I once put my old E36 BMW back together in the parking lot outside of my apartment following a front-end crash.

I'd have probably been more comfortable in a garage, wherein: I could leave things as they sat and would know that they'd be exactly where I left them when returning the next day.

But I didn't have a garage nearby that I could use. I kept the area clean and picked up all of my tools and detritus if I went in even for as much as a sandwich, and worked as expediently as my time would allow as I puzzled out this new-to-me problem of "bodywork."

I didn't get hear any complaints. The owner of the place would stop sometimes on his way through to make sure I was doing OK and would ask if I needed anything, and soon enough the car was put together better than it ever was on my watch.

When I rented a room, I did my auto maintenance on the curb. Now that I have a home, I still do that because I don't want oil stains on my driveway.

I get that some people don't have space for an oil pan, but tons do. Brake pad replacement doesn't require anything besides the jack from your car and a socket wrench.

Many localities have co-op community workshops where you can use their space to work on your car. They may even have a lift, common tools you can use, and someone there who might know enough about car repair to help you. Or not, but check into it.

I don't have a garage.

I mean, I get it. I'm a nerd that enjoys tackling problems. But the normal response I've seen from appliance techs have been the same. They seem more interested in the commission of selling a new unit than actually trying to fix the current one. In the end my unit probably could have been solved for less than an hour of his time to just jiggle the connection of the hall effect sensor on the board, but he couldn't even be bothered to figure out it was the sensors that were the problem or actually try and make the repair.

I've had similar experiences with other appliances over the years. It's not just a GE thing.

I agree. I feel like this story specifically illustrates how much time, labor, and knowledge you need to have to fix a "modern" appliance. Not only basic mechanical and electrical understanding, but having to troubleshoot the combination of circuit board and software problems puts this well out of the realm of most people. I sacrifice features for more repairability in several of my appliances (Speed Queen washer dryer, Dualit toaster, Kitchenaid mixer, etc) but that takes money, and just isn’t a realistic option for all things.

How many hours of labor did he spend testing, researching, retesting, ordering parts, trying something new, etc. all without a working washer? If that is something you enjoy and take pride in, that is one thing. But as a pure utility proposition for most people, it is way more expensive to rip apart complex machines for the possibility of being able to repair them.

Sure, pretty much. A hired tech didn't bother understanding the deeper issue would prefer me to use his coupon code to buy a new unit of great cost to me. Chances are a simple reseating of a connector and additional support would have prevented several hundred pounds of otherwise perfectly fine materials going to a landfill and cost me almost $1,000 for a similar replacement unit.

And if I didn't have enough knowledge and determination past a standard consumer it would have been trash. Sadly most consumers and support techs don't care enough.

Did you get the part on Amazon? I've had really bad luck with third party parts from Amazon. I always pay a bit more for OE or OEM parts now.