A Bit of History
Washing Machines are fairly straightforward appliances that are easy enough to service yourself. I have even rebuilt one before with moderate success. However, they can be finicky so I am stuck with another semi-function washing machine again.
For a bit of background, my wife and I took a broken washer from her grandparents and rebuilt it. It ran fine but was old and pretty rusty. Then when we moved into our home we were gifted a much nicer and newer washing machine. Although the washer was a pretty big upgrade it was not without its flaws and the biggest flaw was it being extremely dirty. In an attempt to clean the washing machine, I caused water damage to the lid lock switch.
Onto the Repair
With the previous washing machine I worked on I had replaced a lid lock switch as well in an attempt to fix it. Having done the task before I was comfortable replacing the lid lock on this newer washing machine. Although the lid lock was a bit more complicated than the older washing machine the replacement went without a hitch.
All I needed to do for this repair was remove the back plate that hid the wires and the two screws holding the top part of the washing machine on. With the screws and plate removed I was able to to drop in the new lid lock feed the wire to the back and plug in the new lid lock. The whole process took less than a half hour although I had already removed the previous lid lock to confirm it was the issue so the time of repair may vary.
The left picture features the connector that needs to be unplugged. The center image shows the wire held on by metal clips, indicated by the red arrow. I suggest removing the connector and feeding the wire out before touching the lid lock switch, which is shown in the right-side photo.
Conclusion
I wish the story ended with fixing the lid lock but if it did then there would probably not be much to write about. I ran three to five loads of laundry with no issues until the fault code reappeared. I can only think of two possible explanations for the code reappearing: either I installed it wrong or the replacement part is faulty. Thankfully I ordered it from Amazon so I should be able to get a new part if the part is the issue. I will create another blog post when I decide what course of action to take and the results from it so stay tuned!
Update
The lid lock ended up not having any more issues after that initial time of not working. However, I no longer use that washer since the transmission started to slip. Here is a link to the Whirlpool lid lock I purchased.