Front loading washer door will not open

[therehastobeaway]

Currently working on a Frigidaire Gallery front loading washer. I cannot provide the model number (although I believe it's something like GLTF2940) because the door will not open, but it is roughly about 15 years old. Did a load of laundry this morning and everything worked just fine. After the second load, the door will not open. The "door locked" light comes on when starting a cycle and goes out at the end of the cycle, and I can hear the relay in the lock mechanism pick up and drop out as it should. The only thing I can think of is that the mechanism in the wax motor has gotten stuck in the extended position not allowing the door to be opened. How do I get the door to open so that I can replace the door lock/switch mechanism? The door needs to be open in order to access the mounting screws and to remove the assembly.

[therehastobeaway]

Took quite a bit of effort in a round about way, like trying to change valve stem seals through the oil fill hole in a valve cover, but I was able to get the front cover screws out and the cover pulled back enough to get the lock mechanism pried open and release the lock. Sure enough, the wax motor mechanism was in the fully extended position, keeping the locking tabs pulled in by the coil from allowing the lock to release. The model # turns out to be FWT449GFS2. Does anyone know how to release the bellows from the front cover? The videos I've seen where the locking ring is held in place by a spring doesn't seem to apply in this case as I can't gain any space between the bellows lip and the front cover to even locate a spring and locking ring.

[citizenX]

There's gotta be a ring and spring hiding under that lip.  Unless it was removed at some point and never put back on? But I can't imagine it would have stayed in place all those years. Once the ring clamp and spring are removed, the bellows just rolls off the edge. 

Edited November 8 by citizenX

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@therehastobeaway On these older generation Frigidaire front loaders the door boot is super glued to the front panel, (the black bellows).

Need to carefully with a razor knife cut right at front surface of panel and boot only on enough area to peel boot back to get into door lock area.

A few dots of super glue to reattach.

[therehastobeaway]

Thank you, Willie. Being super glued to the front panel makes a lot more sense than having a ring and spring retainer judging from what I've been able to see. I've also had a problem for a few years with the control knob on the timer having separated, but I've been able to work around that. The only function that I've lost using it this way is that the dispenser lever mechanism doesn't operate properly because the cam portion of the control is out of sync. That hasn't been an issue for me because I do not use fabric softener or bleach in the dispenser. What I'd like to know is how to remove the control knob from the timer so I can get the control panel pulled away from the front of the machine. I may wind up replacing the control knob if I can locate a good used one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg like the retail does. 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@therehastobeaway from what I remember on these, the knob should push in (OFF) where you can turn the timer and the knob should unscrew from the timer shaft counter clockwise.

 

[citizenX]

32 minutes ago, Budget Appliance Repair said:

@therehastobeaway On these older generation Frigidaire front loaders the door boot is super glued to the front panel...

That's right!! Man I completely forgot about that, it's been a long while since I've worked on one of these!  I did see the replacement boot subs to the newer style one and comes with the ring clamp and spring though. Many moons ago.....