[jobobvideo]

First let me say to all the appliance repairs guys out here that I'm not trying to take anything away from you. I just thought I had to share my little story...

...yesterday was a bad day...wife needed tires for the Pacifica $1,200 and found out $400 for alignment...came home, found the sidewall blown out on the Toyota needs new one (still working on that). As I was assessing the totoya tire, washing maching starting making a clicking noise...what else could go wrong...called the local repair guys, but no one answering at night on this holiday weekend...trip to the laundrymat brought back all those bad memories as a kid spending most of a day every weekend waiting for clothes...anyhow got up this morning started searching on the net to find out what might be wrong with washing maching. After a little searching found a couple sites that were very helpful. Well if you stayed with me this long here you go...this site had sounds that were helpful in diagnosing the problem: http://applianceassistant.com/repair/sounds/index.php
and with the help of these video I figured I could fix it: http://applianceassistant.com/videos/index.php#washer
and this one was good for looking up parts: http://www.repairclinic.com/partsearch/shop-for-parts?p=Shop-For-Parts
So with reckless abandon, I torn the machine apart and found the motor coupler to be an issue. Called in town and the surrounding towns trying to find the part with no luck...finally found a local repair guy that met me in the parking lot of the grocery store. Talking to him on the phone, I could tell he wasn't real happy to find out how I was able to take it apart and know the part I needed. When I met him in the parking lot, we talked about how I was able to find the information. It seem he knew things might get tough for him being a small repair guy having to pay for his own liciense, insurance and such. Usually I just call someone to fix these things and will likely call him for repairs in the future, but I thought you all might be in same situation I was and these sites might be helpful to you. Thanks for reading this, just thought I'd share this with ya'

 

[old blue]

Yeah, I had a house full of people coming over for Labor Day weekend and the fridge quit on me. Here is the sound it made..........











Hopefully my brother in law can fix it!

Old Blue.

 

[SouthLyonBen]

When me and the wife got our house we had no money and the joint came with a broken clothes dryer the previous owners left, well with an old Time Life book and the help of some sites like these I got that bad mother running with about $30 worth of parts from this joint 1stservall.com (I went there in person) and 4 years later she's still running strong :thumbsup: I think it's good to have A place you use though because there's gonna be that time where you're in over your head and if you have a relationship they may be less likely to break it off you know where....

 

[ParkRNDL]

Funny you posted this now. Last weekend the washer started making a baseball-card-in-the-spokes sound near the end of the cycle and the water wasn't draining completely. With a little help from Google, I figured out it was the drain pump motor. 3 screws to take off the lower cover, one spin-on drain cover with a little residual water leakage, three screws holding the motor/pump to the drain coupling and I was able to take the motor out. Turns out the impeller was kinda loose on the armature shaft and the shaft was kinda loose in the motor. New motor was about 75 bucks shipped on Fleabay... three days for shipping and we are up and running again. I was pretty proud of myself...

--rick

 

[Gerome]

My golf cart stopped running several months ago. The motor ran but the cart would not go. I called the local repair guy and he was out so as I waited for him to return my call I found a golf cart message board and searched for the problem. The axles have splines on the ends which turn a hub attached to the wheel. The hub splines stripped. Apparently it was a common problem on the EZ-Go, my cart. I found the hub at a local parts place for $99. Searched the bay and found it for $46 plus free shipping so I ordered it. It arrived a couple of days later, the same day the repair guy called, and I had it repaired in no time. I told the guy and he said he couldn't even get that hub for less than $75. I gave him a new source. It's amazing what you can find on the internet.

 

[SplitPoster]

Amazing how many things you can find on YouTube. Learned how to replace a battery in a "sealed, non-servicable" key fob, and how to replace a shift linkage rod/bushing from the top side only in my 87 BMW hobby car.

I like cars, like to save good candidates from the crusher, or getting driven to death by some moron until they end up in the salvage yard. Bought said BMW for $1400, all papers and brochures from day1 including delivery sheets and import/export/service records from time spent later in Germany. Really solid but recently sadly neglected. It would have cost me or someone well over $500 just to install the new timing belt it needed at a shop. 5-6 hours. Found a GREAT supplier of factory and good OEM parts online selling cheap. The front of the engine has to be exposed to do it, so radiator, fan & shroud, all belts, etc have to come out anyway, and you replace the water pump when you do it, because if it leaks it all has to come back off right down to the timing belt cover..... Sourced all new hoses, accessory belts, timing belt, tensioner, water pump, drain plug, ign rotor and cap because it attaches on the front end of the cam and is easy to get to with radiator out-about $150 in parts. I was a little slower than a mechanic who has done it before. OK, I was a lot slower, and I did have to buy some long handle wrenches at Harbor Freight for 20 some odd dollars, but it all would have cost closer to $800 to get my friend the mechanic to do in his shop.

My TM doesn't completely understand my dependence on the internet, and the importance of my favorites list, even when I showed her how I identified our faucets and how to fix the dripping on YouTube.

 

[bobhch]

Change your Furnace Filter when it's dirty...$$$$

This is a great thread!!

Our Clothes washer just stopped working one day several years back.

It would fill up with water but, would not start agitating to wash the clothes. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Being short on money I told Ginger I was going to tear it apart and try to fix it.

Scooped out all the water...Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and then got my tools out.

I said many cus words and after digging into this thing I felt like I had no clue as to what I was doing.........THEN!!

I saw a broken plastic part. :thumbsup: It was the part that sticks into the edge around the top loading door. A button like deal and the thing that held it in place had broken and let it fall into the inside out of sight.

Being an HVAC guy I know switches as that is what most everything is in a round about way. NO WAY...this was what was wrong. I instantly felt relieved.

This switch was not working which would not let the washing machine work. You can't operate the Washing Machine when the door is open and that is what the Washing Machine door switch is for.

I JB Welded the thing back to better than NEW and it still works today. Knock on wood.

It was a little hard for me to get the machine back together 100% the way it was before I messed with it but, Duct Tape does wonders. LOL

Bob...I've replaced my dishwasher by myself also...zilla