19985 (1988) Kenmore Dishwasher - Overview

Ordered both drain & wash impeller kit and the drain check valve with o-ring. Decided to test the cheaper drain check valve first. Pulled dishwasher out from wall & adjacent cabinetry; removed drain hose from disposer and drained as much water as possible; "jacked" side of dishwasher to gain access to drain hose and drain check valve; us ... Read more ed pliers to remove hose clamp; placed flat pan underneath to catch remaining water drainage; unscrewed drain check valve; tested under bathroom faucet--determined faulty; replaced with the new one, restored connections, reset dishwasher in proper location; voila--fixed! Plan to return the unneeded impeller kit.

I have a Kenmore model that can either be totally installed under counter, left on casters or in my case installed permanently with the 'portable' covers still on. A model that is only for installation in a cabinet may be different.
Open door part way and flex the plastic hinge 'pins' on the kick plate out of the door itself. Once t ... Read more hese are out you can close the door and lay the kick plate down towards you. This will expose a spring that is attached to pins on either side of the kick plate and held in place by a rubber cap. Remove the cap, pull the loop of the spring off the pin, and repeat for the other side. At this point you can remove the kick plate and set aside out of the way.
There is a second plate behind the kick plate held in place by four screws. Remove the screws with a Phillips head screw driver or a 1/4 inch wrench or socket, then remove the plate and set aside.
Now you have exposed the frame rails that somewhat hide the springs, one on each side. If you are lucky, like I was, only one is broken so you can use the other as a guide. Also the installation drawings that came with the part were very helpful. The information supplied by Kenmore in the parts list was no help at all.
Follow the 'assembly' found in the kit to assemble the 3 parts of the spring. A this time you may want to open the door halfway then close it and reopen a couple of times and observe how the tail of the door hinge moves, this will show you where the spring is attached. The spring is mostly hidden behind the frame rails but the two connection points are visible with the help of a flashlight. If one of the springs in still connected, observe the two connection points, one on the tail of the door hinge (top of spring) and the other in a series of slots in the frame rail.
With the door closed, hold the spring assembly in one hand (easier said than done) and hook the top of the assembly over the hook on the door hinge. Let it hang down in place and slip the lower part of the assembly into one of the slots. Again if one of the springs is still in place just use the same location as before. If both springs are missing, use one of th slots in the middle.
Only one of my springs were broken but I installed new ones on both sides as cheap insurance against doing this again in a few months.
Step by step appears a bit complicated but the whole thing only took about 10 minutes.
Good luck.

It just snaps back in but it was a very tight fit and took two people to force it in. Plus I had no instructions and hadn't seen it before it broke so it took a little time to figure out where it was supposed to go. The arm doesn't connected to anything except the rack. I guess water just shoots up into it from below.