This is more common than ever because of poor quality materials. A washing machine door hinge should never break, and for decades they never did, but they do now. The washing machine door and hinges are both easy enough to replace so it should be mostly just a question of buying a new one and replacing it.
Replacing a door hinge
A washing machine door hinge is usually held onto the casing with two screws, bolts or even rivets. They can be large self tappers, or bolts, with nuts or plates behind them which can drop inside the machine when unscrewed. Sometimes the hinge will hang on the casing with lugs, or hooks which slot into holes and the screws are just extra securing.
So the main thing to watch out for is unscrewing the hinge only to hear something drop inside, which is awkward to retrieve. Many washers have base plates fitted, or have a chassis where parts can fall and be difficult to retrieve. Before removing the door hinge, disconnect the washer from the mains and remove the lid. If you can see the back of the hinge and reach it, undo the screws and catch the fixings or plate they screw into.
If it’s difficult, try peeling the door seal away so you can get very easy access to the back of the hinge. The door seal is usually secured to the shell at the front with a metal or plastic band. It shouldn’t be too difficult to remove and refit on most washing machines.
If you can’t see any fixings at the front you’ll have to see if you can locate anything at the back, bearing in mind the advice above.
Forbes specialise in renting Bosch appliances so they know them inside out. They also rent other brands and many other products.
- No initial financial outlay
- Prices start at around £3.91 per week
- No more repair bills
- Fast repair service same day/next day
- No stress trying to find a repairer
- Stop constantly having to buy new ones
Something has dropped inside the machine
In the last paragraph I advised to beware of unscrewing the door hinge without checking if it has a loose plate at the back that will fall inside the machine. If this has happened to you the part that has fallen inside will most likely be stuck in a chassis. To retrieve it you need to make sure the appliance is disconnected from the mains (read on..)
Here are the various ways to retrieve the hinge part
Pull the washer forward and tilt it back to have a look underneath. You never know it could have just fallen onto the floor (relatively unlikely though). Pull the washing machine forward and tilt it back against a worktop or get someone you trust to hold it. Try to reach under and inside to find it. Warning, washing machines are very heavy! Do not let one fall over!
Get Your Appliance Fixed
Fixed-price repairs, Pay monthly, Repair & protect..
Remove the retaining clip or spring holding the door seal onto the door frame and peel back the door seal. Try to reach in and down. Disconnect the washing machine’s hoses. Pull the washer right out and lay it down on its front to gain better access to underneath
As a last resort, remove the door seal and kick panel strip, remove screws and take off the front panel. (There may or may not be more steps to taking a front panel off depending on make and model)
Buy washing machine door parts
Price match promise: If you find the exact same part or accessory elsewhere for cheaper, we’ll not only match it, we’ll beat it!”
Ransom Spares
Repairs
Fixed-price repairs, Pay monthly, Repair & protect your whole appliance..
50% off Digital annual membership
Subscribe to Which? today and get 50% off a Digital annual membership for your first year. Offer ends 31/11/2023. This offer is only available for new Which? Full access annual subscription. (excluding Gardening, Travel, Computing or Money packages).
Spares
Ransom Spares is a family company with over 1 million spare parts. Next day delivery available, friendly company with over 5000 reviews on Trust Pilot - Buy your appliance spare part
Price match promise: "If you find the exact same part cheaper, we’ll not only match it, we’ll beat it!"
The door on my Bosch Excel 7 (Vario Perfect) washing machine appears to be made of a inner half that fits to the hinge on the machine and an outer part that is coming away from the inner section. There doesn’t appear to be any way of tightening the loose part of the door together. The door is still closing but there is quite a lot of play. Has anyone else experienced the same problem?
Thanks.
If there are no visible screws on the inner half it’s likely something has broken and it may not be possible to tighten anything up. To investigate you’d need to take the door off the hinge and try to take it apart. It’s not always easy to split them these days depending on how it’s been designed, you need to be careful you don’t break anything trying to get the two halves apart.
You could try entering the proper model number into appliance spare parts to see if it shows the door as a spare part and if you can buy either half separately or if the door comes only as a complete door or not (which wouldn’t surprise me these days).
I have a loose screw on the hinge of the door that won’t ‘bite’ when I try and screw it back in, so the door is only being held on by one screw. What is a good fix for this?
Is the screw damaged Charlotte? If you don’t fix it the door is likely to eventually drop off altogether if you aren’t careful to support it when it’s open. Unfortunately the screw might not be available and the part it screws into may be part of the casing and unavailable too. You could try looking for them on Ransom Spares and/or send a parts query into them if you can’t see it
Hi – Replaced the Beko door handle easily, but the base plate for the door fell into the washer !! – tried to remove panels but could not see screws. All was lost till I read your advice. luckily the base plate had fallen onto the floor. I was able to reach in and put it back in place and secure the door !! Phew.. ta :)
I have the same issue as Charlotte, only both holes seem to be loose now that I have just bought a new replacement door for my beko washer. I just can’t screw the door onto the washing machine now! Both holes for the door hinge screws are too loose. What do I do?? Please help!
Hello Erika. If you mean that when you unscrewed the door hinge that something fell down at the back of the front panel now it won’t screw back in this is described in my article. If there is a plate at the back of the front panel that the screws screw into it will need to be retrieved. Help on how to do this is in my article above.
Hi my Bosch washing machine door has no screws holding the front and back of it together…where the screw holes are there is white plastic plugs…any idea how these can be removed?
Hello Jim. I would guess the plastic plugs may prize out and could be hiding the screws or maybe they have designed it so that it can’t be taken apart. Check somewhere like Ransom Spares to see if they sell the individual parts for the door or only a complete door.