Do-It-Yourself Story

The detergent drawer became permanently stuck 10 years ago. The cause, a lid on the fabric softener caught on the roof of the drawer cabinet. A small moisture leak eventually began. The moisture ran down the inside of the front cabinet panel and down to the filter trap at the bottom of the front cabinet panel. This moisture rusted a trail from the detergent drawer down the inside of the front cabinet panel, and the door HINGE. Over time the hinge stopped moving correctly and would not line up straight with door gasket. This misalignment began a small water leak out the door when running a wash cycle. At this point, my wife made me aware of a problem. The fix, remove the top cabinet. Locate the right rear top of the detergent drawer cabinet, right side when standing in front of the machine facing it. Now use a quarter-inch drill bit and carefully drill a hole in the top of the cabinet above the stuck fabric softener lid. Once you finish the hole, insert a nail or other similar rod to push down on the fabric softener lid. Do this while pulling on the drawer. Don't worry if you need to drill more than one hole to find this little lid. You will seal any holes with silicone adhesive. Now once you have the little trouble maker in hand, file a good bevel on the leading edge of this lid. Now it won't hang up on the inside drawer cabinet. I ordered a new front cabinet panel, a new hinge, a new door gasket, and a large outer spring clamp. I carefully assembled all these parts with the aid of videos on Appliance Parts Pros, there are also other videos to watch. The LG Tromm front load washer now works like it did when it was new. If you have fabric softener compartment lid issues you can fix it. One very important note, happy wife happy life! Plus I get clean clothes and no structural damage to the home.