Hi Alwyn West, wow you explained this very well. You just did not say how long it will take a DIY, but hey, 1030 on Monday night and I have saved >R500, will test in the morning.
Thanks
Stuart Warden, November 2013
Am assuming you have an Automaid that is a few tears old if you need to replace the door boot.The way in which I do It is as follows: 1 Remove the 3 pin plug from the socket. Turn off the water and remove the inlet hose from the tap.
2. Remove the back inspection panel and top lid of machine(2 screws at back lever back end up and slip forward).
3. Tilt the machine backwards (the reason for removing the back inspection panel is to allow the drum to move back as far as possible)and allow to balance against the wall
4. With the door of the machine open remove the retaining ring from around the outer lip of the seal. Fold the seal inwards towards the drum. You should now be able to see the inner end of the boot and its retainer wire with it's nut and bolt. It is not possible to get at this retainer in order to loosen it as it is closely surrouded by a red balance weight.
5. With a coki pen or chalk mark the position of the top of the balance weight. Loosen the 3 retainng nuts (13mm socket) on the balance weight and remove the washers. Pull the balance weight towards the door to clear the retaining bolts and carefully lower it downwards towards the bottom of the machine. By working over the top of the weight should now be able to loosen the seal retainer (most often 8mm socket for the top and 8mm spanmner for bottom). Do not have to loosen the retainer all the way but just enough to slip it off.
6. I have found the easiest way to continue is refit the balance weight in place and retain it in position with the top nut and washer just fitted to hold in place.
7. Remove the seal by pulling it off.
8. Have a look at the new seal (looking from the door side towards the drum side) and you will see there are 3 drainage holes at the bottom inner lip. I normally mark the the seal on the outside directly opposite the centre hole with a ballpen line from front to back. This makes it far easier to get the drainage holes in place at the bottom - simply put the pen line at the top centre of the drum.
9. Turn the seal inside out by pushing the front end through the centre and fit the seal to the drum. Once you have it lined correctly fit the retainer wire. Easiest position for it is at approx. 10 'clock.
10. Once again remove the balance weight and lower carefully. You will now be able to fasten the reainer wire using your 8mm socket and spanner. Sometimes the bolt fitted also has a groove for a flat screwdriver and on the later machines nut was not fitted but rather a thread plate fitted into the retainer.
11. Refit the balnce weight Making sure you have your marked top position correctly placed. Ensure that the washers on the 3 bolts are fitted dome up. Do not overtighten the locknuts as the balance weight could crack. Tighten just enought to retain the weight in the correct position against the drum. Have heard of there being a banging noise on spin as the weight was not tight enough
12. Turn seal right side out and put machine back down on its feet. Fit the outer lip to the lip on the front panel of the machine and refit the reainer ring. Using some dishwashing liquid does make it easier to get the retainer in place.
13. Close the door, replace back and top panels, reconect the water and power and test.
It takes a little bit of fiddling with the balance weight to get it in the correct position to work and sometimes if he factory has positioned the retainer in the wrong position its a bit of a battle and the reward is skinned knuckles.
if you get this right tell your wife you thought of how to do it, but if you don't get it right blame me!!!!
