LW8463L2 PLW8463L2 Amana Washer - Instructions

Purchased x4 new adjustable legs. Leaned the washer back and held in place with block of wood. Loosened the two older front legs with an adjustable wrench because they had a locking nut and replaced with new legs. Repeated process on back side of washer. Once all the new legs were installed leveled the machine adjusting the legs if necessary.

Removed the front panel, could see water leaking from the tub area near the shaft in the center of the machine. Dripping out once the water level reached the hub. Swing the top up, remove the large plastic ring at top of tub. remove the top of the agitor, pulls off easily. Remove the agitator with a firm pull up, not as easy but does come off. Removed the 4 bolt holding the tub. 2 broke off, but not to worry, the new kit has a complete hub. Pulled off the bell seal, pry up. Used an impact gun with 1-1/2" socket to remove the nut. The hub was frozen to the shaft. Tried a puller but ended up breaking the hub. I finally cut it off in pieces and pryed it off (the hardest part of job). Cleaned up the spline with a small file and patience. Installed the new seal kit. Ended up buying the M800 3M sealant on line. I went this far, another $40 for that. Fitted it all back up per instructions. No leaks. All good.

The new hose was exactly like the one I removed. It was simply a matter of putting the new hose through the back, replacing the hose clamp, take the piece off the old hose that makes the bend in the hose to go in the wall drain. Replace the lower front panel with two screws and I was done.

Turned off water & unpluged ac power. Removed 2 screws on front panel. Removed panel. Found peices of V belt. Removed 4 screws from electric motor which allowed the belt to come out. Ordered new belt on line. Received the item in one day. Reversed the above sequence above. Now the washer is running as good as new.

Researched the common problem with "dryer not turning on", and tested the top three problems. Removed the dryer front casing and door, unbolted front dryer plate. Used a volt meter on two of the temp gauges, which were fine. Removed the upper back plate of the dryer to the wiring for the knobs and buttons. Used the volt meter on the dryer start button, which was also fine. Went back around to the front and removed the door switch. Tested it with the volt meter and bingo. Replaced that part, dryer works like normal.

My Amana washing machine burned up a second belt in about three weeks. Prior to that, the spin cycle was very loud. Online research revealed the problem was most likely the hub bearing. I ordered a new bearing, belt and hub and seal kit. The repair is a difficult one as the parts have been on the tranmission shaft many years with the mounting corrosion and mineral build up. I was able to pull the agitator off with no problem. The drive bell would have been easier to pull had I used a gear puller but did not own one. I use two crow bars to lift it off the shaft and I knew I'd be replacing it anyway so was not concerned about damaging it although I didn't. The most difficult part to remove was the large hex nut. I didn't want to purchase the tool to remove it so I used an open end adjustable wrench adn a hammer to remove it. However it took many hours of soaking the nut in sprayed on WD-40 to loosen it. For a while I thought it wasn't going to budge. Oh and btw, the nut comes off counterclockwise on this model. This is important. Other makes of washers have left handed threads, requiring clockwise removal, but this one does not. The hub assembly was pulled using the crow bar method. Again, it was going to be replaced anyway. The lint filter was cleaned and reused. The remainder of the dissassembly went OK using the directions in the repair manual. http://www.scribd.com/doc/8677902/Amana-Top-Load-Washer-Service-Manual. Reassembly went fine using the repair manual accept that the new drive bell was much more difficult to drive onto the shaft than I thought it would be. I eventually got it on using my shop vac rigid tube to go around it and hammering on a block of wood placed on top of it. I also used this shop vac tube to seat the seal that goes on the shaft just before the drive bell. It was the perfect tool for it as I wasn't going to purchase the special tool suggested in the repair manual. I'd already purchased $185 in parts. The kits come with grease but not the anti seizure compound or the industrial sealant needed. The anti seisure compound can be purchased from an auto parts store. It's not expensive. The industrial sealant is expensive. After researching what it was and why it was needed, I took a chance on silicone sealant. I'm not suggesting it is a good substitute but my washer has not leaked after 5 loads. Plus the sealant is really a backup to the main seal that goes on the transmission shaft before the hub assembly. But I'm pleased overall with the parts and accompanying directions and the washer is working great, spinning quietly. This is not an easy repair. It takes patience and a place to work on it. Frankly, with other things to do as well as go to work, it took me four days to complete, mostly due to the difficulty in removing the large hex nut. It might be worth investing in the removal tool if you're unsuccessful using home tools. Good luck.

Installing the new switch was a snap. With the dryer unplugged, open the top using a putty knife to release the 2 clips - one on each side. Lift the top and support it to stay open. Next, note the wire color and location for each of the 3 wires. Remove each wire from its prong on the bad switch by gripping the connector with pliers and pulling off. Next remove the bad switch by squeezing the tabs on the sides of the switch to release it. The switch removes to the front of the dryer. Install the new switch in the same method and reconnect the wires as before making sure the colors go back on the same prongs. I had to replace one of the connectors with a larger one (that came with the switch) since one of the prongs on the new switch was larger than the orginal (bad) switch. To do this, I cut the old connector off, stripped the end of the wire, and crimpted on the new connector. I had to be careful not to waste too much wire since there was very little slack to work with.

First thing I did was to read the great information from other customers. John from Milton's post titled "frayed v belt" was excellent; so was Joseph from Goldsboro NC under the Pump part posts. I would add the following info which wasn't readily available. The Torx/starbit size mentioned in the posts referenced is a T25 the Amana lw8203w2 I have. I bought a t25 size torx wrench at my local hardware store for $2. I got everything together --the belt took some arm strength for an amateur like me to get on. Also, would recommend gloves as some of the edges are sharp down there. Everything appeared okay and when I started the spin cycle it started then cut off. I thought maybe besides the fan belt there was electronics faulty. However, I found an amana repair guide for my model online at scribd and under the troubleshooting section, it described the cutout of the spin cycle and if the new fan belt is too tight, it will bind and the spin cycle will cut out. So I opened up the front again and worked the belt for several turns to "stretch it" and voila, it worked perfectly.

Too simple to describe.

Removed old hose, drained the water from the hose. Put new hose on.

When the dryer stopped working, I checked the two switches to see if they were good. The start button checked out OK but the switch on the door read bad. Ordered the part with the part number and put on when it arrived. Just a matter of disconnecting and reconnecting three wires. Very simple