DDW361RAC Amana Dishwasher - Instructions

I surfed the net using phrases like "dishes not clean" and found a series of possible solutions. When I noticed that the water in the washer was cold, I realized it was a heating element issue. Using a multi-meter set to the lowest resistance I tested both ends of the heating element (OF COURSE I SHUT OFF ELECTRICITY TO THE DISHWASHER FIRST!!!) and found it read a steady 16 ohms. Then I followed the orange leads to the limiter, removed the leads and tested resistance and found it at near zero. Touchdown.

I ordered the new limiter, had it in a couple of days and installed in in 5 minutes. The hardest part was putting the metal cover back on the bottom of the unit.t

I first disconnected power from the dishwaher at the breaker panel. Then, removed 4 screws on the front of the dishwasher and removed the lower panel. I removed the two wires (compression fittings, by hand). Then I used an adjustable wrench to remove the two nuts which retained the element. I opened the diswasher door and extracted the old element. I reused the rubber O-rings from the old element and placed the new element into the dishwasher. I replaced the nuts and wires. I reenergized the circuit and ran the diswasher through a normal cycle. Note: I had plenty of towels on hand just in case the old O-rings did not perform. No problems encountered. I replaced the front cover and loaded have checked under for leaks during the last two wash cycles. Note: be sure not to over tighten the element nuts as they are plastic and will strip out. I used the model number to obtain the new part and all went flawlwssly. Thans!

float was missing palnut and letting the float slide up too much causing small leak around the float

After performing some maintenance to get the water flowing properly through the system (that's another story) the door was leaking very badly during any test run of the dishwasher.

We thought it was the gasket because the old one was calcified and dried out from years of harder water.

We ordered the new one and in minutes after receiving the new gasket we had a firm seal and our dishwasher was back in action.

I googled the simptoms online, and found that the most common cause for a door leak was the door seal. I purchased the seal online from PartSelect.com. Two days later, the part arrived. I pulled out the old seal and pushed in the new one. No tools required. That fixed the problem. While looking at the parts diagram, I noticed that my dishwasher didn't have the water deflectors installed. I don't know if they were ever there. They were cheap, so I ordered them online and slid them into place in less than 10 seconds. Again, no tools required. Dishwasher runs great, no leaks.

The real cause of the leak had nothing to do with the foam strip. The latch for the front loading door at the top needed to be adjusted to hold the door in tighter to the rubber door seal. This simple adjustment stopped the leak but since the foam seal was all encrusted with dried detergent from probably years of absorbing the leak, I replaced it with your new foam strip. I used a screw driver with torx bit and removed the stainless screws holding the inner door to the outer door. Once these were separated I removed the old foam strip using a putty knife and lacquer thinner. Placing the new strip onto these cleaned surfaces was the easiest part of the whole repair.

The dishwasher is well engineered to perform this work.

Remove the bottom two panels to provide access and visibility to base of pump motor.

Locate plastic pump locking lever and push toward rear of DW to unlock pump from DW.

Inside the DW remove basketsand spray arms. Revove screws holding cover over pump motor and remove cover.

From below raise pump motor and support with block (piece of 2x4 worked well).

insde DW, removre old gasket, clean well around pump and botom of DW, install new gasket.

From below remove block to drop pump motro back into place, and re-tighten locking lever by pull toward you.

re-assemble inside componets, run through a rinse cycle to test for leaks and replace bottom panels.




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I removed the plastic retainer that held the lower spray arm in place. After removing the lower spray arm I was able to remove the 6 hex screws that held the cover over the filter screen and the discharge housing assembly. I was then able to remove the bolts that held the upper part of the discharge housing assembly, and replaced it with the new part that I received. The rest of the job was simply putting it back together.

Note: While repairing the broken part, I noticed a small leak under the machine around the float assembly. This was simple to fix. Remove the small lock ring on the bottom of the float. Pull the float out and clean the grease and soap scum out of it. Put it back in and attach the lock ring. No more leak and the water gets turned off when the float activates the switch. Something that everyone should check periodically.

The upper washer arm can be removed by just snapping it out of place. Just take a screw driver and put in underneath the spray arm and pry it out of its socket. It will just snap out its place. Sometimes this retainer will break so make sure you have this retainer before trying to remove the upper spary arm. I removed the spray arm and back flushed it out with a garden hose to get the debri out of the washer arm. The holes are all clean now. Washes much better now. To put in back on just put the washer arm back where it goes and then just snap the clip back in its hole. Pretty easy fix.

Removed old gasket and foam strip. Cleaned area. Installed door gasket. Trimmed foam strip to fit and installed.

Leak has stopped!

The replacement of the spring linkage was simple - the pulling out and pushing in of the under-the-counter dishwasher was the difficult and time-consuming part. The repair of the part took less than a minute.

The actual repair -
1. Hook the linkage to the dishwasher door
2. Hook the spring to the dishwasher base
3. Hook the spring to the linkage.

Getting the dishwasher out to be able to make the repair involved:
1. Unscrewing the base panel (6 screws had to be removed)
2. Unscrewing the dishwasher from the counter (two screws)
3. Turning off the water supply
4. Disconnecting the inline water supply from the dishwasher.

Once the part was replaced, I had to return the dishwasher to its original position, which meant performing the four steps (in reverse) used to pull out the dishwasher.

First I disconnected the dishwasher electric, water supply and discharge hoses. I then pulled the dishwasher out. After opening the door, I removed the retainer clip holding the upper wash arm, then the nut holding the top shower hose in place. Close the door and lean the dishwasher on its side to get at the underside where the other end of the hose is. Loosen the hose clamp and remove the top shower hose. Reassemble everything in reverse order. In hindsight, I didn't need to buy the new hose clamp or the tub top washer (I reused the originals). Good luck!

I removed the seven screws from the back panel of the door (special tool) and seperated the back panel from the front. My wife held the back up and I removed the two wax motors (detergent cup and rinse aid), which were clipped in place. I had turned off power to the dishwasher, so I simply unplugged each wax motor from the wiring harness, plugged the wax motors in and clipped them in place, making sure that the wiring harness was put back in the same place. Then I put the back panel back on the door, turned the power on and tested the repair. The dishwasher worked perfectly. Thanks to PartSelect for helping me solve the problem. The parts arrived in two days!

I took out both wax motors - tried switching the motors on the rinse dispenser and soap dispenser but they were both dead - new motors from partselect arrived fast - simple installation if you have the torx screwdriver for the door inner panel.

We simply removed the old gasket which was corroded, cleaned up the hard water buildup, and popped the new gasket into place. The problem was fixed! No more leak!