How can I fix a new door rubber seal on my Miele Novatronic W320?

Having just done this on my own Miele W821 (but virtually all Miele front loaders are similar in this respect), in particular the W700, W800 and W900 series. The procedure to replace the door seal is as follows:

1. Open the machine door.
2. Turn the mains power off and unplug the machine from the wall.
3. Completely remove the powder dispenser drawer (it will come out so far (and stop), then there is a small button at the rear of the dispenser which you need to depress to remove it fully, you'll see this button once you've withdrawn the drawer to its stop position.
5. Undo and remove the 3 x hexagonal head bolts surrounding the door seal (they are at approximately the 2, 6 and 10 o'clock positions). Note these bolts actually secure the front panel to the machine chassis, they do not retain the door seal. Don't worry the front will not drop off.
6. Now look at the aperture of the powder dispenser drawer (you have of course removed the actual drawer earlier). Locate the lower left hand corner of the aperture, and you'll see a recessed philips head screw in a hole. Undo and remove that screw.
7. Now, you'll need to get on your hands and knees. You DO NOT need to tilt, or lift up the washing machine to do the next bit. Locate the underside of the front panel right at the bottom. You'll notice that it sticks out about half an inch or so and is proud of what I would call the kick plate which extends right down to the floor. You need to look on the underside of the front panel, about an inch or so in from the left hand edge. There you will see a spring loaded clip which when closed is located within a slot on the underside of the front panel. Using a flat bladed screwdriver, you need to carefully lever the spring clip open whilst gently pulling the whole front panel (from the left side) ajar. It will just suddenly pop out once you've done it.
8. Open the pump access door lower left hand side of the front panel) and unclip the drain tube from its plastic retaining clip.
9. Now carefully swing open the whole front panel, it opens like a door (hinged on the right hand side). It might be a little stiff as there are a whost of leads attached to it, but it is designed to open fully (with the leads attached) to about 90 degrees.
10. Next, unseat the rubber door seal from around the door opening area (on the chassis, not the front panel, obvioulsy), so that the seal the flops away from the chassis and lies just inside the machine.
11. You will notice that there is a thin steel band holding the door seal in place around the drum. On the right hand side (at about the 3 o'clock position), you'ss see a tensioning screw for the band. With a flat bladed screwdriver undo this completely and remove the screw (it is accessible from above with a long screwdriver). Be aware that there is 1 x washer and 1 x 'nut' type fitting that will fall out when you remove the screw. Locate these and retain them for later.
12. Now extend the steel band to its maximum opening (by moving the 2 x lugs apart where the now removed screw was).
13. You can now remove the steel band. Then pull it out through the hole/door aperture in the chassis.
14. Locate the small rubber tag at about the 12 o'clock position where the seal is attached to the drum and tug it. The seal will then come away from the drum. Remove the old seal completely.
15. Using your new seal, place this correctly around the drum (there is a lip on the seal and this has to go over the lip on the drum. Remember, the seal goes on the OUTSIDE of the drum. Ensure the 'tag' is at the 12 o'clock position.
16. Reassembly is then the reverse of removal.
17. Make sure that you do up the retaining steel band sufficiently and that you correctly locate the sela on the chassis front panel (there is a groove in the seal which will locate the seal in the aperture).
18. Finally, once you're done, put the machine through a few rinse cycles (where the water level is high) and look for leaks. If you have a leak, it is likely that your door seal has a rip/tear, or that it has not been correctly located around the drum - in which case you'll need to investigate.

All procedures carried out at your own risk of course. If you do not feel that you are competent - get a professional engineer to carry this out.

Hope that helps.

Neil

Neil Lewis
August 2007