Do-It-Yourself Story

I have the optional steam feature on my dryer. There were some differences from the video. It was the high-limit thermostat. I found the appliance parts pros website and found their list of parts that were most likely to be the problem. Reviewed a repair video and it seemed to be very clear, well produced. One of the stories I read on the site mentioned ordering the 4 most likely parts for around $50. That made sense to me so I did that. Later, I found the LG service manual online - the dryer actually has a pretty comprehensive set of diagnostic tests that you can run from the control panel; I probably could have identified the specific part that failed and ordered just that. But I don’t regret ordering all 4 parts - the parts are pretty cheap and it’s a lot of disassembly to get to them - might as well replace them all while you’re in there. The service manual also described how to test each part with a multimeter. It was helpful to know that one of the parts, the hi-limit thermostat really was bad. Nice to know you are going on more than hope when you put it back together. I followed the video on my phone, very helpful. Some of the screws on my machine were very tight. I’ve learned from experience to brace the work piece against something solid, put the palm of my hand on the end of the screw driver, put my weight into it and turn very, very slowly until you hear/feel the screw turn. It would have been really easy to strip some of the screw heads otherwise - not the end of the world but a pain that might cost you a trip to the hardware store for another tool to remove the stripped screw. As I removed the screws, I tore up strips of paper, wrote down the name of the part I was removing, and taped the screws to it. They aren’t all the same and this made reassembly a lot easier. The steam dryer has some differences from the model in the video. The position/number of connectors on the back of the control panel is different but you still disconnect all of them. I took pictures of cables before disconnecting in case something wasn’t clear during reassembly. The way the wiring harness is clipped to the brace is different - a single zip-tie with a locking nub on it. squeeze the nub on the back of the brace and gently pull harness away from brace. Brace looks different and screws were a little different. There is a rack of components front-to-back on the left side (facing front of dryer) right behind the drawer with the water container. You can leave the internal parts alone but you need to remove the drawer. There is a big locking tab on the bottom in the back - just reach in to drawer and push down to pull drawer out. When you do, you’ll see two screws in the front of the control panel. These aren’t mentioned in the video and you have to remove them to remove them to remove the control panel. Requires slightly more care lifting the drum out because you have to guide it out under the steam equipment. Beyond those minor differences, I did what the video said and everything went smoothly. I suggest using post it note or similar to mark the front of the drum when you take it out to make sure it goes back in the same way. I took the dryer apart before the parts came and moved things around more than once before I put it back together. I think it matters which way it goes - not sure - but better safe than sorry. You can’t really see what’s going on with motor and idler pulley with the drum in place - I put it back on by feel. Then I stuck my phone in there and took some pictures to verify I had it on right. When I put it back together and plugged it back in, everything looked good - powered up, etc... until I hit the start button. The time flashed and the dryer didn’t start. The service manual came in handy again. It explains how to enter the dryers diagnostic mode. As soon as I did that, I got an error code indicating that the door was open, it wasn’t. Took the top back off and found that I’d missed one of the plugs connecting to the control panel. Plugged that in, put everything back together and we have our dryer back working again. Pretty easy to do, took more time just because It was new to me and I was being careful. I took a lot lint out of the vent. I think that’s why the hi-limit switch died. Gotta clean the vent more often.