Hi all,

I have a 3.5 year old Kenmore front-loading washing machine,
model number 417.41042000 or 41042, that has been leaking water for
almost a year now. I've decided it might be time to work on it.

The tub on this washer has two halves with a seal in the middle.
When the washer is in a spin cycle, and only when there are
clothes in it (to make it vibrate some), I can see some water
dribbling out from the joint between the two halves of the tub
on the right-hand side. Since this is the side where the
motor speed control unit is, I'd like to prevent that getting
shorted out. (At the moment, the quantity of water coming
out is not enough that I worry about that yet.)

I'm thinking of taking the washer apart and replacing the seal.
Sears.com has a replacement seal for $9.49, which doesn't sound
too bad, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to this
repair. It looks like I need to take off the top and back
panels, unhook everything from the tub assembly, turn it onto
its back, and then lift off the cabinet. Am I headed for trouble
doing this myself?

Thanks,
John

wrote in message oups.com...

Hi,

Hi all,

I have a 3.5 year old Kenmore front-loading washing machine,
model number 417.41042000 or 41042, that has been leaking water for
almost a year now. I've decided it might be time to work on it.

The tub on this washer has two halves with a seal in the middle.
When the washer is in a spin cycle, and only when there are
clothes in it (to make it vibrate some), I can see some water
dribbling out from the joint between the two halves of the tub
on the right-hand side. Since this is the side where the
motor speed control unit is, I'd like to prevent that getting
shorted out. (At the moment, the quantity of water coming
out is not enough that I worry about that yet.)

Have you tried to tighten the tub bolts?

I'm thinking of taking the washer apart and replacing the seal.
Sears.com has a replacement seal for $9.49, which doesn't sound
too bad, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to this
repair. It looks like I need to take off the top and back
panels, unhook everything from the tub assembly, turn it onto
its back, and then lift off the cabinet.

Am I headed for trouble
doing this myself?

Yes.

Boot is undone from the front panal, remove or undo drive motor, shock
pins, WLC switch/hose, drain hoses and lift of off the springs and
remove the whole assembly out through the back of the washer. Then the
two 1/2's can be seperated to replace that seal.

Not overly difficult but *very* time consuming.

jeff.
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.applianceaid.com/

I did try tightening some of the tub bolts, but I couldn't reach
the ones at the sides very well because of the tight clearance
with the cabinet side. The bolts I could reach were not very
tight, so it does seem like a good idea to give torquing them
down with a flexible-drive tool a try.

Thanks for the reply---that method does sound more
straightforward. I had read the "flip it on its back" method
somewhere, though, so I guess I thought that was the way
people do it.

Best regards,
John

I hope the leakage hasn't resulted in damage to the bearings.

We have a 417.41142000, made by Frigidaire and perhaps a little newer
than yours but maybe substantially the same. The service guy was here to
fix it last week (crapped-out controller module replaced free under
maintenance contract; would have been $330 for part and labor otherwise).

He said one problem with these is water getting into the bearings, often
caused by using regular detergent instead of the low-sudsing
High-Efficiency kind. The remedy is to replace the whole
tub/shaft/bearing assembly (because the bearings are not sold
separately), which is a two-man two-hour job costing $800 for parts and
labor -- in which case you'd be better off buying a new machine.

Hope that's not what you're in for. Happy Thanksgiving.

Perce


On 11/24/04 09:22 pm tossed the following
ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

I have a 3.5 year old Kenmore front-loading washing machine,
model number 417.41042000 or 41042, that has been leaking water for
almost a year now. I've decided it might be time to work on it.

The tub on this washer has two halves with a seal in the middle.
When the washer is in a spin cycle, and only when there are
clothes in it (to make it vibrate some), I can see some water
dribbling out from the joint between the two halves of the tub
on the right-hand side. Since this is the side where the
motor speed control unit is, I'd like to prevent that getting
shorted out. (At the moment, the quantity of water coming
out is not enough that I worry about that yet.)

I'm thinking of taking the washer apart and replacing the seal.
Sears.com has a replacement seal for $9.49, which doesn't sound
too bad, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to this
repair. It looks like I need to take off the top and back
panels, unhook everything from the tub assembly, turn it onto
its back, and then lift off the cabinet. Am I headed for trouble
doing this myself?

There have been issues both with the two halves leaking and the bearing
leak. Both are nasty, time-intensive repairs involving an almost total
teardown of the machine.

The fact that you've managed to identify the level of disassembly
required to replace the seal gives me confidence that you'll be able to
do it. Don't forget to disconnect the shock absorbers from the tub -
best way to do this is to put a socket over the pointed end of the nylon
"pin" that holds them in and tap gently, this should get them out.

Good luck!

Thanks to all who replied! About the rear seal---I've seen
some pictures on the web of a similar unit which had that seal
fail and cause the bearing to corrode. Not a pretty sight!
Knock on wood, I'm pretty sure I'm only getting water leaking
out of the other seal between the two tub halves. The rear area
stays nice and dry while the water spritzes out of the problem
seal.

Other than the leak, the washer runs great---very smooth and
quiet. We've been using regular liquid detergent in it, but
only about 3/8" in the cup each load. Looking in the window,
I don't see any evidence of over-sudsing, and clothes come out
clean. A bottle of detergent sure goes a long way, too!

I'd have started working on it this afternoon, but my 8.5 year
old Lift-Master Professional garage door opener had turned a
plastic gear into powder. Just finished installing a new Genie
screw-drive unit.

John

I really appreciate your time posting this information. We have the same machine 4104200 it is 3.5 yrs old and has just started leaking. It is also leaking along the middle drum seam on the right hand side. Tightening the bolts did not fix the problem.

I will order a new gasket and install it - It looks like a fairly time consuming to take off all of the springs, shocks and motor. Taking out the entire drum seems like a good idea - my first guess was to take off just the back half but like the idea of removing the drum and being able to better access to the nuts plus the ability to use a torque wrench.

I am really impressed with the construction of the machine - the designers went to a lot of trouble to isolate the vibration and to re-enforce wiring harnesses and hoses that are effected by the vibration. It has been a long time since I have taken something a part and was so impressed by the simple but well thoughout design.

Thanks again,
Bill G.

PS I hope the new gasket will last longer than 3.5 yrs.

I too have this machine. It too is about 3.5 years old and leaking from the same area for the past four months.

I will tighten the bolts as recommended here, but I'm not hopeful.

For those doing this repair, please keep us posted.

For those professionals here, any idea what this repair should cost?

Hi,

**For those professionals here, any idea what this repair should
cost?**

To replace the seal between the back and front 1/2's of the outer tank?
If yes, a couple hundred dollares easy as this is a time consuming
call.

jeff.
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.applianceaid.com/

Jeff -- thanks for the estimate.

I did tighten the bolts -- it seemed to slow the leaks considerably, but it's still dripping.

I'm ordering the part today and hope to do the fix over Christmas break.

Is there a good "Chilton" manual for washing machine repairs? Even an exploded diagram would be helpful.

I know I can get the thing apart, but I'm worried about reassembling it in the correct order. I will use a digital camera to document the disassembly, which should help.

Oh -- are there any capacitors in this thing that can discharge after it's been unplugged?

G'day,

**Is there a good "Chilton" manual for washing machine repairs? Even an
exploded diagram would be helpful**

A good manual....

http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=153&N=659075

Some parts breakdowns....

http://www3.sears.com/Paul/model_sea...m=417.41042000
jeff.
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.applianceaid.com/

Hi,

**For those professionals here, any idea what this repair should
cost?**

To replace the seal between the back and front 1/2's of the outer tank?
If yes, a couple hundred dollares easy as this is a time consuming
call.

jeff.
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.applianceaid.com/

Hi,

**For those professionals here, any idea what this repair should
cost?**

To replace the seal between the back and front 1/2's of the outer tank?
If yes, a couple hundred dollares easy as this is a time consuming
call.

jeff.
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.applianceaid.com/