Haven't Posted for a while....Whirlpool Duet HT Door locking problems

Hi everyone-

Well I haven't posted for a while. But washer troubles have gotten me to get writing again. We have a Whirlpool Duet HT washing machine. It works wonderfully with the exception of a nagging door locking problem. It happened once before that the door would not unlock. Then this time even after repeating the spin/drain cycle and cycling the power nothing seemed to unlock the door.

Locating the service manual on the web -- thank you!!! -- it showed me how to remove the lower panel -- after we placed several 2x4s under each of the legs because it is in a drain pan. Then pull on the pear shaped manual release pin -- then the door will open. Wrong. So after many attempts to open the door -- the guy approach finally won -- pulling and tugging on the door with the pin down until it finally opened. And of course our last load of laundry was in there wet. At least it was our last load.

A quick order on the Internet for the part.

And hopefully by Saturday we will have a working washing machine.

Word to the wise -- you only have to take off the retaining ring on the seal near the door -- you don't have to take apart the entire washing machine to get at the plugs. The service manual doesn't really say that clearly. Oh well -- it gave me time to really appreciate how nice the machine is put together.

Having fun.....