7WDT770PAYW4 Whirlpool Dishwasher - Instructions

I turned off the power to the dishwasher, removed the kick plate, raised the front levelers, disconnected the electric to the appliance, turned off the water supply to the appliance, disconnected the water supply, disconnected the drain system from the garbage disposal, unscrew the appliance from the countertop, then I remove the appliance from underneath the counter. I then tilted the appliance back and then in screwed the plastic retainers that held the heater element in place, removed the old one, replaced it with the new one in reversed the whole process

You only need to pull it out about 6 to 8 inches and you don’t need to disconnect anything to slide it on

Looked on you-tube and it was so easy. Pump on bottom right. unplug pump and do a halfway turn. Plug the new one up and place the pump on, and turn halfway and its on. START your dishwasher

simply line up the new pin with the rectangular slot in the kick panel and metal panel behind, slide the pin in and turn it with a flat blade screw driver.
NOTE: the original pin was black. A black replacement part cost $29 plus shipping! A knock-off pin was only $6 plus shipping. I got the cheap one and colored it with a black Sharpee marker before installation.

Thanks to everyone for posting their experiences on changing the heater element. The most difficult part of the repair was getting the dishwasher out of the cabinet. I didn't know that I should disconnect the water line underneath the sink and this would make the removal easier. Also, because the copper water line going to the dishwasher was kinked, I ended up changing it with a flexible steel braided line.....much easier to install.

Once the dishwasher was out of the cabinet, I turned it over and easily removed the clips that held the heater element in.

I would definetly recommend people doing this repair themselves, it will save you a lot of money!!!!!

Exact fit and at my door in two days

pushed the new retainers in the holes and we are set to go

Screwed in new cap

Disconnected the damaged hose extension from the dishwasher outlet drain hose and the connection to the sink drain. Removed two clamps. One a spring clamp and the other a screw clamps. Connected the new extension hose with a spring clamp to the dishwasher outlet drain hose. Connected the other end to the sink drain with a screw clamp. Checked for leaks. Good to go!

Only one friction sleeve was broken. So I pulled out the dishwasher to see how the one on the other side went on. It was very easy to replace and I replaced both. Unit works fine now.

Follow the u tube instruction. Replacing the pump was very simple and easy. The hard part was getting the dishwasher out of the cabinet and back in again.

12 screws remove door outside panel unplug wire remove 6 mounting screw remove old unit put new unit in place put 6 small mounting screws back plug wire in put front door panel in place put 12 door screws in your done now you can start and test run

removed kick panel with screwdriver, 90 degree turn of screw. Put towel under drain pump. Disconnect drain hose by loosening spring clip with pliers to provide access to pump. released spring clip on old motor while turning counterclockwise to separate pump from drain reservoir. inspect drain reservoir from inside machine to remove any foreign objects. Installed new pump by indexing attachment flanges to notches in reservoir and turning pump clockwise until locking tab makes audible click. reattach drain hose insuring hose is contacting "stop" ribs on drain hose pipe. Run wash cycle on machine to insure there are no leaks. Re-attached kick panel.

Pull dishwasher out a few inches. Disconnect spring from plastic connector with long nose pliers. Remove connector. Replace friction sleeve. Replace connector.Reconnect spring to plastic connector. This completes repair.

Did the repair, but needed one extra step not described in video:

I followed the directions on the PartSelect Youtube video - very helpful! I do believe the heating element was the original culprit, as it had a "burn" area about the size of a dime that caused it to almost break into two parts. Obviously a point of failure.

BUT - after replacement, it still did not solve the problem of the dishes not drying.

After much web searching, I tried the diagnostic mode on the dishwasher, and that did a hard reset of the logic board and FIXED the problem.

So in all, it required both a new heating element AND a hard reset via diagnostic mode.