25 Comments

  1. Jesse

    Thank you for this. Maybe it’s becsuse I’m not a professional, but my google search yielded no results for this specific machine – except your page. No way I coulda done this without it. Still cursing though.

  2. Mark G

    Shae, you are my hero tonight! I spent 90 minutes searching the internet and found nothing on my model and problem. About to give up. Then I found your article. I followed it to a tee and you were right on. What I found in the pump filter was a bunch of lint and three bra pads! What a terrible design by Maytag to clean a filter.
    Thank you.

  3. Mel

    I saw all the videos on YouTube shows how to clean the drain trap the same way just like above . However , I found a much easier way … PULL OUT THE WASHING MACHINE AND REMOVE THE BACK PANEL ( just several screws) YOU CAN THEN GET TO THE DRAIN TRAP.

  4. Roger Brown

    There is a much easier way to do this. Power off the washer. Tip the washer back onto the wall behind the washer. I would block the front so that the washer cannot fall on you. Remove the bottom plate (2 screws and 2 plastic fittings). With a pair of pliers pinch the plastic wire hold downs and remove them from the bottom plate. Thru the access hole move the entire pump assembly forward and up on the three rubber mounts. The pump and drain trap will fall down towards you into a perfect position to remove the trap and drain the contents into a pan or bucket. With a little trial and error you can easily get the 3 rubber mounts and pump back into the slots. Reattach the electrical fittings and reinstall the bottom panel. The only tricky parts are the 3 rubber mounts and the 2 plastic fittings the attach the bottom panel. I agree with the above. Note to Maytag: Lousy design for something that needs to be cleaned periodically, and and whats wrong with four screws for the bottom panel. Those two plastic fittings are a royal pain. I did this in about 30 minutes. IF I had to do it again I could probably do the entire clean out in 15 minutes or less. -roger-

  5. Mike

    I took off the 4 hex head screws on the bottom of the front panel. The panel had enough play to reach in and take out the filter. Just had to move the dryer out of the way and lay on the floor to reach it. Placed towels around washer to catch draining water. Place something (short 2X 4’s, bricks whatever) to clean wet area under washer.

    • Jeff

      Agreed Mike, I as well took out the 4 hex head screws in front and had enough play to get the front panel out about 4-6” and put a pair of pliers in between to keep open while I twisted and removed screen housing cartridge. Yes there was some water which drained out, so yes, please have towels/rags ready to catch draining water…..which will not smell all that great, my unit has the pedestals so the drawer actually contained majority of water and easily cleaned up thankfully. Thanks for this saved a lot of time/effort not taking back/front and or bottom panels off to get at.

  6. Noël Figuerdo

    How thorough. Great job! I have a Maytag Maxima MHW5100DW0 that is doing the same thing that yours did, F9 E1. No where in the Use and Care Guide Manual does it say anything about cleaning out water drain pump filter. There is no access door, nothing. Obvious Maytag did not want consumers to clean it out themselves. Please, tell me the model # of yours. This way if it is the same, or at least similar, I will know what to do.

  7. Michelle

    Thank you sooo much, Shae!! My Maxima model is W10007190. Your instructions worked great to remove a massive memory foam mess. I did access the drain through the back panel as my dryer is stacked on top of the washer and had no safe way get the washer top off.
    Thanks again, for posting this info – you saved me a lot of time and money!

  8. Neal

    I followed these instructions and now my washer works great. Before I put it back together, I carefully measured and then cut a six inch round hole in the front cover. Now I can just reach in, unscrew the filter and clean the screen in a few minutes.
    Thanks for they help!

  9. Steve

    AWESOME tutorial! Thank you! YouTube produced zero useful videos (abnormal!) but your walk through and struggles made it so easy!

    Thank you again!

  10. Roger Edgington

    Thank you very much. Mine is hidden behind the lower front panel and had never been cleaned. It didn’t smell too bad but had $5.69 worth of change. Probably not a record but a good start.

  11. Norm

    I tried what Mel said and found it quite easy to do by removing the back panel. You are removing the drain plug by touch as it faces the front. You can unscrew the plug by hand, clean the basket of debris and tighten by hand. Have a towel on hand at the plug area as you loose a little water. It took about an hour from start to finish.

  12. Cara Tenuta

    Thank you! We have 8 dogs 3 cats and 8 birch trees (seeds). My old 59 year old self who just got my 2nd Covid shot was able to do this and not lose it! Kudos!

  13. Win

    You saved me 3 hours today (I had help putting that wire spring back)… cant believe there was nothing else online about this specific model and so happy I found your blog after opening the back, then opening the front but couldn’t figure out why it wont work (I would have never thought of opening the top!!!)

    God bless you and frugal boy!

  14. Ralph Taylor

    I watched you YouTube on cleaning out the coin catcher drain filter on the Maytag maxima xl front load washer. You do not need to disassemble the front and go through those problems, You can access the drain filter through the back. You take off the back panel and remover the drain house fromthe filter housing. You have easy access to clean it out from the backside.

  15. Lori

    Thank you for posting.
    Looking through YouTube on how to clean my filter.
    I did open up the back of the washer but the freakin filter is up front of the was to far up for me to access it.

  16. John M

    Just FYI. I have this same washer. If you tilt back the machine and pop out the rubber feet that holds the entire pump and catch filter assembly you can then disconnect the hoses and pull it from the back without having to disassemble the washer front.

  17. Fernando

    Removing the back panel won’t help if the pump is facing the front of the machine: there’s no way to reach that far to unscrew the trap. Maybe going through the bottom (tilting the machine on its rear) is the easiest option. Shame on Maytag for this awful design.

  18. Andrew

    Thank you for posting this! Saved me a ton of work in getting my abomination cleaned out! And yes, I did get my fill of The Smell

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