Neptune Control Board resister R43 bad

Q. This is a Maytag washer/dryer stack. 

I press the washer start button. The door lock goes on, the machine makes filling noise, then a minute later it stops. The door lock light remains on. I've tried starting just the rinse/spin cycle, and the same results. 

The repair guy made a service call and reported the machine suffered a power surge that fried the control board. I think his diagnoses is suspect since he did not look at the control board. After he left, I pulled the main control board and found R43 fried. I also found NO evidence of arching or wire damage on the other parts of the washer. 

I've read other posts about Neptune control board resister failures and their causes. I did not see any information on R43. The wire diagram indicates that the "end of cycle signal" inputs to R43. I'm going to install a new control board, but worry it will again fail. Thanks for your help. 

A: Here was my response: Replace door latch wax motor 12002535 too.  When replacing the Maytag Neptune Machine control boards on the stackers, MAH3000, MAH4000 and MAH5500A Neptunes make sure that you have the latest door latch wax motor. It should have the black actuator pin. The defective ones have the brownish actuator pin (matching the wax motor body color). 

When the wax motor fails it will the overheat Q6 triac. This will cause Q6 to short out which applies 120 VAC to the center lead (gate) of triac which burns R11. R43 can also burn when the wax motor fails. It is an 18K, 1/4 watt, 5% carbon type resistor. 

See MAYTAG NEPTUNE WASHER R11 Q6 REPAIR KIT + 12002535 WAX MOTOR for disassembly pictures and a video on replacing the R11 and Q6. 

If you have R11 burnt, STOP! don't keep trying to start machine or you can further damage control board or even damage the motor control board located near the floor. You will want to cut out R11 and Q6, making sure that no Q6 pins can touch to prevent any further damage. 

After Q6 and R11 are clipped out you can try to start machine. Everything should work except the door will not lock and you won't have the spin cycle. If the water flows correctly, and the timer works normally then your board should be repairable with the Q6 and R11 repair kit offered on the mentioned site above. 

If the water does not flow then your control board suffered more damage and will need to be replaced and these may be available on same site as well.

Until next time...

A blast from the 80's Tech Revisited

Wow, I just took a trip back into the 80's... What a ride those years were with advancing technology? See http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/80s-tech4.htm to see for yourself. I was in high school when a lot of this technology was emerging and I found it to be fascinating... and expensive at first. 

They failed to mention my first computer, the Sinclair ZX81. It was a kit I purchased for $99 and built that I learned 'Basic' programming on. The Sinclair basic was 'token' based, which is a little different than the regular basic and it was designed to save memory. When you only have 4K bytes (before the 16K ram pack) you had to use memory sparingly. 

I wonder if the Maytag Neptune front loader will make it into the 90's Tech Revisited article? 

Speaking of Neptunes, if your Maytag Neptune needs TLC then see www.neptunewaxmotor.com and www.neptunebearing.com for repair information, parts, moral support, etc.

Until next time...

Learn how to repair your Maytag Neptune front loader too!

Here is an email I received today: 

"Hey, Jeffrey- Got the package Thursday, repaired and installed the board on Friday, works likes it never was broken. Thanks again for making this information, remedy, and yourself so accessible. People like you don't just make the world go 'round, they make its washers go 'round, too. Very best regards and a million thanks, Chris V. P.S. You might be hearing from me in the near future about the bearing kit..."

Chris just finished up repairing his Maytag Neptune front loader with my R11 & Q6 + 12002535 wax motor repair kit. His Neptune failed due to the defective door latch wax motor (Maytag part number 12002535). Every Neptune that shipped with a door latch wax motor will fail and blow the machine control board. 

See www.neptunewaxmotor.com to see if your Neptune will fail. You can also repair your Neptune bearings, too, thanks to my Neptune bearing and seal kit. Plus I offer the Neptune Bearing Tool Kit for rent to really save you time. See www.neptunebearing.com for details and you can watch the free video on how to change your bearings.

Until next time...

I'm ready to explode!

I wanted to post to my Neptune blog and finish up some last minute tasks and then I will turn off my computer. I promise… 

I usually don’t find myself taking a break because I have so much to do. It seems there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. When you wear the sales, purchasing, shipping, tech support hats for a small company (plus I also have a 40 hour full time manufacturing Engineering position during the day, spouse, 3 children, 3 ,6 and 19 years old) the time seems to fly by and everything does not get completed. 

Don’t get me wrong… I enjoy running my Maytag Neptune parts company. People often ask me how did you get involved with the Neptune washer? Here's my confession... Actually, I kinda accidentally fell into it when a co-worker had a problem. 

Her innocent Neptune failed to spin the clothes and she had a repairman come over to look at her Neptune. He quoted her $450 to replace the machine control board and door latch wax motor. She got frantic and told him to get lost and that she would take the control board to a guy at work to look at. 

That guy was me… I looked at the board… R11 was fried. After investigating and doing some research I found that there were a lot of R11 & Q6 burns happening. So after I repaired her control board I put together the R11 and Q6 repair kit. This was almost 3 years ago. Side note: I designed a home nite lighting system I am working on to get to market and it seems the Neptune repair kit business has kept me so busy that I don’t have time to work on the lighting system. I absolutely love this concept and would love to see it in every home because it offers safety, security and convenience. Maybe I will plug the system in a later post… so stay tuned. 

You could imagine that while helping Maytag Neptune owner’s with the door latch problem I started to get more questions like can you get other Neptune parts, what would cause such and such to happen, etc. It snowballed from there. 

Now, I offer replacement machine control boards, motor conversion kits, door boots, every Neptune part at very good prices since I have low overhead. For example, I sold over 1,000 wax motors (part #12002535) in 2007 alone! 

Recently, I partnered up with Tony Yeager, who created the “Tony Tool” which is designed to remove and install the Neptune bearings. This tool kit runs $425 and is designed for service techs. I had the idea of tool rental so I asked Tony if I could purchase a tool kit to rent out to Neptune owners. He reluctantly did so and now I have a fleet of Tony Tools helping Neptune owner’s save time and money replacing their bearings. Tony has put together a fabulous 13-minute video that shows exactly how to take machine apart, replace bearings… 

I was selling the Neptune bearing & seal kits just fine before offering the Tony Tool. Mechanically inclined folks were using pipes and hammers to get the bearings out. Now, with the tool kit almost anyone can change his or her Neptune bearings. Check out www.neptunebearing.com. 

I plan to keep adding new services to the Neptune business because I believe in continuous improvement and diversification. I also look for ways to improve efficiency as I am a one-person company and need to reduce the time spent on tasks. 

I hope you enjoyed this post as I revealed where I came from and maybe I will reveal how the Target Security company name came about in a future post. Have a safe and great 4th.!

Until next time...

Does the Space Station have a Maytag Neptune Front loader...

Here is a link to a video of some of the important activities on the Space Station. http://youtube.com/watch?v=tZlxmB0HEIo 

I wonder if they use a Neptune to wash their clothes? If so, I wonder if they have replaced the door latch wax motor, part number 12002535, so they won't experience what other neptune owners are experiencing with the R11 and Q6 failure? 

Now, it seems as these machines age the bearings start to fail and need to be replaced. The tale tell signs that your machine is not orbiting properly is:

1. Small water puddle on the floor under Neptune
2. Spin cycle noise that is out of this world
3. Rust marks or lines on your clothes

If your machine's bearings are failing goto www.neptunebearing.com for relief...

I just added another Tony Tool for Neptune Bearing replacement

I just wanted to inform you Maytag Neptune owners that I just added another Tony Tool to the rental pool... So if your Neptune's bearings are drowning in friction... See www.neptunebearing.com for more information.