I think it's highly likely that the Shout stain remover is your problem. Plastics are notorious for experiencing cracks and splits in the presence of corrosive chemicals. What happens is that without the chemical the plastic is able to withstand the residual stresses and strains of being screwed onto the washer, but the chemical affects the material strength and lowers it so that these same residual stresses can crack the plastic. There are other products that can cause the same problem. Spray & Wash is one example. It's easy to find out if this is the problem. Just make sure that you don't spray these chemicals when you are close to the door, and if it still cracks, then I'm full of baloney.

Blackbelt consumer: Sorry to hear of your bad encounter with Sears. You know, when I first got those machines home and tried them on, I already felt that something wasn't "kosher." I guess we bought in to the sales talk too quickly. We never learned our lesson dealing with Sears. We got a Kenmore dishwasher. It was a smaller capacity one, but cost more. We got it because of space limitation. Before the year was up, it already had problem--the water spinner broke--it melted away! And of course the warranty period was over too. So, I was thinking to myself how could Sears sell such a shoddy product! Anyway, Sears will be history for me too. spark823: Thanks for the heads up on LG. Interesting thing is that a few people in this forum seem to have positive things to say of it, but of course until the problem becomes a problem, it's always ok. In all fairness, all things will have problems some day, but if the problems become evident too soon, then the product is no better than the top loaders. They seem to last for years. Only difference is its energy saving feature, but I wonder how much savings is worth looking into, considering all inconveniences one has to go through. By the way, I do use the new detergent that is made for front loaders. laudrytech: The only thing with our set is that we have installed a new vent, so there's no kink or clog as far as we can tell. Also, the machine being so new, there isn't any residue around the door. That said, I will look out for the helpful things you suggested for future trouble shooting though. Guys, I have learned something here and want to thank each one of you for taking the time to respond. Meanwhile, I've been thinking of reverting back to good old days--with the top loaders. Any models to recommend? Stackable ones are preferred. Thanks so much once again and have a good evening.

Please allow me to post my opinion and experience on this stinky issue. I am the owner of a HE3T washer, and I am really unhappy with it, mainly because of the smelly and moldy issue, that crept up on us unexpectedly. My wife and I have 4 kids, so doing laundry is a daily affair, and not to be underestimated or procrastinated either... I am on the verge of throwing that ugly beast out of the laundry room for good. It is unbearably revolting to pick up an (alleged) clean towel to dry one's face just out of the shower, and "smear" moldy smell all over you. The vomit factor is very high on this one.... :-( However, I want to highlight a point, and that this issue is NOT an issue with ALL the FL (front loader) washing machines in general. Maybe just US made ones... Overseas, ( Italy ) where I grew up, FL are 99.999999% of laundry machines available on the market and this issue is completely unknown. To put it simply, I am now 45 years of age, I have lived in Italy 28 of those years, and I have never, ever, seen or heard of moldy smell on clean laundry out of the washer. Never. If you knew my mother (she redefines the word "neat freak") you would understand. Just the hint of a remote possibility of having mold in the washer and/or laundry, would bring that washer in the front yard in flames... Seriously, I believe US manufacturers have gone wrong somewhere in the making of this machines. They either cut one too may corners ( quality of rubber, maybe ?) or are attempting to reduce the amount of water in the cycle at the point where the quality of the rinse cycle is not an issue with them, and us as consumers are not part of the equation. I just came back from a one year of living in Italy with wife and kids, and the FIRST thing we notice, ever single time we go over there, is how much fresher and overall incredibly better smell of "clean laundry" they have from their washers. I know, we are weird... and on the contrary, as soon as we are back to the US, and to our $#@! HE3T, we pick up the moldy smell again. The customer/user/consumer SHOULD NOT have to do any gimmicks or use any "special" tablets, in order to operate these washers, or any washer, for that matter, NOT A SINGLE ONE. This washers are NOT cheap and they should just... well, work. Living in Italy for the last 12 months, we used two washers, one that came with the apartment we rented, and besides a slower spin cycle, it worked as expected (put dirty clothes in, put detergent, push the button, wait, get wet CLEAN laundry out, END OF THE story. Then the landlord needed his washer back, and for a "rent discount" he took that one back, and I got my old 12 years old Miele washer out of storage. This Miele has a somewhat smaller load capacity than most, and it worked for a family of 6 for a long time. Same for my mother's Candy ( Italian brand), and my sister's old Italian washer (San Giorgio). That one lasted 16 years of day in and day out operation for a family of six. It is just so frustrating, since I know that as a concept, FL do work very well, I have seen it work for decades... and one more time, we should NOT need to use "tablets" or do complicated procedures to have clean and good smelling laundry. As I said before, millions of people overseas use FL day in and day out, without doing anything else other than 1) put dirty laundry in 2) select cycle 3) put detergent in 4) push button 5( get clean clothes out. End of the story. Kenmore, Sears, whatever, get your acts together !!

Hi! I ended up abandoning the project after the citric acid. I did not let it soak, really, I just did a cycle. It did the trick, no more lint. And the rust that was peaking around the edges of a couple of the holes in the basket went away, too. The lint seems to have been mostly...dog hair. Greyhounds have extremely fine, extremely short undercoats. I've had mine for 17 months. Just because I could, I pulled down a microscope I happened to have in the shop, and it looked like hairs. Millions of them. I combed out some of the dog's hairs, and it seemed to be exactly the same stuff. I launder his bedding, but I think it also gets on our clothes—even in the air. I finally got a robot vaccuum, it brought the volume down. Unless it's on his bedding, it's invisible, it doesn't even collect in the corners, just on the rugs. When I experience the lint again, I am going to take the machine apart. When I see what the prior owners lived with in their dishwasher, I can't imagine washer is pristine. Dadoes, should I order extra seals before I attempt opening up the washer? Just in case?