When I got my first "adult" apartment after college, my mom gave me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer as a housewarming present.  It was all I could ask for, as a lover of baking and as it reminded me of my childhood with my mom making yummy things in the kitchen.  Probably a few years ago, I noticed a little grease leaking out of it after it was on its side for a long period of time during an apartment move, but didn't think anything of it after I cleaned it up.  The past few times I've used my mixer, though, there was a significant amount of grease escaping both from the seam of the motor cover, under the metal decorative ring, and dripping from inside the motor down the arm and onto the top of the paddle.  I thought, well that's not good - for the mixer or the baked goodies!

A little Googling and I figured out that the problem was the grease had separated, just like when a homemade mayonnaise breaks but a lot more complicated to rectify!  I called a local appliance repair shop, and they said it would cost $75-125 to repair.  Yikes!  A little more time on the computer, and I found a great YouTube video with a DIY fix, only it was for one of the flip top models and I have a lift up bowl model.


But, for the most part it instructed me on what to do. I just had to get my friend to help completely detach the motorhead from the base in order to take the housing off because the screws were super tight.
Cleaning as I go
Grease that needs to be removed
Nasty!
All cleaned up and ready for new grease
Anyway, one can of KitchenAid food grade grease purchased off of Amazon and two rolls of paper towels later (what a messy cleanup!), and my 10+ year old KitchenAid is back in business, and I can add appliance repairwoman to my resume. I did hit one speed bump putting it back together.  The two large black plastic screws on the side of the housing have spring loaded carbon brushes behind them.  If you ever take them out, you must note how they are positioned because if not put back just the way you found them, with the dog-eared side hitting a tiny, barely visible square notch in one corner, the electrical current won't flow through the motor.  By the way, you do not need to remove these screws for this fix!  I didn't realize that until it was too late.

I must confess that I did end up buying a new KitchenAid mixer anyway with a higher wattage, but that just means I can do twice the baking and my older mixer now has a kid brother -- a stronger, faster, and bigger one!!