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SDE5401AYW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

All Instructions for the SDE5401AYW
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Dryer would not start when starter switch was pushed.
Installed new starter switch but it turns out that was not the problem. After checking the wiring diagram I tested the door switch and found that it was faulty. I jumped across it behind the control panel and now the dryer works fine.I'll replace the door switch later. If you do has I did remember that the dryer will then run with the door open and is dangerous. My mistake was I did not check the old starter switch with the ohm meter right off, silly me.
Parts Used:
Push to Start Switch
  • Steve from Hillman, MN
  • Difficulty Level:
    A Bit Difficult
  • Total Repair Time:
    30 - 60 mins
  • Tools:
    Screw drivers, Socket set, Wrench (Adjustable)
4 of 8 people found this instruction helpful.
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belt was cracking and dryer was somewhat noisy
I used your great video for pointers as to what to do. I took off the front, raised the top, vacuumed the whole thing up, that took quite a while. Took out the drum. Did more cleaning. Then took off the old retaining rings with retaining ring pliers, took off the old drum rollers and support. Replaced with new roller supports, washer, roller, washer and retaining rings. Then I replaced the belt. Tested it and turned the wrong way and it came off. Replaced and tested it again and I don't know why but it came off. Replaced the belt again, tested fine. Then I replaced the felt pads and glides, they were worn. I ended up asking my husband to help hold the drum so I could get the front back on. Replaced front and door. Tried the dryer. Works great AND very, very little noise. Note: when taking the wiring off the light and the door switch, I took photo's of those places with my cell phone and had them to look at to make sure the wiring was correct.
Parts Used:
Thrust Washer
  • Melody from Silverton, CO
  • Difficulty Level:
    Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    More than 2 hours
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Screw drivers
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Dryer was not heating up.
The video on the web-site was very helpful in showing how to take it apart. First we remove the power plug from the wall outlet. Then we used flat scrapper to push the top two hidden clips to release the Dryer's top. We used the nut driver to unscrew the two screws that held the front panel. We carefully remove the wires that were connected to switch sensor for the door, and the lights. Next step was to unscrew couple more screws that held the front piece from the main fan housing. At the bottom locate the tensioner of the belt. Release it. Remove the dryer drum with the belt. We took the opportunity to clean off the lint that was all over on the bottom of the dryer. We then could reach the bottom left back of the dryer to unscrew the screws that held the heater unit. Before that we unscrew and release the wires for the Thermal fuse and the limit thermostat which are all located on the heating unit. Then we replace with new pieces. Upon removal of the heating unit we noticed the broken heating element. Next was to place the drum back in. We made sure that the drum lined up with the rear support piece then the front. We rotated the drum just to make sure that it was sitting correctly. Then we screwed the front housing unit. Then we put the front panel back on the hooks at the bottom. That help to line up the front panel with the main chasis. We connected all the connectors to the right terminals. Last was to set the top down on to the chasis. We checked that the duct in the rear is not obstucted. Lastly was plugging in the power cord and testing the dryer. It is working again. Thanks to Part Select's video and parts. Total time was just over half an hour.
Parts Used:
Heating Element (Orange Dot) Limit Thermostat High Limit Thermal Fuse
  • Kenneth from Fort Wayne, IN
  • Difficulty Level:
    Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Pliers, Screw drivers
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Dryer wouldnt heat up
A friend did the repair for me. Very simple. Saved me a lot of money by getting the parts and fixing the problem. Thanks!
Parts Used:
Heating Element (Orange Dot) Limit Thermostat High Limit Thermal Fuse
  • HILDEGARD from NAMPA, ID
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Screw drivers, Wrench (Adjustable)
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squeeling noise & drum turning real slow
unplug appliance.removed 2 screws @ the rear of dryer top to tip lid back. unplugged the door switch wires.took out 3 philip screws that hold lint screen to inside of drum.removed 2 screws @ dryer front top. lifted dryer front panel off. the drum was now loose. slipped off old belt - replaced with new. set drum back into place. made sure new belt was on motor pulley & behind tensioner pulley arm. replace & reconnect items in reverse order. plug back in & test. after seeing the wear on the plastic tensioner pulley i regret not ordering that part for replacement also.
Parts Used:
Multi Rib Belt
  • roy from tunkhannock, PA
  • Difficulty Level:
    A Bit Difficult
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Screw drivers
2 of 2 people found this instruction helpful.
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Squealing noise until the dryer warms up
Replaced the two drum rollers and the tensioning arm roller. NOTES: 1. There are two drum rollers, the diagram seems to show only one. Recommend replacing both drum rollers and the support bracket shaft assemblies since the shafts might be scored. 2. The tensioning arm roller was actually much worse and frozen, so once you are in it is best to replace ALL three rollers. 3. I also replaced the belt since it was worse for wear from the frozen rollers. 4. The PartSelect video for the procedure is for the Whirlpool branded version of this dryer. The internal parts and construction are identical, however, the initial steps for opening up the dryer are different. On the Amana the top also tilts up, but is held down by two bolts, and not just the spring clips. Steps are: a) Remove bottom kick plate which is held in by two bolts on the lower front edge. b) remove the retention bolts that are now exposed on the front panel and remove the front panel by pulling it down from the top spring clips. c) Unbolt and remove the front drum retention panel. d) The two bolts that hold down the top can now be removed and the top panel tilted up so the drum can be lifted out after the belt is loosened. The whole process is very quick and easy. Only tricky part is fumbling around behind the motor to move the tensioning roller and arm to remove and re-install the belt. Also, I had cheap spring clip pliers so I was fumbling with the spring clips that hold the rollers on their shafts.
Parts Used:
Drum Support Roller and Shaft Assembly Drum Support Roller
  • Mario from MANHATTAN BCH, CA
  • Difficulty Level:
    Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    30 - 60 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Wrench (Adjustable)
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Dryer would not stay running
Using instructions from your website, I was able to remove access covers from my driver & find the pieces that needed to be replaced. It was a simple repair job & now my dryer is working properly again.
Parts Used:
Limit Thermostat High Limit Thermal Fuse Door Switch Kit
  • Peter from NEWMARKET, NH
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    30 - 60 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Screw drivers
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Drum stopped turning, motor still running
Dryer stopped tumbling, so bad belt was my first thought. Dryer is in vacation home so did not have immediate access to it to diagnose. Ordered belt and discovered that the poorly designed motor pulley had broken and the belt jumped onto the motor shaft and burned through the original belt. Week 2 after ordering pulley, installation went per YouTube video. Glad I also replaced the belt because it was brittle and cracked. Suspect it had been slipping because sheets would ball up into a log, possibly because the drum wasn't spinning fast enough. Anyhoo, after repair all seems OK.
Parts Used:
Multi Rib Belt
  • Richard from PORTLAND, OR
  • Difficulty Level:
    A Bit Difficult
  • Total Repair Time:
    30 - 60 mins
  • Tools:
    Screw drivers, Socket set
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Bad element
googled make and model number of dryer! Found a trouble shooting comment like my problem! Dryer not getting hot! Watched video on locating and removing element and Hightemp sensor of my model. Then went in and inspected element ! I was able to see that element was bad-had a break in middle. Removed old one and ordered new one! This was a Sunday night! Had back together after work on Wednesday evening! Total time approx 45 minutes! This includes time researching online and taking two sensors off old element and mounting on new element! Easy fix!
Parts Used:
Heating Element (Orange Dot)
  • John from NEWARK, DE
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    30 - 60 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Screw drivers
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lint filter
No problem
Parts Used:
Lint Filter
  • shirley from sherman, TX
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    Less than 15 mins
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Dryer started making a terrible sound, when my son opened up the appliance he found that the Blower wheel was broken and the housing was full of debris.
My son will discribe how he did the repair.
First I opened the top, then I removed the front with a 1/4 inch ratchet and socket. I took the cover off the blower housing with a nut driver. Used the appropriate socket and a 1/2 inch ratchet, and an adjustable wrench to hold the motor shaft and removed the Blower wheel. I replaced the broken Blower Wheel and put all it back together.
Our dryer is now working great and there are no unwanted sounds emanating from within. We are very happy with PartSelects promptness and that we recieved the correct part as ordered. PartSelect website was easy to navigate. We plan if the need arises to do so again in the future.
Thankyou Frank and Rodney
Parts Used:
Blower Wheel
  • Frank from HOOPA, CA
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Socket set, Wrench (Adjustable)
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When the dryer was on it would still tumble, but made an aweful sound
My son n law took the fron off the dryer, whilw I looked on the inertnet to locate whatever part we would find to be in need of. He pulled the front panel off and the drum out to dicover it was the bracket and glide. They were easily replaced by popping the bracket out and snapping th new one in then placing the guide on it proper spot.
Parts Used:
Drum Glide Cylinder Glide Bracket
  • Vicky from Browns Mills, NJ
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Pliers, Screw drivers
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dryer only buzzed when started
This amana dryer didn't have the lower panel with screws. Instead, I removed the brackets in the back and found that the whole top would separate from the rest of the body (except for wiring, of course.) There seemed to be screws holding the top to the base in the front, but these are just guide posts. There are two spring clips in the front that you can pop loose with a putty knife.

Then there are two screws inside that fasten the front to the rest of the frame. Once I removed these, and the electrical connections to the door switch and the light bulb, the whole front came of just by tilting it forward and pulling the front panel up off of metal tabs on the base.

The rest of the repair went smoothly per other descriptions.
Parts Used:
Motor Assembly - Threaded Shaft
  • Gregory from Holland, MI
  • Difficulty Level:
    Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    1- 2 hours
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Screw drivers, Socket set, Wrench (Adjustable)
3 of 6 people found this instruction helpful.
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Large piece of air duct assembly broke off.
This is a real easy fix to do by yourself. First, I removed three screws on the inside of the dryer. These hold the air duct assembly in place. Second, remove two bolts on the front-bottom part of the bottom panel. Third after panel is removed loosen the two other bolts and remove air duct assembly. Simple as that.
Parts Used:
Lint Duct Assembly
  • Kevin from Savoy, IL
  • Difficulty Level:
    Really Easy
  • Total Repair Time:
    15 - 30 mins
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Socket set
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Idler Pulley Bearing froze
First of all I would not have done this if it wasn't for
your website. Using the schematics to figure out
the right parts was easy. It was also helpful in the
actual repair process. I have added your website
to my favorites in my browser. The parts arrived in 3 days and I live in Reno. Great Website.

M.B.
Parts Used:
Idler Pulley Wheel with Bearing Multi Rib Belt Idler Pulley Lever and Shaft Retaining Ring Thrust Washer
  • Maure from Sparks, NV
  • Difficulty Level:
    A Bit Difficult
  • Total Repair Time:
    1- 2 hours
  • Tools:
    Nutdriver, Wrench set
2 of 3 people found this instruction helpful.
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All Instructions for the SDE5401AYW
121 - 135 of 513