Maytag Neptune Washer Owners 12002535 wax motor update



Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2008

by
http://www.neptunewasher.com

If you're a Maytag Neptune front loader owner of a 2000 Stacker, MAH3000, MAH4000 or a MAH5500A series, hopefully you have replaced your door latch wax motor before it damaged your upper machine control board. I recently had a customer contact me about a wax motor in the dispenser area that melted down.

 

Here's what happened… The Neptune was purring along and all of a sudden the circuit breaker tripped. The Neptune owner proceeded to the breaker panel and reset the breaker. The breaker tripped again. After a few of the breaker trips and resets the owner smelled a burning smell near the Neptune.

 

It was then decided to take the Neptune apart and see if he could tell what was burning. After the machine's top panel was propped up he saw that a wax motor located in the dispenser area had melted down. In addition, there were burn marks on the bottom side of the top panel.

 

This is the first time that I have ever heard of a bleach or softener wax motor failing. I have been asked numerous times why the door lock wax motor fails but the dispenser area wax motors don't fail. They are all three the same 12002535 wax motor? At first, I thought maybe the door latch wax motors are exposed to extreme humidity, like steam escaping the tub area during hot water washing but now I wonder if it could be a function of operation time. Overall, the door lock wax motor will get a lot more activation time than the bleach & softener wax motors will. Could this be the factor?

 

I can offer some important information as to why these dispenser wax motor failures are going to be worse than the door latch wax motor failures. If you look at the Neptune electrical diagram that is stashed in the console area, the bleach & softener wax motors get their 120-volt power directly from contacts in the timer where the door latch wax motor gets powered from the Q6 triac on the machine control board. I can tell you the impedance of the timer contacts is much lower than the little Q6 triac which means higher current can be delivered to the failing wax motor. That explains why the breaker tripped during this failure and it does not trip when the Q6 triac fails.

 

For now, until we can get more reports of the bleach & softener wax motors failing we need to utilize the information super highway and ask everyone we know that has a Maytag Neptune front loader if they have had a wax motor failure in the dispenser area. While your asking them don't forget to ask them if they still have the original wax motor in the door latch assembly. If they have not replaced the door latch wax motor strongly recommend that they do a.s.a.p.
 
 
Below is the 12002535 wax motor that melted down...
 
 

 
Below is the dispenser area
 
 
 
 
Below is the underside of top panel
 
 
 
 
About Neptunehelp.com

Neptunehelp.com provides online information for Maytag Neptune Owners to help keep their washers running reliably. For more information about your Neptune washer, visit http://www.neptunehelp.com .  

Hear the funny Neptune Help Song at www.neptunehelpsong.com which explains the faulty door latch wax motor issue.


 

 
This Article has been viewed 4,751 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
» left by Richard
from Rhode Island 3 years 212 days ago.
I have learned recently that my bleach is not dispencing, and I also have a door wax motor problem. I have two wax motors on order and will be repairing my Neptune soon. Richard
» left by Ron Brngal from Chicago, Illinois 2 years 264 days ago.
I too have a similar problem.  It looks like we're not getting enough water flow for the bleach or soap cups to fill and draw a good siphion.  Have you replaced your 2 wax motors?   If so, where did you obtain them?
 
Thanks.
RonB
Chicago
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» left by Robert Hanson
from Granada Hills, Ca 3 years 161 days ago.
In my Neptune MAH3000AWW both the bleach and fabric softener wax motors have failed in the dispenser. I did not have the meltdown as shown in the pic's though. The wax motors are not listed as separate items for the dispenser assembly, I was looking to cross reference the dispensor motors with the door lock motor, as it would be much easier to replace the motors than the dispensor assembly with the hoses and all else involved. Just this week I replaced the control board and door lock wax motor with the "upgraded black tip wax motor" so the machine is working great except for the bleach/fabric softener dispenser.
» left by occ from Tustin, CA 2 years 10 days ago.
While trying to fix my Neptune's door lock and no spinning problem, I took apart the dispenser and noticed that there was a broken spring in the assembly. The spring is supposed to pull the valve or latch mechanism toward the two wax motors. Since that spring was broken, once the wax motors does its job at pushing the latch out, the latch does not get pull back in so the dispensing is stuck in one position (open/closed I don't know). My broken spring was very dry and brittle prob due to all the oxidation from the wet dispensing area).  Not sure where to get just that spring, so I used a rubber band temporarily instead.
» left by MESAUBURN
from Auburn, NY 2 years 9 days ago.
I have just experienced the complete scenario described above.
The MAH3000AWW stopped mid cycle. The circuit breaker to the outlet was tripped. I reset the breaker and started the washer again.  Same thing happened.  Then I smelled the burnt plastic.  Read your blog on the wax motor. Opened up the top and the wax motor is fried with burnt marks on the underside of the top panel. My door lock wax motor failed 6 years ago and was replaced along with the main circuit board (parts provided free from Maytag prior to law siut settlement because I haunted them daily).
I am going to AP Wagner tomorrow to pick up 2 new wax motors. Hopefully the timer is not fried as well.  If it is I'll be back on the phone to Maytag.
Thanks for all the great information. Knowledge is power.
» left by Anonymous 218 days 19 hours ago.
Same Problem as aove. And the door motor and control board were replaced 5 years ago. The machine the unit fills with water OK, but after the water... BLAM trips breaker and it smells nasty. I haven't yet disassembled, but am sure that at least one of the wax motors in the bleach/fabric softener area is fried. btw: Reset the breaker, turn to spin and it pumps the water out and spins and shuts off like nothing happened. I'm gonna open it up tonight and if my suspicions are true, I'll pick up and eplace the motors tomorrow. Will post results.
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