Maytag MED5630MBK0 Dryer heats, but tumbles intermittently

[ouzoburn]

Hello Venerable Appliance Samurai. 
First off, HUGE thanks for helping me solve my toughest appliance repair problems over the years.

Actual problem du jour... newish Maytag electric dryer (barely out of warranty) with 'typical modern appliance quality'.
on "regular" mode, 'lowish' heat (lowest heat setting not air fluff or whatnot) dryer starts, heats, tumbles fine for about 20 minutes or so, then tumble stops, digital display keeps counting down time and displays 'wet' like it doesn't know its not tumbling.  When i notice its stopped tumbling, i open the door and can tell the heater element is still hot, but the motor stopped.

I typically leave the door open to cool off the dryer for 15 minutes, then start it again.  Dryer will usually start back up and dry the clothes a little more, and then stop tumbling, but keep heating.  When I turn it off/on when its still hot, i can hear relays clicking on the control panel, and assume the heating element is coming on, but the dryer won't tumble again until it cools off. 

When its not tumbling, i can reach in and turn the drum by hand, which is heavy due to the wet laundry in there, but spins freely enough.

The only thing I've tried is running the dryer with the duct disconnected to make sure its not an obstruction. and it behaves the same.

Before I tear into this brand newish dryer, can you give me some hints as to what to look at first?  The 'usual' stuff i tend to throw money at is cycling thermostats, thermal fuse, etc, but my uneducated gut is telling me the motor in this thing has its built-in thermal protection tripping and i will need to buy a new motor. 

TL/DR: Dryer is still heating but intermittently stops tumbling mid-cycle without errors on display.

Thanks in advance!

~Jason

[ouzoburn]

tried this today with just simple timed-dry and its the same behavior.
heats/tumbles for about 20 minutes, then timer keeps counting down, heating element keeps heating (drum gets really hot when the motor isn't running).
open door to let everything cool down for 15 minutes, then it fires right back up fine for another 20ish minutes.

Is it possible the thermal cutout or high-limit thermostat might be letting the dryer get too hot, and then the thermal protection in the motor is legitimately tripping? 

[citizenX]

On 8/8/2024 at 12:18 PM, ouzoburn said:

Is it possible the thermal cutout or high-limit thermostat might be letting the dryer get too hot, and then the thermal protection in the motor is legitimately tripping? 

It is certainly possible it's not cycling properly and getting too hot, but yes it does sound like the motor is possibly tripping on it's internal thermal overload. Try running it on no heat (air fluff) and see if the motor still cuts off to rule out a heating issue. If it does cut out with no heat, then either the motor is bad or possibly the control board relay is cutting out. The motor is air cooled so check the motor for lint build up around the windings as well. Also, make sure you don't have a hard to turn idler pulley or roller wheel that is causing the motor to work too hard and get hot. 

 

Edited August 11 by citizenX

[FAJTEAM]

6 hours ago, citizenX said:

It is certainly possible it's not cycling properly and getting too hot, but yes it does sound like the motor is possibly tripping on it's internal thermal overload. Try running it on no heat (air fluff) and see if the motor still cuts off to rule out a heating issue. If it does cut out with no heat, then either the motor is bad or possibly the control board relay is cutting out. The motor is air cooled so check the motor for lint build up around the windings as well. Also, make sure you don't have a hard to turn idler pulley or roller wheel that is causing the motor to work too hard and get hot. 

 

 

6 hours ago, citizenX said:

It is certainly possible it's not cycling properly and getting too hot, but yes it does sound like the motor is possibly tripping on it's internal thermal overload. Try running it on no heat (air fluff) and see if the motor still cuts off to rule out a heating issue. If it does cut out with no heat, then either the motor is bad or possibly the control board relay is cutting out. The motor is air cooled so check the motor for lint build up around the windings as well. Also, make sure you don't have a hard to turn idler pulley or roller wheel that is causing the motor to work too hard and get hot. 

 

Absolutely. The thermal cutout and high-limit thermostat in your dryer are designed to prevent overheating by regulating temperature. If either of these components fails, the dryer can overheat, which might trigger the motor’s thermal protection to shut it down. To resolve this, check and test these components, and ensure there are no blockages in the venting system. Properly addressing these issues will help prevent overheating and improve dryer performance. If you need further assistance, a qualified technician can provide more detailed support.

[ouzoburn]

THANKS again for your input.
I tried "drying" a wet load of t-shirts/towels on "air dry" and after 45 minutes, the motor shutoff.
the laundry was cold, but the motor still died , and the panel kept counting down and didnt know the dryer stopped moving. 
once again, i left it 'off' for about 15 minutes and then (on air dry) the motor started again.

sorry to harp on this so much, but I learned today that Maytag/whilpool actually has a 10 year (years 2-10) warranty on the motor and the drum on this unit.  Don't want to try to make a claim if the motor isn't actually faulty.

i will folllow your advice and dismantle the dryer in case there is lint or fluff clogging the outside of the motor itself, then call the 'maytag repair man' who always looks so bored in their ads.

Once I learn more, I will let you all know.

[citizenX]

While you're in there, make sure the wiring connector that plugs into the motor is secure. Unplug it and reconnect it to the motor to make sure you're getting a good connection to the motor. And as I said, make sure the drum, rollers, and idler are turning freely. Also, now that I think about it, there is a relay on the main board under the top of the unit that sends power to the motor. It is also possible that relay or something in that board could be dropping out. If you can, take that board out and look carefully at the soldered points on the back of the board (for the relays) and look for any arc'd or blown out connections. I've resoldered a lot of bad connections on the back of those boards, usually for the heating circuit, but just something worth taking a look at. Unfortunately with an intermittent problem like this, the only way to know for sure if it is the motor or not is to catch it in the act when it stops and take a voltage reading at the motor to see if the motor is getting 120V to the proper windings. Easier said than done and it could very well be just a bad motor but just wanted to bring that up. At least if you have a factory tech look at it and the motor isn't the problem, you won't get stuck paying for a motor you didn't need. 

[Econo Appliance]

If you call for factory service, don't say anything about disassembling it or any of your history. Don't leave any evidence that you've been in there.  You don't want to get your warranty claim denied.

[citizenX]

8 hours ago, Econo Appliance said:

If you call for factory service, don't say anything about disassembling it or any of your history. Don't leave any evidence that you've been in there.  You don't want to get your warranty claim denied.

Yes! I never hassled people over that unless they totally screwed it up or took a unit apart in a way it was not designed to come apart and expected me to put it back together. Some techs aren't that forgiving. Good tip! 

[ouzoburn]

Just finished pulling this thing apart.  
i wonder if Maytag got a special deal on sheet metal screws, there were a million of them to remove to get this thing apart LOL. 

confirmed there isnt an absurd amount of lint buildup inside the cabinet or around the exterior of the motor. No random socks/underwear in there. all four rollers spin smooth, the idler pulley/tensioner spins easily, belt was on and lined up okay.

I visually inspected the back of the control board and the the joints seem clean, nothing burned looking. Caps on the front of the board aren't bulging or ruptured, couldn't see any surface mount components that look burned or melted. I reseated the wire harness running into the motor.

Thanks for the tip about not mentioning "I'm looking in the dryer myself".  I was about to take a vacuum to the whole thing to make sure they didn't deny my claim due to my dryer looking linty.  Seems like a squeaky clean dryer would be a pretty big sign that someone was in there.

Once I put the whole thing back together, I'll call Maytag.  

The most interesting thing i found is the label on the motor says thermally protected to 40C ambient?  Seems like the inside of the dryer would routinely get hotter than 104F?

[citizenX]

There aren't that many screws really, unless you took it apart from the back? It's really not meant to taken apart that way for service, if that's what you did. Remove the top, then you take off the front console and front/door panel and go in that way. As far as the thermal cutoff temp, yes the temp in the drum gets way hotter than that, but not where the motor is. The motor is air cooled so it doesn't normal get that hot. 

[ouzoburn]

Yeah, i was exaggerating a little bit. 
i meant "as compared to my old top-lint-trap" style kenmore, it was like 4 screws to get the top/front off and the drum out it seems.
for this new dryer, there are two screws holding the top on, then 4 that hold the control panel on, then 6 hex-head screws and two phillips heads screws holding the door assembly to the front bulkhead, then i think 5 screws holding the bulkhead to the sides and the little support 'foot' at that holds the blower enclosure to the front bulkhead. 
lets just say i had to break out the small zip loc bags to keep each set of screws separate so i wouldnt mix them up. 

I called Maytag and they offered me some interesting service options.
While I was trying to figure out their pre-pay vs subscription models, i asked if the motor was still under warranty and they said yes and they could just mail me a new motor if i wanted to put it in myself.

I think I'm going just buy the cycling and high-limit thermostats when i go back in to change the motor.

[citizenX]

Well heck if they're willing to just send you the motor then that's the way to go. I only mentioned about not taking the unit apart from the back because that's a tech's nightmare call. You get there and the customer says they already took it apart and you're looking at 114 different pieces parts spread out all over the floor and they took it apart in a way it doesn't even come apart! LOL.

How old is this dryer? If it's got a few years on it, you might as well replace the rollers, idler, and belt while you're in there. Minimal parts cost so I'd do it as a preemptive move while you've got it apart. 

[ouzoburn]

we bought this unit april 2023.
so its only a few months out from its 1 year warranty.

Belt and idler sound like good ideas.  I will definitely look at those when im ordering other doo-dads.
One thing that is confusing me , when i google the model number (MED5630MBK0) some parts houses show it as an "Admiral" brand dryer?  Makes me scared to order parts from those guys.

Do you have a preference for mail-order parts that civilians like myself should purchase from?

[citizenX]

Ahh ok, well if it's only a year plus old I'm sure the belt and rollers are fine. Repairclinic.com is a good one for civilians. McCombs Supply is another decent one for aftermarket parts. They have the motor in an aftermarket brand (Choice Parts) for less than half the cost of the OEM part.  I get most of my OEM stuff wholesale from V&V Appliance Parts and Marcone (both are on the web) but they do retail sales as well. Just get the part numbers from the parts look ups and check prices at different places. Of course there is Amazon and Ebay but you have no guarantee your getting factory OEM parts, or even a decent aftermarket part and not just chinese junk.

Admiral is a brand name owned by Whirlpool, as is Maytag, Amana, Kitchenaid, and a few others so it's probably just defaulting to that name for whatever reason. There's a lot of cross-breeding in this industry! 

[ouzoburn]

Thanks again for your help figuring this out.
I received the replacement motor from Maytag
ordered replacement:
-thermistor (WP8577274)
-thermal cut-off fuse (8318314)
-high-limit thermostat (8557403)
and a new belt.

I'll let you guys know if throwing parts at the problem helps anything once i get the rest of the parts and install them.

[ouzoburn]

replaced the motor, thermistor, thermal cut-off and high-limit thermostat and the dryer lives again.
thanks so much for all of your feedback and support in this trying time!