3CFE2510W2 Whirlpool Dryer - Instructions

First of all, you go in from the front. There a clip on each side that I just pried up to pop the front of the dryer up. A screw also needs to be removed in the lint catcher area. Also, two screws holding the door open switch must be removed as I never could get the electrical connectors to disconnect. No big deal. I had to figure out you must lift the front of the dryer up as the last two things holding it in are a prong on each side. Lift the front up and off and set it aside. As you do this the drum will either fall on your feet or you'll have it supported be another person or with something else. I used bungee cords and kept it in the laundry room. Cleaned out all the old lint, collected a few bucks in change. It took me awhile to figure out how the new belt routed through the removable pulley guide thing and around the wheel pulley. I don't remember right now as I'm not looking at it but remember pinching the belt and feeding it through the guide and around the wheel pulley which has a little slot and grooves matching the belt. Besides scrapping my wife's hand while she was helping me get the front of the dryer back on there were no casualties or further complications. Good luck!

This product comes in a bottle with a brush like Liquid Paper. It goes on incredibly easy. A second coat might be needed. I wanted to prevent rust from setting in so I covered the scratches and dings. The paint is a little brighter since my washer is 10 years old but it still looks great.

After my husband disassembled the cabinet and removed the drum, we used a putty knife to remove the old seal and carefully glued the new one in place. (A 2 man job to do it without leaking glue everywhere.) We then replaced the belt, following the picture sent by PartSelect and put everything back. (We put all small pieces in labeled envelopes so that putting it back together was easy.) Another helpful hint - take a few digital pictures beforehand in the event that you need to see it to put it back together!

Disconnected supply. Lifted top (hinges on rear). removed two 1/4 hex head screws retaining front panel. Disconnected door switch wires. Removed front panel, lifting off from bottom tabs. Lifted out drum and discarded broken belt. Spent 30 minutes+ cleaning interior, drum skid area, dryer exit tube, motor pulley, belt tensioner, etc, etc. Checked wiring harness for possible damage (no damage found). Repositioned drum skid pads, which had become dislodged from their intended position. Reinstalled the drum with new belt, ensuring both belt & tensioner were correctly positioned, and drum rollers and felt seals were also correctly positioned. Reinstalled front panel, tightening the two 1/4 hex head retaining screws. Reconnected power. Checked functionality. Closed top cover.

The old catch on my dryer door was gone and I was keeping the door closed using tape. I ordered the part and it arrived with no hassles in about 5 days. The repair was too easy. I just popped the new catch in place. It took all of about 30 seconds to complete using no tools. I wish all home repairs were this easy.

There are a total of six screws that have to be removed to do this job.
Take the lint tray out and remove the first two screws.
Secondly, remove the lower panel in the front of the dryer. You do this by inserting a screwdriver at the top portion and pry it off. Next, loosen the two screws under the top panel in the front of the dryer.
Now take your screwdriver and pry up the top lid of the dryer. The last two screws are in the inside of the front panel. They hold together the front and side panels. Remove them and be sure you have a support for under the dryer drum. (once you remove the front panel, the drum no longer has a way to stay suspended)
(Make sure you disconnect the wires attached to the front door, making note of which wire goes where.)
At this point, You can follow the easy instructions that come with your new belt.
If you have a little mechanical aptitude, this is a very easy project.

Follow the advice given in the partsselect website. However, while removing the blower, my hand slipped into the housing and cut my thumb. Connected the wires to the junction box on the motor but didn't realize that the contacts would hit the drum when reinstalled. The original junction box was at a 90 degree rotation relative to the new box. When trying to test the breaker tripped. Using the multitester I found out that I burned out the thermal fuse, and froze the door switch. I replace both those parts and started the dryer and could hear a grinding sound. Inspection revealed that the housing of the motor was rubbing against the drum. Removing the drum yet again, I rotated the housing and replaced the drum. The dryer was finally working well.

I wasn't sure if the problem was the belt (probable) or the idler pulley assembly (less likely) but the total for both parts was about $26 plus shipping. So why not replace both to be sure?

As it turns out, my original idler pulley assembly does not turn. Rather, it has a concave semi-circular piece that is fixed in place. The belt ran in a groove in that piece.

The replacement part has a nylon wheel that turns. As a result of replacing the idler pulley assembly (which I don't think was necessary to fix my tumbling problem) the dryer runs much quieter. (We used to get a fair amount of squeaking when the belt rubbed).

As for the actual repair (I would rate myself as above average on tackling household repairs), it was about the simplest repair I've ever done. I followed the video provided on this site (excellent video) and it took less than 20 minutes -- cleaning up all of the lint/odds and ends under the washer and dryer took longer than the actual repair.

My only issue (minor) was disconnecting the electric harness. It did not slide as easily as in the video. I had to coax mine a bit with a small screwdriver (make sure your dryer is unplugged!!). I suspect it was simply a function of the harness never being unplugged -- the dryer is 9 years old.

I also felt great because I'm sure I saved a $125 service call (for only $26 in parts and 20 minutes of my life).

Good luck!

Used toothpick for a year to push switch acctuator far enough to engage switch. Broke my foot and found time to order part thru PartSelect. Went from cast to boot and received part 2 days after ordered. Had difficulty with foot and getting to switch. Went back into PartSelect and figured out how to dis-assemmble panels thru the diagrams. Time on my job doesn't, just that their service and expertise that is available to everyone is there to use. Broken bones or not, I will always get my parts and advice from PartSelect. Thanks to PartSelect.

My wife reported that the dryer was not working. I checked it and it seemed to work fine. This went on for about a month or two. Every time I checked it, it started just fine.

Well, she threatened to go buy a new dryer, I took her more seriously. I thought perhaps a thermal protection was the cause. But when I dug into it, I learned that when those trip out, they are permanent (have to be replaced).

I finally noticed loud humming sound the motor made at start-up, when it failed to start turning on one occasion and eventually tripped out the motors thermal protection.

I ordered the new drive motor form PartSelect.com.

Replacing the motor was fairly easy if you like to take stuff apart. One thing that I had not anticipated was that the two foam gaskets on the exhaust duct were dry rotted. I went to my local part supplier to get them. They did not have them in stock. :( While I was there, I asked how much the motor was, they wanted $50 more than PartSelect.com :D

I put it back together without the new gaskets, and it runs like new. I ordered the gaskets from PartSelect and will add them when they arrive.

My wife is happy again, she can bust out the laundry in one day; it had been taking here all weekend.

I learned to take her at her word.

**** Remove power cord from the wall****

As said earlier, you will need to lift the top. Drop the two screws holding the lint shoot and pop the top by sliding a screw driver into the corner on the front. Lif tthe top and rest against the wall behid the unit. remove the two (4 total) screws at the top and bottom of the front door assembly.
Place sometin under the front portion of the drum. At this point you'll see the need to clean everything! :) Slide the belt off and around the drum, (take note of the routing it takes.) Remove the drum by gently pulling it towards you. Set it aside. Clean more. :) (It is nice to have a vacuum handy.) At this point you really need to get to the rear of the system. So I tipped the top back down, and spun it around. Removed the rear panel and cleaned some more. (15 years of a lot of lint in there!) Then you'll need to remove the rear cover on the left side, covering the blower impeller. Get read for a whole lot of debris. Vacuum again. So now you have the motor exposed in the front and rear. You need to remove the impeller by turning that clockwise to loosen it. The trick is holding the shaft in place from the front at the same time. I used an old rag and wedged it into the impeller edges and worked it around until it jamed up. Once the rag was wedged pretty good, I went back to the front spun the shaft. Then you can remove the impeller by hand. Vacuum more. You may get by without having to remove the lint shoot completely, but I did just to clean it up more. I did have to remove two screws in the upper corner near the top of the lint shoot. (Basically the hold the back in place.) I took a few notes at this point about the wiring harness. Used a heavier screw driver (standard), You can push down on the clips that hold the old motor in place. Then work it out the front. Clean more. The new motor is not an exact replacement slightly differnt but the instructions with it were ok. Follow them for the correct wiring. You will need to remove one wire and cut and recrimp a spade lug or two. I used ty-wraps to secure the lines back in place. Look closely at the diagrams and make sure you set the motor down in the same direction the instructions say, if you twist it slightly it will sorta lock in place where it needs to be. Re-install the hold down clips to the front and rear of the motor. Clean up your impeller, and reinstall it too. Then basically reassemble the dryer...tracing your steps backwards. This isn't really difficult, it just takes time and as you can see, you will/should clean as you go !

I deduced the lid switch was the problem.

I removed the two screws holding the control panel on. Pulled the control panel back.
Disconnected the ground wire of the lid switch.
removed the two top clamps that hold the panel to the top of the machine.
Pulled back the casing (outside of the washer) and placed it on it's side on the floor. Here I could reach the switch. Removed old, installed new and reversed the process.

The part that gave me the biggest problem was setting the casing back on to the frame. You have to slide the front part in at the bottome, then lean back the rest of it.

If you were to do the Belt Replacement only, here is the quick synopsis:
1. Unplug dryer;
2a. Open lint door on top of dryer and remove the two phillips head screws that hold the lint bay to the metal dryer top;
2b. Next remove the two brakets holding the metal top to the dryer back (one screw on each bracket);
3. Use a flat-blade screw driver to pry off the top of the dryer (leaving the timer and start button area attached);
4. Lift off top and push back to expose just enough area so you can get to the two screws holding the dryer sides to the dryer front;
5. Unplug door switch;
6. Unscrew screws from #4;
7. With door open, lift dryer front (only about an inch) and then pry bottom of dryer front from dryer sides. The bottom of the dryer front is not screwed, just siting on Front Panel Clips;
8. Once the front is off the dryer, simply remove the belt and install the new one. Please note that while you are in here, you may want to inspect the rear drum seal and replace if it is worn to the point where metal is rubbing on metal. This is also a good time to clean out dust from inside this cavity to help extend the life of the bearings on the rollers and prevent dust from accumulating and gunking up the motor, etc.
9. Re-assemble tin the opposite order.
If you have any mechanical sense at all and you don't know anything about dryers, you will be surprised at the simplicity of the dryer.

The dryer motor quit working. Learned, if you are changing one that is old, get the blower wheel fan too! I could not break mine loose from the motor shaft, and had to bust it off.

To un-screw the blower wheel fan from the motor shaft: from the front of the dryer, grab the plastic fan on the back of the motor with an adjustable wrench, and the motor shaft on the front of the motor with vice grips. Turn the motor shaft CLOCKWISE holding the fan still to un-screw the fan. If you have to remove the pulley, grab the shaft and turn the pulley COUNTERCLOCKWISE with a wrench.

Just make sure to pay attention to the orientation of the new motor in the instructions. If you match the old motor, it will not fit. It is all spelled out in the directions.

1) Removed top of dryer
2) removed belt and drum
3) removed front of dryer
4) popped clips holding down motor
5) unscrewed rear fan from motor (by exposing and holding fan)
6) changed motor
7) changed support rollers and idler pully
8) reassemled dryer