
Put back cover on

To verify that this was the needed part, I used a digital multimeter to confirm there was no continuity.

I needed to remove the front lower cover, very easy as it is held on with clips only so I used a flat head screw driver to pop it off. I had to remove the lint filter and then there are two screws attaching the top cover of the dryer to the internal lint filter tray. The top of the dryer can then be opened front to back I again used the flat head screw driver to pop the top open as it has two clips at the front corners. It helps to have someone to hold it open or a rod of some type to keep it open. You can now lay the belt on the top of the drum and work it down the back side by pulling forward on the drum itself to seperate the drum from the seal that presses aginst the back side of the drum. I then went from the lower front to retrieve the belt now draped over the drum and pinched the belt to pass it through the tensioner and over the drive pulley. looking at it from the front the belt will come down the right side of the drum under the tensioner pulley around the drive pulley across the bottom of the drum and up the left side. The belt sits almost in the middle of the drum not against the back lip where there is a groove that might be confused as a place for the belt to ride that is where the seal sits then reverse the process to reattach the top to lint tunnel and reattach front cover and you are good to go . i would suggest vaccuming any old dust/ lint whlie everything is open as this reduces the chance for catching on fire I was supprised as to how much lint was loose inside the dryer cavity itself and our dryer is gas and the flame is an open flame.