Time for a new dishwasher?

Dishwasher Repair
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1

Hello!

I am hoping that someone can help guide me. We have a 7 to 8 year old Kitchen Aid dishwasher that has performed admirably, until recently. The 3 problems that I have are:

  1. It appears that the bitumen sound insulation is breaking off as we routinely find chunks of it in the bottom of the dishwasher tub. Can this be repaired? This has actually been going on for a while (6 months maybe) but we never new what it was until now.

  2. The push button lever for the rinse aid dispenser just broke off. Through some searching around the web, it appears that one can only purchase the entire dispenser vs. this small part. The cost of which is $60 to $80 (installed myself). Does anyone know if just the lever part can be purchased vs. the entire dispenser?

  3. We just noticed that the dishwasher is making a loud buzzing noise while running (note, it could have been doing this for a while, normally we run it in the middle of the night using the delay feature). The cycle seems to run to completion and yes, the dishes are clean when it is done. The noise is definitely coming from underneath the dishwasher, behind the toe plate. I’d estimate that it is coming from the motor (centrally located), but am not 100% certain. There hasn’t been any broken dishes/glasses in it nor is there usually food on the plates (we pre-rinse). Does anyone have thoughts on what this problem could be?

Overall, my general question is whether it is time for a new dishwasher or not… A service call is estimated to be approximately $100 + the dispenser ($65) + the bitumen sound insulation (if it can be replaced) and address the buzzing noise – yike! This could end up being 1/2 the cost of a new upper mid-level appliance. Dang, and I just had to buy a new clothes washer/dryer earlier in the month!

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it!

2

In relation to the buzzing noise, it seems to only happen while water is swishing around in the dishwasher. When it is draining, the buzzing stops. Hopefully this will help to diagnose this problem.

Thanks again for your help!

3

  1. The inner door mastic insulation comes as a part of the inner door panel and is not sold separate. I do not think it is very important to have it.

  2. The dispenser comes as an assembly only. Whirlpool does not sell a separate parts for it.

  3. Regarding the noise I would check the pump inside and the chopper (#6 on the [B]diagram[/B]) in the pump first. You can use the instructions from one of our previous posts: http://forum.appliancepartspros.com/dishwasher-repair/2903-whirlpool-dishwasher.html

If there is nothing wrong then the noise is coming from the motor.

Your decision "To do or not to do" should be based on the condition of the old dishwasher, cost efficiency and your wife happiness. :slight_smile:

Here are the breakdown diagrams http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?diagram_id=119044&&model_id=265812

Gene.

4

Gene, thank you for your help! I’ll get to disassembly so that I can take a peek into the chopper mechanism. I’m hoping that will be the culprit because if it is, I’ll just buy a replacement dispenser.

About the inner door mastic insulation; if I replace the dispenser, will that (the mastic insulation) be exposed so that I can clean it out as best I can? Based upon the diagram, it should be. Because that stuff is so sticky, it gets on some of the dishes as is very difficult to remove which is why it is an annoying problem.

I really appreciate your help! Thank you very much.

5

You are welcome. Sorry the cost went higher than we were hoping. If you are looking for a new dishwasher to use it for a number of years then I would recommend to check out Bosch. Not necessarily top of the line model but definitely stainless steel tub.

Gene.

6

:mad: Ihave a whirlpool gold side by side refrigeratorthat the water dispenser stopped working.And now the ice dispensor also stopped any ideas other on what the problem could be ??:smiley: