Finally fixed a 10 year old Maytag washer today that stumped me for 3 hours

A customer in Oak Park had this old Maytag that kept throwing a lid lock error mid-cycle. I found three other repair guys walked away from it because they kept replacing the lid switch assembly. Turns out the wire harness had a chafed spot where it rubbed against the cabinet and was shorting out intermittently. Wrapped it in electrical tape and it ran perfect. Has anyone else run into weird intermittent shorts that look like a bad part at first glance?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_nelson16d ago

Man, that is a CLASSIC gremlin - those intermittent shorts are the WORST because they'll fool you every time with a perfectly fine part test. Good on you for sticking with it instead of just walking away like the other guys.

gavin_kim316d ago

Wait, three other guys walked away from it? That's crazy, I mean that's a solid chunk of labor money just sitting there if you can figure it out. Sounds like a lot of folks these days just swap parts til something sticks instead of actually tracing the wires. Good thing you had the patience to find that chafe spot, those hidden shorts are the worst because they test fine when you're just probing around.