Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Suck it, Fancy!

That is what I want to yell into the phone to the man who condescended to me the other day about fixing my washing machine myself.  ('Suck it, Fancy' is defined at the Rants From Mommyland MDR).

So, a few months ago the clothes started randomly coming out of the wash waaay wet.  So, I'd re-run the spin and they'd be fine.  After a while I'd have to run it twice or three times...But not every time.  This past week it was every time.  So, I consulted Dr Google and he thought it was either the drive block or the clutch assembly.  Found the fab dudes over at Repairclinic on youtube, watched the videos for both part replacements and it's totally doable by anyone!  I figured the worst that could happen is I'd try and fail and have to call the repairman...Rather than just calling him to begin with. 

Took the agitator off to take a look at the drive block, but it SEEMED fine to me.  I wasn't sure though.  So I figured I'd start with that since it's the cheaper part (about 15$).  Yesterday I consulted Google again for a list of Appliance Service & Parts places in the area to see if anyone had that part in stock.  Went through a few till I got to A to Z Appliance Repair.  Spoke with a nice woman, who then passed me to John.  He asked what I wanted and when I told him, he started scoffing and asking me insane things like who was going to install it FOR me, and how do you install a drive block or clutch assembly - he seriously wanted me to tell him all the steps over the phone.  He said it sounded like someone had been on the 'INTERNET' (I swear, I could hear the caps and quotes all the way from the next town) and he was going to drop the 'new-cue-lar bomb' and tell me that the INTERNET LIES!!!!  

Soooo, yeeeeah....I said thanks and have a nice day, told the Husbeast I'd rather spend the next year washing our clothes by hand in a stream by beating them against rocks than to give that man my business, and called Dick Van Dyke Appliance World and ordered the part from them!  Came in today, I reviewed the video from my new besties - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVc6SZ2DD4U grabbed my socket set and went to town! My pics of the process (cause I'm a pic whore, natch)

Agitator removed.  Water/power/drain disconnected. I stuffed a few dirty towels in the tub to soak up any water that might still be in there.  (I've learned from That Damned Liar Google that there's almost always water in the bottom of the tub.  It acts like the water in your toilet bowl I guess, keeping the pressure where it should be and not letting any icky gasses in...or something.  I'm not really sure.  I'm just a girl, math is hard!)

My list of what to do that I jotted down whilst watching the video.  Cause you know, the INTERNET LIES!!!!  I needed solid physical proof of the lying to dry my hot girly tears on when I broke a nail and my precious washing machine.


I think at this point I was agog.  It was exactly as it was shown in the video!  I had figured it was a 'general idea' kind of thing and I'd have to still poke and prod and scratch my wee girly head to make sense of it.  But no!  It's like they used MY washer for the video.


Crusty old clutch assembly, boo hiss!


Beautiful shiney new clutch, ooooh so pretty! 
Everything put back together.  Well, allegedley.  Cause you know, the INTERNET LIES!!!!!

It was exactly as it showed in the video.  And it works perfectly now ;)  So, suck it, John!

/ETA - When I was speaking with John, I kept taking the phone away from my ear and giving it my Maude face (again, check the MDR..it's worth it)

4 comments:

  1. Awesome! I'm impressed! We had a belt brake on our washer and the Dick Van Dyke people were very helpful ordering the part and giving my husband tips on fixing it himself. He also fixed the window in his car that wouldn't roll up (and was stuck down) by googleing and watching videos! What did people do before google and youtube? Probably get screwed out of money by repairmen....

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  2. Thanks! The car window fix impresses the heck out of me! I've had both of mine fall down and need fixing, and I never even thought to google it, darn! To be fair, the first one was when the Little Boy and I were on a trip out of town.

    I just realised I never explained why I didn't do the drive block replacement! I kept eyeing it over the space of a few days, and finally decided it looked ok, but since I couldn't see the clutch, I'd do that one first (still cheap at 30$)

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  3. Hi there! Just ran across your blog from when you posted over at Ana White. Can I just say you totally rock!!

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  4. aww, thanks jamie! You just made a dreary rainy morning a lot brighter! I love Ana White, have you made any of her plans yet?

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