YE205KKW Magic Chef Dryer - Instructions

I applied the excellent description of accessing and fixing the drier givenby others. When the second fusible link opened, I consulted the Repair Forum. Denman, an obviously experienced responder, walked me through the diagnostics.

I did not ask denman's permission to pass on his recommendations so they may or may not apply to your situation. Heere

"Here are your parts with a wiring diagram
Maytag YE225LV

With the unit apart and drum/belt removed and thermal fuse wires shorted together the motor should run. You also have to tape or hold the door switch closed. I would also disconnect and tape up one of the wires going to the heater coil as it will overheat. Never leave the thermal fuse shorted as the unit can cause a house fire without it.

Be very careful that everything is well taped up so you do not get a short.
You have 220 volts in the unit which is very dangerous.

The motor should manually turn easily from the pulley end.
The ding from the fan indicates that there is a problem here. Check it carefully.
Here is a good site
Dryer Help Sections, repairing dryers, Kenmore, Whirlpool, Maytag, Inglis, GE, Frigidaire, White Westinghouse, Magic Chef, Norge, changing a 3 prong cord to a 4 prong cord, no heat, electric dryers, gas dryers, how to take apart my dryer, what can st
Check out the Maytag Dependable Care section / 26 -motor problems / "Check this out" at the bottom of the page

Normally your high limit safety thermostat should open before the thermal fuse blows.
When you ran your test did you run it on fluff (no heat) at first?

I would remove and check the heater for a grounded element.
Depending where it breaks/shorts it can be on high heat all the time with the thermostats having no control of it.
From your description this would be my prime suspect!!"

My observations:

1 the reference above is to applianceaid.com, which had useful tips. Tip #4 was washing the filter screen with detergent, as it holds an invisible layer of residual lint.

3. When cleaning, disconnect front panel, take out filter and clean the cavity behind the filter. I used a garden hose and large volumes of lint came out.

Now I am scheduling full clean out at least annually, including washing screen and inside door.

2. since thermal fuses are designed to open when overheated, it is hard to test if they work or not. (They test continuous at room temperature.)

3. at Denman's subsequent suggestion, I replaced the thermal fuse past the blower. (There is a thermal fuse ahead of the heating elements and the elements heated, so it is a less logical failure candidate.)

System working fine. The help was worth as much as the parts!

unplugged the dryer.
opened it up.
unscrewed the housing that was holding the blower wheel.
removed the broken blower wheel.
placed the blower wheel on the shaft.
got a socket wrench and an extender to tap the blower wheel into place. I put a towel over the socket wrench so as to be gentle on the blower wheel. I tapped it down until I could fee the grove on the shaft where the washer used to go to hold in the old blower wheel (the new one has enough grip on its own to stay put).
put the housing back on after doing a few spin tests to make sure the blower wheel was spinning freely.
did some spin tests after putting the housing back on.
reassembled the dryer, plugged it in.
turned it on to test again.
done.

First I removed the screws that held the part in place, but this proved to be the hardest part for me. I had to find the right kind of screw driver . It was not a slotted or Phillips. It was more star shaped. Once I had the right tool, the rest was pretty easy.
I then opened the top of the dryer to be able to lay the front on the floor. There were wires connected to the front, however, so I had to remove the part that the wires were connected to by slipping it out of the bracket that held it in place. Once the front panel was on the floor, I simply lifted the old part out and placed the new part in. I closed the front, replacing the part with wires back into the bracket, locked the top down tight, replaced the screws, and I was finished.

After reading the comments of on-line customers, I realized the dryer opens like the hood of a car and then you pull the front of the dryer door off in order to get to the two screws holding the old lint duct housing unit. Putting the new part on was easier, but I would have appreciated a detailed picture along with the written instructions. Thank you for your quick delivery. Kathleen Yosso

The repair was relativley easy. Had to remove the top, it popped up with a screwdriver and picked it up and leaned against the wall. Then removed two screws to remove the front.Removed old belt then move dryer tub forward, removed bad roller bearing, installed new bearing,applied some grease ( had to use a screwdriver to pry bearing pin off/on which is reusable.Finally installed the new belt around tub, the most trickey part since there was no access panel, but after a few tries it was easy to figure out.Great price on items and i checked several places,quality parts and delivered only a couple days after i ordered. I highly recommend partselect. Thanks Kirt

Was obvious what the problem was when dryer lost heat. Thermostat was fried with one contact burned off.
Unplugged dryer
Opened top of dryer using putty knife to release latches.
Removed 2 wires to Therostat, and removed the old one (2 1/4 hex screws).
Installed new thermostat, and reconected.
Done

It was supper easy. I was able to order the correct part from the detailed description you provided. I just opened it and slid it into the slot for a perfect fit.

I wish I had done it sooner. My filter had holes in it for some time.

Actually, I was the handy man. First I removed the front panel. Then I used 3 - 2x4s to hold up the drum. Then I slipped the belt around the center of the drum ,motor,and around the pulley at the bottom of the dryer. That was it, and then I put it back together. My wife was amazed and proud that I did it without calling for help! No Problem!

Unplugged electric, turned off gas valve. Opened top using a putty knife, laid it gently back against the wall for support. Removed 2 screws holding front on-leaned front out about 3-4 inches- while holding front with my knees I disconnected door switch wires.-then removed front panel. Followed instructions on maintenance sheet glued on underside of dryer top (Lucky it was there). Took tension off drive belt. Removed belt and drum following instructions on lid sheet. Removed old slides (worn out) Installed new pads & slides. Vacuumed out all lint/dust/dirt I could reach, Cheked rear drum rollers. Reinstalled everything that I had removed. It took extra time to do everything because dryer was in tight space, little working space. Turned gas on, plugged in electric cord. Worked great now.

It took me a bit to figure out how to get the outer case to come apart (there are two spring-loaded latches under the front edge of the lid, had to insert a putty knife at just the right spot then lift up the lid). Once it was taken apart, I manually spun the drum to see where the noise was coming from and it was obviously coming from one of the two wheels that support the rear of the drum. Took out the drum after sliding the belt off and replacing the wheels was a piece of cake. They are held on by E-clip style retaining rings, which I destroyed when removing them with a pair of pliers. Luckily the new set comes with new retaining rings, along with the required washers and spacers. I also replaced the metal pins that the wheels spin on, since mine were showing wear and I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to keep squealing after I was done! All in all it was pretty easy! Before you take the belt off, make sure you take note of how the belt winds around the tension wheel so that you put it back on correctly! My girlfriend was VERY impressed that I was able to fix her dryer for about 1/10 of what it would have cost to get a new one!

The support roller broke and that made the noise as the rubber came off the wheel. It took about 8 months before the belt finally broke. Since I had it apart I decided to change both the drum felt seals and idler pulley wheel. I had trouble finding high temperature adhesive for the drum felt seal. Lowe's and Home depot didn't have anything that indicated it would take the heat. Finally located an adhesive at a craft store and the label claimed it was good on washers and dryers. Although I was able to glue and stretch the felt onto the dryer by myself if you have two people it will be alot easier. My dryer had made so much noise for so long I couldn't believe how quiet it is now.

Took off the four screws to get to the female clip and used pliers to squeeze it out. Next was using pliers to pinch out the male connector and place the new one in.

Hinged open the top of the dryer. While dryer was running I tapped on the thermostat. The heater came back on. This verified the problem. Unplugged the thermostat, unscrewed it and replaced it.

Real easy I have resurrected my dryer may times so this was easy to replace the belt and idler pulley

The replacement part just snapped into place. (The old part had fallen out) It took less than 30 seconds to do the repair.