We have a 2017 Maytag front-load washing machine (MHW5500 series, like the one shown to the right) here at the farm. It’s been a good washer for us, with cycles that do well with filthy work clothes, but which are miserly with water usage (appreciated by anyone on well water and a septic tank).
In February 2019, it stopped working—specifically, the power button stopped working, but turning the control knob would light up the user interface panel (aka control panel) while displaying random stuff on it (as described here).
This is not desirable behavior in a washing machine.
We ordered a replacement user interface panel the appliance dealer in town. Two weeks (and $175) later, the replacement part arrived; we installed it and that solved the problem—until a few days ago, when the washer began doing the same thing (less than a year later!).
I called the appliance dealer (again) and ordered the part (again). They told me it was on factory back-order and might arrive in two weeks or 2-3 months, thanks to the pandemic. No washing machine on a farm in western Oregon in January when you’re 25 minutes out of town is not a pleasant situation. The possibility of two months of that was not good at all.
So, I began took a closer look at the user interface board to see if there was anything obvious that might be a candidate for a “field repair”. And I spotted some translucent crusty goo on the bottom edge of the circuit board. Hmm!
I took a facial tissue and gently wiped the goo off. I used a butter knife to carefully slide the tissue about an inch in between the circuit board (which is very flexible) and the plastic faceplate and cleaned out the goo there, too. (If you’re doing this, note that the lower right corner of the circuit board is tacked to the faceplate right in the corner, so use care to prevent breaking this connection.)
I reconnected the user interface panel to the washer, plugged in the power, and tested it. Voila! It worked fine!
(I still had the original user interface board that we had replaced last year, so I dug it out for comparison. Sure enough, it had the same goo in the same spot. Hmm!)
The goo was slightly damp and crystalline. As near as I can tell, it is spilled liquid HE detergent that spread from the detergent compartment (right next door to the user interface panel) along the lower edge of the user interface. There are two resistors and an unused connector in that area of the circuit board, and the goo is apparently conductive enough to cause a short circuit somewhere in there without causing any permanent damage.
I classify this as a design flaw in the washing machine (and really my only complaint with it so far).
So, if you have a Maytag MHW5500-series washing machine, I suggest promptly cleaning up any detergent spills—and if the user interface panel begins behaving weirdly, you might want to pop off the top panel, remove the detergent tray, and then remove the user interface panel to check for a deposit of goo before plunking down $175 or more for a replacement user interface panel—let alone a service call.