Heard a grinding noise in our dishwasher one night recently while it was in the drain mode. Water wasn't draining out so I had to siphon it out with a tube, cup, and rags, then looked up information about the washer/dryer on the internet and found PartsSelect. I watched the repair video they provided and decided to give the repair a try. I began to remove all the necessary parts following the instructional video.
The hardest part of the job came early on, and once that was completed the rest of the job was a cinch. The center screw holding the upper impeller was the hardest part to remove. I tried to use the adjustable wrench on the hex shaped nut molded to the impeller while turning the screw, but that old screw was so tight I was afraid I'd strip the molded impeller nut.
I then tried a 1 inch nut without the driver attached to it but with a pair of vice grips clamped at about 45 degree angle on the 1 inch nut and set on the molded impeller nut while at the same time trying to remove the screw by putting the small nut driver through the top of the 1 inch nut and turning it. No luck there either. It would not budge.
By this time I was entertaining the idea of buying a new 5 to 800.00 dishwasher.
Well I had nothing else to lose except 5 to $800.00, so I reverted to caveman technology.
I ended up using a small chisel and wood mallet to get the impeller off the shaft. Since the impeller is made of a rubber like material, it came off easily in pieces using some careful strikes with the hammer on the impellers molded nut. When this was complete, I unscrewed and removed the filter housing.
The impeller screw, which was still in the motor shaft, and was removed 'after' this because there was no impeller or filter chamber in the way. There was a small space between the screw and the motor shaft since the impeller was removed from around that screw so I first tightened it a little bit, then finally was able to loosen the screw. You would think that screw had been super glued into that shaft but it finally came out. After that I removed the chopper blade and found that the spring attached to it was bent and had tore the shaft of the 'lower' drain impeller to pieces. After cleaning up the impeller pieces I ordered the drain and wash impeller kit from PartSellect. It arrived in a couple of days and the new parts installation went quickly.I was especiially relieved that the new screw and impeller went on without a hitch.
I didn't use the new shaft seal provided because it was a different height then the original seal and wouldn't allow the cover to the drain impeller to seat properly. The height of the new seal also caused the new drain impeller to push or spring up too high.The original seal looked fine so I used that and it worked just fine also. Started the dishwasher up for a test and it all worked flawlessly. No noise no leaks. This was my first washer dryer repair. Following the Part Sellect instructional video with Steve explaining while doing the removal of old and installation of the new parts was a breeze. SO, here's my conclusion. Folks, for under $50.00 I saved a lot of money and expect that I'll get at least a few years more use from this old dishwasher. Thanks again to PartSelect and Steve for your help.
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