Repaired Maytag Bravos Washer with d5 code.

And the followup; I walked out to the washer just in time to see water spilling out on the floor. The drain hose in the drain pipe was overflowing. Now that the washer drains at a normal flow rate it was to much for the drain pipe to handle in it's partially plugged condition. It is normal for me to need to clean this drain every year or two. This is now the time. It is clear to me this rag has been slowing the draining of the washer for a while. Mikek

Nicely done. Here's your next Maytag challenges from the "Made by Monkey's" blog. It really should be "Designed by Monkey's".

"Small Hinge Hampers Maytag" I've fixed two of these so far.

"Washing Machine Can Keep the Change" This one happend to a commercial Maytag washer in my rental. It took me several days, and several trips to the appliance parts dealer, to just get to the broken plastic parts. That's when I swore not to do any more major appliance repair.

Plug "Maytag" into the search box for additional horror stories.

Incidentally, I overheard this at the parts store: "If it's red, it's dead". Is one of these yours perhaps?

Drivel: Maytag gasoline powered washing machines:

So this guy loosened up the door hinge, He says, "I sanded the pins smooth and cleaned up the hinge pin holes with phosphoric acid and a .17 rifle bore brush. I used Ospho from the hardware store -- I use it everywhere."

What is the purpose of the Ospho? I see it used on the boats at the marina quite regular. I understand it has some type of a conversion on rust. Also helps paint stick to aluminum. But why did he use it on the hinge pin holes? Mikek

He said that the hinge metal had started to corrode where it contacted the pins. Metal corrosion/rust can be progressive... the presence of rust on steel (for example) can tend to promote the adjacent steel to start rusting. If you want to stop the problem from recurring, it's desirable to remove all of the rust. And, since the problem had caused the pin and hinge to develop an interference problem, cleaning all of the gunk out would be necessary to eliminate the friction and allow the door to open and close smoothly.

The phosphoric acid reacts with the rust, converts it to an ferric phosphate. This is more easily removed by scrubbing (e.g. with the rifle bore brush) than the rust would have been... and if you leave a bit on the surface of the metal it won't hurt, as it actually will protect the metal from further rusting to some extent.

So, he used the Ospho for two reasons - it made it easier to remove the built-up rust (easier than drilling it out) and it provided a bit of additional protection for the metal.

I've used it to clean up old, somewhat-rusty woodworking tools (antique spokeshaves and the like) in the same way. Soak, scrub off the accumulated (converted) rust, wipe a bit more on the bare metal to provide a thin surface layer of phosphate, wipe dry and air-dry thoroughly. A thin surface coat of tung oil (which polymerizes to a tough film) provides the final protection.

Thanks, Mikek

Converts iron oxide (rust) into iron phosphate (FePO4). The iron is non porous and blocks further oxidation. It's a great preparation for painting anything that will rust. I have an old sheet metal shower that's starting to rust along the bottom. I wire brushed off the rust, applied some "rust reformer", let dry, and applied some enamel paint. Looks like it will last.

I'm not sure if it will do anything for aluminum except maybe etch it a little. Aluminum is protected by a thin layer of aluminum oxide. The best aluminum prep for painting that I've found is white vinegar.

Because they were corroding. The hinges were soft steel or some kind of pot metal mix. The hinge pins were aluminum. The article says the pins were anodized, but the one's I had to fix looked like soft aluminum shear pins with maybe clear alodine plating. In a wet environment, that spells electrolysis and corrosion. His plan was to protect the steel from further corrosion with a coating of iron phosphate, and then slop some grease into the gap. That's also roughly what I did except that I replaced the pin with a stainless rod with a thin nylon outer sleeve. The idea was to stop the electrolysis by eliminating most contact between the dissimilar metals. The steel rod was for strength and stiffness. The nylon sleeve for isolation. I didn't need any grease.