Two-For-One Appliance Issues

Ok.  It is waayy too late to be starting a post, but the final part I needed for my dishwasher repair finally came in this evening so here we go.  It’s mostly pics so it shouldn’t be too painful.

If you are reading this it might be because the spinner arm to your Magic Chef (or Maytag or Whirlpool) dishwasher keeps coming off and falling into the upper dish rack.  Here is the most likely problem: The spinner nut (part 99001587) is probably either broken or worn.  The spinner arm (part 99001586) that the nut is holding on keeps getting pushed out when the water comes on.  

So… How to avoid having to pay $98 to get this fixed… Only $2 shy of your deductible… I mean, what are the odds, right?  I mean, the parts plus shipping cost $18 total… Of all the lousy “luck”, especially since it takes more time to read what has been written in this post so far than it does to actually do the fix yourself…

First, call Sears and get the parts. Mind you, I have never, ever, navigated a phone menu that deep since I was trying to place a complaint about a Pentium II Gateway way back in the aughts, so good luck with that.  Also, Sears ain’t gonna be around much longer, I hear…

Second, unscrew the old nut, replace with the new nut, and snap in the new spinner arm.  Done.  Here are some pics.  

Here is the worn spinner nut (part 99001587).  The inner diameter of the hole the spinner arm snaps into is well over 25 thousandths over nominal.  Sounds small, I know, but it's actually a huge difference.

The hole the spinner arm snaps into should be close to one-half inch in diameter.  It seems like an epoxied nylon washer would "mend or make do" this problem pretty quickly.  Or maybe you have a buddy who has a kid who can 3-D print something for you...

The pic says it all.

When I was done I heard a noise in the garage. The vent fan to the gas furnace was running and I knew no one had used hot water recently.  Super.  I checked and sure enough the pilot was lit but not the burner.  

Now, there are two things that could be wrong - the easily accessible switch no one ever uses is now magically bad or the sensor switch (supposed to cause the fan to come on each time the burner is active) is stuck.  Guess which it probably is.  I am not qualified to change the sensor switch, but I am more than qualified to rap it with a NON-CONDUCTIVE (don’t be an idiot) mallet.  I used a rubber one because it is NON-CONDUCTIVE.  Vent fan now off.  Done (until next time... probably tomorrow... time to call an expert).

Rapping the switch smartly with a non-conductive mallet did the trick.  You might want to get a professional to replace the switch before your motor burns out or your garage fills to the rafters with carbon monoxide.

I hope that helps.

What?  Oh… Him?  Yeah… I got him for Christmas.  For some reason he is super-eager to help with major appliance repair.  Now, if you will excuse me, my washing machine is making a weird slamming noise all of a sudden.

Good night.