how to unlock a Maytag washer?

July 12, 2017 9:12 AM

I am staying in a rental with a front-loading Maytag washer. The "door locked" light is flashing and will not let me do anything--turn it on, off, start, unlock, anything. Any ideas?

I looked at the manual here: https://www.maytag.com/washers-and-dryers/washers/front-load-washers/p.MHW5500FC.html

I tried pressing "control lock" for five seconds and nada. The machine appears to be off, except the flashing "door locked" light, and cannot be turned on. If I push power, it makes its three-tone beep but doesn't turn on.

I can't get to the back of the machine to unplug and replug. Landlady doesn't want me in the basement to flip a breaker. Any ideas?

posted by pipti to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

A search for "MHW5500FC can't unlock" comes up with a bunch of suggestions which involve pulling the power plug and if it doesn't automatically unlock after a few minutes you need to "reach up along the inside of that front panel and pull down on the manual release tab that is on the bottom of the door latch assembly."

https://www.shopyourway.com/questions/1036577
https://www.shopyourway.com/questions/1177054
posted by eatcake at 9:23 AM on July 12, 2017

Was the washer provided with the apartment? If so, make it your landlady's problem.
posted by Kriesa at 9:29 AM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Try looking through these (the lower ones after the ads). If none of those help try looking on youtube..
posted by BoscosMom at 9:29 AM on July 12, 2017

Different brand, but something similar happened with my washer.... you have to drain something that is too full. (why it can't drain itself like the rest of the washer drains, I have no idea.) Anyway, I get the same thing where the machine won't turn on.

On mine, at the bottom right there is a little door flap that opens down on a hinge. Behind that is a little dial and a hose. You can take a plug out of the hose and it will drain water (hopefully into the receptacle of your choice that you have placed there to catch the water!). Once that is drained and the hose is re-plugged.... I turn the dial thing and a small plastic filter comes out that has some wet lint/hair/blech. clean the filter and replace it AND MAKE SURE YOU TURN IT ALL THE WAY TIGHTLY OR WATER WILL DRAIN ALL OVER THE FLOOR (ask me how I know).
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 9:31 AM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have a Bosch, it does this fairly frequently. Always keep it set to off when not in use. To reset, set to off/stop, unplug, leave it for an hour.
posted by theora55 at 12:35 PM on July 12, 2017

Have you tried either of these, from the troubleshooting section of the manual for the washer you linked?

Door locked at end of wash cycle:

• Water remaining in washer after cycle. Select DRAIN & SPIN to remove any water remaining in the washer. The washer door will unlock at the end of the drain.
• Fresh Hold® option is ON. While this option is ON, the fan blows and the load is tumbled periodically for up to 12 hours. The door remains locked during this time. To unlock the door, cancel the Fresh Hold® option by touching POWER/CANCEL.

posted by yuwtze at 1:34 PM on July 12, 2017

This happened to me, with a front loading Maytag, there were two error messages flashing, and the door wouldn't open. After a while the door opened, and after a lot of fussing around trying to get it to drain--we had to call for repairs. There is a motherboard that had shorted out, it was actually fried, but it was causing a lot of weird errors. It took them a while to figure it out. The machine was actually built by Whirlpool, and they replaced the motherboard for free even though the machine was out of warranty.
posted by chocolatetiara at 2:18 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. Flipping the breaker did the trick.
posted by pipti at 2:37 PM on July 12, 2017