Does your Maytag Neptune washer still spin?

You’re probably asking “what kind of question is that?” Of course, My Maytag Neptune washer spins my clothes dry…

You need to be aware that if you own a 2000 stacker, MAH3000, MAH4000 or MAH5500A Neptune washer you should replace your wax motor asap.

What is a wax motor? It is a electro-mechanical device designed to lock your door when your machine is spinning so you can’t open the door. Your Neptune washer can spin up to 900 rpms and you don’t want to open the door while in spin mode for obvious safety reasons!

Inside your door latch assembly. Wax motor is brown device towards center of picture.

The wax motor operates when 120 volts AC is applied to the terminals, which heats a ball of wax inside. This wax, when heated, expands to push the actuator pin out about 1/4 of an inch to securely lock your door. This process takes around 30-45 seconds. Yes, it sounds like a simple device but plays an important part in your Neptune’s operation.

When the wax motor actuates, it slides the locking mechanism over and pushes in the “door locked” switch. This switch lights your “Door Locked” indicator on your Neptune control panel. As the locking mechanism slides all the way to the right, it pushes the spin enable switch, which gives the actual signal to the upper machine control board that the door is in fact locked and to go ahead and start spinning.

Why does the wax motor fail and cause the R11 Q6 failure? Over time, the wax motor draws more current which causes Q6 to overheat. Q6 is a small electronic device (triac) with no heatsink so it cannot handle much power. As the wax motor draws more and more current, Q6 overheats and shorts out internally. This causes R11 to burn because the 120 volts also is applied to R11 via the shorted Q6.

Did you know there are more wax motors in your Neptune washer? It’s true, the hot and cold water valves are actuated by wax motors, too.

Here is my replacement wax motor with 10 watt lamp kit. The lamp lights your tub when you open the door.

The SECRET is this… if you replace your wax motor before it fails, you can prevent the R11 Q6 failure!

Make sure you get the wax motor with the black actuator pin. The older design has the actuator pin that matches the body color. (brown)

Please see my replacement Maytag Neptune wax motors

I hope this guide was helpful to you and your Neptune Washer!

Jeffreyson