How to get into a AEG Lavamat

This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.

AEG L14850 door hinge plate dropped inside; door seal retaining ring refitted

The problem

On an AEG L14850 washing machine, the door was removed to replace a cracked outer ring. During refitting, the hinge back plate/retaining plate was dislodged and fell inside the machine. After retrieving it and refitting the hinge, the door seal securing ring with spring was very difficult to reinstall.

Likely cause

The hinge retaining plate was accidentally knocked off during door refitting. The seal retaining ring spring was under high tension, making the ring difficult to stretch and seat evenly in the groove.

What fixed it

The retaining plate was retrieved by removing the door seal and using a magnet-on-a-stick, then the hinge was reattached. For the door seal ring, advice was to position the spring at the bottom and work the wire into the groove. The confirmed successful method was to use a homemade extender bar to hold the spring extended, fit the loop over the seal, then remove the extender so the spring tightened into place.

Checks to try

• Door seal removed to gain access
• Dropped hinge back plate retrieved with a magnet-on-a-stick
• Hinge reattached
• Door seal securing ring refitted after extending the spring

Parts or tools mentioned

• door hinge back plate/retaining plate
• door seal securing ring
• spring
• magnet-on-a-stick
• small thin flat-bladed screwdriver
• homemade extender bar