Gasoline smell in our front loading washer

[PMolly]

Agh! DH was doing some car repairs for my parents and got quite of bit of gasoline on his clothes. He soaked them for the rest of the day in a bucket of water with dawn dish detergent, but they must've had a bunch of gas still on them because when he washed them, it stunk up our whole house. Now our new front loading washer smells like gasoline. So far, I've ran a cleaning cycle with bleach, we've run a few loads without any type of additive, and I've run a cycle with baking soda as the detergent and vinegar as the bleach additive. DH thinks we might need to disassemble it and clean it thoroughly with something, and is worried he ruined our washer. Any help?

[Kerlowyn]

I bet the smell is being held by the gasket that is around the door. Metal won't hold smell, but rubber will.

The gaskets are replaceable. See if there is an appliance repair center that will send out a tech to do it. It can be a difficult job, and special gasket tools are required.

[PMolly]

Thanks for that tip. I just made a paste from baking soda and water, then rubbed down everything inside, including the gasket and window. I'm doing another wash now to see how that turns out.

We bought an extended warranty when we bought the washer, I wonder if this will void the warranty?

[Kerlowyn]

Who is the washer made by? I used to work in the appliance repair/warranty industry...I am familar with the rules, and may be able to help.

[PMolly]

The washer is made by Kenmore.

I cleaned the gasket a few times with Simple Green (after the baking soda paste) and then washed some old rags. The rags came out smelling fine, even after being dried, but the washer still has a lingering odor of gas. However, I decided to go ahead and do some laundry in it, and everything I've washed smells fine, just the washer still stinks.

[mamabella]

We have an LG Tromm (curses to it!) and the repair guy sent out from the store where we bought it told us we have to use Afresh (available at home depot, lowes and online) to get rid of residue and it kills smells - you are supposed to use it oncec a month to keep your front loader working properly and it does kill odor (leaves it with a "mainstream clean" smell) but it might be worth a try. You stick 1-3 cakes of the stuff in the washer and run a normal cycle and it kills the odors and gets rid of detergent residue. We still do tub clean cycles with bleach too but that is more to keep mold from growing in the drum.