Heating Element - Element ONLY

1) Turn off water
2) Place receptacle to catch water before removing water fitting.
3) Disconnect water tube from valve.
4) Remove screws from mounting skirt connecting washer to counter/woodwork.
5) Slide washer out of slot paying attention to water tubing and electrical wiring. Ours was installed in such a manner to allow removal of water tube with a little flexing. Wiring as a simple 110 plug so simply unplugged.
6) Tilt washer onto back.
7) Connections for element will be close to floor one washer on back.
8) Gently pull electrical connections from heater element to remove.
9) Remove nuts holding element in place.
10) Tilt washer upright. (May require second person here to help balance washer)
11) Open door and remove heater element. There are two clips holding to bottom that require a little dexterity to navigate.
12) At this point simply reverse the above instructions to reinstall. The insulation around the housing was a little tricky to navigate while sliding the washer back into place. It has a tendency to hang up on the woodwork.

I could not reach the heater element nuts from under the dishwasher so had to pull out the dishwasher. I removed the screws around the front of the dishwasher and pulled it about half way out before the water inlet pipe and the electrical wires stopped me. I shut off the water, unhooked the copper pipe, and unhooked the electrical wires (shut off circuit breaker first). Pulled the dishwaser out so I could remove the element nuts and wires to the element. Removed the old element and installed the new one - the old nuts would not fit. I went to a local appliance parts store and found that my element is no longer made. I had the correct replacement element but you need to order the nuts also. Luckily, the local store had a small brass nut that worked. Reattached the electrical wires to the element, pushed the dishwasher half way in, reattached the water inlet and electrical wires, pushed the dishwasher all the way in and scewed back into the cabinets. All is well now and the dishwasher is working much better.

This isn't a how to fix it....it's what part was bad. I had originally contacted the local Maytag repair center and the owner swore up and down that our problem had to be the thermostat and not the heater. He said he had only replaced maybe 5 heaters in 15 years. But our heater looked like heck, with hard water deposits and all, and it wasn't that old, but we went ahead and ordered the thermostat from PartSelect, which came in a day. The problem wasn't the thermostat, so we ordered the heater from PartSelect (again, only one day delivery) and our dishwasher is working again. The heater coil actually had a hole in it from some sort of corrosion. My 18-year-old son did the repair job in a jiffy.

Ordered part. (Part was larger than the original . That is it dis not fir int supports tha same as rhe original. Hut i modifird the support by assin copper wire to fanten the heater to the supports.) The instalation was no pronlem with a little engineering. Works like a charm, Wife Happy Most important result.
Elmer

Pull dishwasher about 1/2 out of cabinet. Remembered to turn off power just in time. Removed electrical leads. Hand removed nuts retaining the heating element. Installed new element - hand tightened nuts.

Pulled out the dishwasher and disconnected two power wires to heater, turned off the two hold-down nuts and removed old heater. I then installed the new heater in reverse.

1.Disconnected the electricty 2. pulled the dishwasher from under the cabinet 3. tilted the washer on it's face (water supply was long enough and did not need to disconnected.)4. unscrerwed the 2 plastic nuts that hold the heating eliment in place. 5. tilted the dishwasher back upright and removed the old heating element. 6.put the new part in place had a helper tilt the washer forward while i tightened up the two plastic nuts to hold the part in place.7 reattached the elecrtic conectors to the heating element. 8. pushed the dishwasher back in place. 9 hook the electricity back up. During step 4 i had to remove the electric connectors from the old heating element.