OT: Whirlpool Dishwasher Repair Attempt In Process

dbCooper

Unit is 25+ years old, tub only partially fills with water.  So little that upper spray arm is not rotating.  Dishes no longer getting clean. 

Tub gets filled via a solenoid actuated inlet valve.  There is no water level sensor, the solenoid is "on" for a set amount of time.  There is a float switch for overfill conditions, that is operating correctly.

My search for a replacement inlet valve came up empty, seems to be a discontinued part.  Solenoid is functioning, so working on assumption there is a partial blockage.  The yellow valve piece is headed for a vinegar soak.  Hope that gets it.  Any thoughts/ideas are welcomed.

The exploded view...

Langner91

dbCooper said:

 Any thoughts/ideas are welcomed.

Put it out of it's misery.  It is time.  Buy a Bosch.

nolaegghead

Make sure you are getting good flow before the solenoid valve.  Back flush the valve if possible.  A stronger de-scaler like lime-a-way or CLR will work better than vinegar.   If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, soak in that.  Heat accelerates scale removal.

CtTOPGUN

Does the pump work adequately if you fill the tub with additional water manually? If so, any generic inlet valve can be made to work. Look up part number at a factory approved retailer site. Put manufacturer part number in Google search. You will find a knockoff part that will fit.


   Jim

dbCooper

@nolaegghead Good flow to the valve.  Also, same line feeds sink faucet a couple feet away and that flows well.  I'll move the soak to Angie's ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.  Thanks for that.

@CtTOPGUN

My searches on mfg part number earlier may not have been thorough enough.  Gave up after two places showed mfg part discontinued and secondary suppliers no stock and no estimate for availability.  Will revisit if this clean out fails.

Pump works fine if I add about 2qts. water, until the next cycle when it drains/refills.

WeberWho

I always enjoy seeing someone tackle something when others just say go and buy a new one. I hope you get it figured out and gets you many more years of use!

GabeD

dmourati

Just bought a new Bosch. I didn't even consider attempting to repair it this time. Did so (paid someone else to) 2-3 times over the past 4 years of owning it and finally threw in the towel.

GrateEggspectations

Sorry for the thread hijack, but....

Is it easy to remove and replace a dishwasher yourself? We have a very dated kitchen that we aren’t ready to fully remodel just yet. We’ve got small kids who like to abuse the cabinetry, so we’re waiting until they’re a little older (i.e., more civilized). The dishwasher works shoddily at best, and we have a family member who is willing to give us a unit that is newer than ours. Seems to make more sense to put it in than to spend money on a new model that will only serve for an interim period. 

@nolaegghead
@dbCooper

nolaegghead

Very easy.

FWIW - more often than not, if a dishwasher isn't cleaning as well as expected it is usually crap stuck in the rotor arm things.

dbCooper

@GrateEggspectations   Agree that replacing should be easy, except on the wallet.  

Maintenance tip, if your area has hard water like mine.  Periodically running a cycle with citric acid crystals works well to remove scale buildup

Kayak

GrateEggspectations said:

Sorry for the thread hijack, but....

Is it easy to remove and replace a dishwasher yourself? We have a very dated kitchen that we aren’t ready to fully remodel just yet. We’ve got small kids who like to abuse the cabinetry, so we’re waiting until they’re a little older (i.e., more civilized). The dishwasher works shoddily at best, and we have a family member who is willing to give us a unit that is newer than ours. Seems to make more sense to put it in than to spend money on a new model that will only serve for an interim period. 

@nolaegghead
@dbCooper

Grate:
Cut the water & power (hopefully there's a breaker without much else on it).
Take off the 'toe-kick' cover at the bottom.
Disconnect the water and wiring.
Unscrew the screw at the top into the cabinet.
Pull out.
Clean up floor.
Roll new one partway in...
Reconnect water and wiring.
Carefully push in, while holding insulation in place.
Screw in screw.
Turn on water & power.
Keep an eye underneath the first use or two.

RyanStl

Appliance repair is a racket. I'm selling my house and inspection report said dishwasher needed new pulleys (didn't disagree). $50 for the part because I had to buy whole kit even though the likely failure point was the rope.  $200 service call plus labor for 20 minutes of work. No wonder I was okay with a heavy door.

Don't get me started on having to pay a guy $80 to hose my AC unit and $140 for an electrician to pop out a 50 amp breaker and replace with 30 amp which took about 30 seconds after he locked himself out of the van.

good luck with repair OP, good for you.

GrateEggspectations

Kayak said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Sorry for the thread hijack, but....

Is it easy to remove and replace a dishwasher yourself? We have a very dated kitchen that we aren’t ready to fully remodel just yet. We’ve got small kids who like to abuse the cabinetry, so we’re waiting until they’re a little older (i.e., more civilized). The dishwasher works shoddily at best, and we have a family member who is willing to give us a unit that is newer than ours. Seems to make more sense to put it in than to spend money on a new model that will only serve for an interim period. 

@nolaegghead
@dbCooper

Grate:
Cut the water & power (hopefully there's a breaker without much else on it).
Take off the 'toe-kick' cover at the bottom.
Disconnect the water and wiring.
Unscrew the screw at the top into the cabinet.
Pull out.
Clean up floor.
Roll new one partway in...
Reconnect water and wiring.
Carefully push in, while holding insulation in place.
Screw in screw.
Turn on water & power.
Keep an eye underneath the first use or two.

Thank you for this! I appreciate it. 

Kayak

GrateEggspectations said:

Kayak said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Sorry for the thread hijack, but....

Is it easy to remove and replace a dishwasher yourself? We have a very dated kitchen that we aren’t ready to fully remodel just yet. We’ve got small kids who like to abuse the cabinetry, so we’re waiting until they’re a little older (i.e., more civilized). The dishwasher works shoddily at best, and we have a family member who is willing to give us a unit that is newer than ours. Seems to make more sense to put it in than to spend money on a new model that will only serve for an interim period. 

@nolaegghead
@dbCooper

Grate:
Cut the water & power (hopefully there's a breaker without much else on it).
Take off the 'toe-kick' cover at the bottom.
Disconnect the water and wiring.
Unscrew the screw at the top into the cabinet.
Pull out.
Clean up floor.
Roll new one partway in...
Reconnect water and wiring.
Carefully push in, while holding insulation in place.
Screw in screw.
Turn on water & power.
Keep an eye underneath the first use or two.

Thank you for this! I appreciate it. 

You're welcome. You really should have a good look inside for cleanliness first, though. I usually find a lot of schmutz under/around the pump housing that improves the performance on mine. In addition to checking the spray arms.

buzd504

GrateEggspectations said:

Kayak said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Sorry for the thread hijack, but....

Is it easy to remove and replace a dishwasher yourself? We have a very dated kitchen that we aren’t ready to fully remodel just yet. We’ve got small kids who like to abuse the cabinetry, so we’re waiting until they’re a little older (i.e., more civilized). The dishwasher works shoddily at best, and we have a family member who is willing to give us a unit that is newer than ours. Seems to make more sense to put it in than to spend money on a new model that will only serve for an interim period. 

@nolaegghead
@dbCooper

Grate:
Cut the water & power (hopefully there's a breaker without much else on it).
Take off the 'toe-kick' cover at the bottom.
Disconnect the water and wiring.
Unscrew the screw at the top into the cabinet.
Pull out.
Clean up floor.
Roll new one partway in...
Reconnect water and wiring.
Carefully push in, while holding insulation in place.
Screw in screw.
Turn on water & power.
Keep an eye underneath the first use or two.

Thank you for this! I appreciate it. 

Also, make sure your drain line is installed in a big arch such that the highest point (higher is better) is higher than where it attaches to the drain line of your sink.  Otherwise it will backwash and you will have stinky drain water build up and smell coming from your sink drain (ask me how I know).

dbCooper

Epilogue:

Appears to be a successful repair, time will tell.  Ran thru a "Normal Wash" and all four cycles filled the tub correctly, with upper spray arm functioning.

Pic of reassembled inlet valve and one of it installed.  Only issue was a weep at base of compression nut, needed a slight tighten to seal.

*keen eyes will note the wire tie to prevent compression nut from falling through floor.  🙂

lousubcap

@dbCooper - Way to get after it and achieve a successful outcome.  Congrats on the repairs-now you deserve quite a personal reward.  Thanks for the follow-up, as well.  

Carolina Q

dbCooper said:

Epilogue:

Only issue was a weep at base of compression nut, needed a slight tighten to seal.

I wonder if anyone has ever installed a compression fitting that didn't need a slight tightening to seal. I don't think I have!

Nice work.

Canugghead

Great job!

 'toe-kick' cover reminds me of our kitchen renovation contractor, if I wasn't watching he would have sealed access to the cover plate with the full length base trim permanently. I had him cut out that section and used a rare earth magnet disc to attach it to the cover plate. 

Elijah

dbCooper said:

Epilogue:

Appears to be a successful repair, time will tell.  Ran thru a "Normal Wash" and all four cycles filled the tub correctly, with upper spray arm functioning.

Pic of reassembled inlet valve and one of it installed.  Only issue was a weep at base of compression nut, needed a slight tighten to seal.

*keen eyes will note the wire tie to prevent compression nut from falling through floor.  🙂

Curious how you know the upper spray arm is functioning? 

nolaegghead

Elijah said:

dbCooper said:

Epilogue:

Appears to be a successful repair, time will tell.  Ran thru a "Normal Wash" and all four cycles filled the tub correctly, with upper spray arm functioning.

Pic of reassembled inlet valve and one of it installed.  Only issue was a weep at base of compression nut, needed a slight tighten to seal.

*keen eyes will note the wire tie to prevent compression nut from falling through floor.  🙂

Curious how you know the upper spray arm is functioning? 

Off the top of my head...attach something that makes noise as it rotates, or rubberband a bag on one end, or remember the position it started with, or tie some thread on it and look for it wrapping up, etc.

dbCooper

Elijah said:

dbCooper said:

Epilogue:

Appears to be a successful repair, time will tell.  Ran thru a "Normal Wash" and all four cycles filled the tub correctly, with upper spray arm functioning.

Pic of reassembled inlet valve and one of it installed.  Only issue was a weep at base of compression nut, needed a slight tighten to seal.

*keen eyes will note the wire tie to prevent compression nut from falling through floor.  🙂

Curious how you know the upper spray arm is functioning? 

During spray activity arm was positioned at 12/6 o'clock, then position noted when next open door.  Also, volume of water dripping from the top of the tub was minimal in the "broken" condition.  Unmeasured, but observed waterfall like drippings from top, and top rack, when upper arm functioning.

caliking

Nice work 👍🏾

Our dishwasher was acting goofy some years ago - truncated wash cycles, dishes  still dirty, etc. The good folks at Bosch said it would be $250 for the service call, then $2/min to diagnose and fix. Found the tech service guide (or whatever it’s called) online somewhere, which is the manual for service techs. 

After that, it took a $20 part, and a beer, to get my dishwasher back up to speed. No problems since. 

GrateEggspectations

@buzd504, @dbCooper, @Kayak:

Thanks again for the vote of confidence and wise words, friends. Got the old one out and “new one” in without too much trouble this am. The only surprises were the inflexible copper pipes in this old house! Glad to have put this in, as it’ll buy some time until we are ready for the big kitchen overhaul. This one works great. Thanks again. 

dbCooper

Redux:

Time told her tale, the repair lasted for six loads.  Issue is the plunger that is acted upon by the solenoid, it is just plain worn out and "sticky".  Back to the internet, I found a replacement part for the part number that my discontinued part cross-referenced to.  For $20. I rolled the dice.  It's installed, calling it fixed with confidence now.

Pic below of the old yellow valve with the new blue replacement and all its assorted flow control pieces (sold as fitting several manufacturers and multiple models).  Also a pic of new blue ready to install.  Much quicker this time, under 30 min, and no leaks!  I took scotch brite to the compression fitting mating surfaces.  🙂

dbCooper

A new issue showed up with the old Whirlpool, soap suds and water leaking from bottom of the door.  Without any proof I immediately accused Angie of not thoroughly rinsing the heavily soiled items that she pre-soaks in regular dish soap.  That was a mistake on several levels!  One being it was not the cause of the leak.

The door gasket looked OK, no cracks or any obvious signs of failure.  For $10. I replaced it anyway, figuring at over 25 years old it had to be the problem.  Nope.

The issue was a fancy detergent we recently purchased... https://cascadeclean.com/en-us/products/cascade-platinum-actionpacs-dishwasher-detergent-fresh-scent/

Found several examples on the web of people having the same issue when using these ActionPacs in older dishwashers.  Apparently some older models have more powerful motors/water pressure than modern models.  This causes over-sudsing which leads to leaks past the door seal.

We switched back to Cascade liquid in the green bottle and all is well now.