GU1200XTLS3 Whirlpool Dishwasher - Instructions

If your chopper assembly has a catastrophic failure like mine did, chances are it took out the teeth on the circulation motor as well. This will lead to the teeth on the chopper being destroyed by the impeller as soon as you turn the dishwasher back on. First, follow the instructional video to remove the motor (found on this site on the circulation motor page) and chopper assembly (also found on this site on the chopper assembly page). The impeller is screwed onto the input shaft of the motor, and you must keep it from turning so that you can unscrew the impeller assembly. I removed the back cover of the motor (there are four screws holding it on) and held a flat pry bar on the rotating assembly inside the motor to keep it from turning, then unscrewed the impeller from the shaft. Mine came off very easy, but be careful not to let your pry bar slip or damage the motors internals. After that, install the washer and grommet from the impeller seal kit on to the impeller, and screw it back on while keeping the motor from turning with your pry bar. Lastly, reinstall the motor and chopper assembly per the aforementioned instructional videos. The whole thing took around an hour to do, and it is much cheaper than replacing the entire circulation motor.

Just had to transfer all the kit parts from the old rack to the new one.
It was important to leave one side of the kit parts(the wheel and other plastic pieces) on the old one while transferring the other side of the kit parts to the new rack so that I had a visual reference for placement and orientation of the parts on the new rack.

I followed the YouTube video exactly and it went very well

Replaced the pump drain as one complete assembly. Couldn't do it from under the front panel as there is a small lug that you have to depress on the top of the assembly before you can twist the assembly counter-clockwise by hand. I tried but I couln't get the leverage. Had to take dishwasher out from under the unit and tip it on its side. The rest was very straightforward. If you can remove the dishwasher from under the unit easily I would suggest you don't even bother trying to change the pump drain while the dishwasher is in place. It's not worth the hassle.

First I shut off the breaker for the dishwasher. I had to remove the 6 screws that hold the top part of the dishwasher door to find the panel with the fuse. Then following the instructions that came with the new fuse I cut the wires from the old fuse to remove it. Next I installed the new fuse and attached the wires and then replaced the screws. Turned the breaker back on and everything worked great.

I removed the old gasket simply by pulling on it. I compared its length to the length of the new gasket, figuring there would be some trimming to do -- there wasn't. The replacement was exactly the same.
I placed a mark on the center of the new gasket, and marked the center of the mounting groove. I aligned the two marks, and pushed the new gasket into the groove, starting at the center, and worked my way out towards the two ends. After getting a majority of the new gasket to seat by hand, I GENTLY used the tip of a slotted screwdriver to ensure that the New Gasket was completely snapped into place.
The fit was perfect, and no more leaks. This repair was so simple, I'm embarressed for putting it off for so long. ;)

I pulled the unit away from the cabinet, unplugged the washer and water line(not long enough to reach) removed two nuts from the underside and replaced the heating unit.

pull out the dishwasher
lay it on its side
use a 1/4" drive socket with extension and a universal joint to undo the the hidden bolt,
twist the motor 1/4 turn. this is the hard part you have to pull fairly hard and rock the motor around a little to get the o-ring to let the motor slide out.
lube up the new motor with jet dry or soap and insert back it, turn it back 1/4 turn, install the bolt and plug the motor control wires back in, then reinstall it back under the counter

Removed drain hose to ensure no blockage in drain. No blockage, then removed drain pump cap (where drain hose attaches to drain pump) with allen wrench. Push tab in on drain pump and twist counterclockwise, drain pump came off. Reversed to attach new pump and it works.

Everything worked perfectly---thanks to the suggestion of your call center agent. She suggested that since the replacement door handles were no longer available, I should consider repainting them--it worked like a charm. Please tell her she was a life saver. We rent that house in Fl and my returning tenants had complained about the discoloring refer handles. Thank you

If your not getting clean dishes this is an easy check to make that will likely turn out to be your problem. If not, you need to get this far anyway and it's an easy check to make. Remove the top and bottom rack. The bottom and top sprayer are connected together as an assembly by the water transfer pipe the goes up the back side of the dishwasher interior. This needs to be removed. There are two clips that hold the assembly in place at the middle rear of the washer and the top of the washer. Grasp the water assembly with your hand at the location of the clips, top one first and give a twist that rotates the piece out of the clip. Once the assembly is free from both clips hold the assembly at the lower rear where it starts up the back of the washer and move the whole thing to your right to turn the base clockwise. The whole thing will release from the bottom of the washer and come out as one big piece. Set it aside and you will see four torx head screws that were hidden under it. Remove these screws and the round screen assembly that they are holding to the bottom of the washer. Set that part aside as well. Now your looking at the well area where water collects to get into the pump. There will be a little standing water there, it's normal and not a problem. To the left side of the well an inch or two under water you will see one Torx head screw. It's one bit size smaller than the other screws. Remove it and pull up on the cover that it is holding in place. Now you are looking at the chopper assembly, it's a four bladed knife that rotates across the face of a screen. If you can rotate the knife blades and not have the shaft behind the screen move, it bad! Grasp it by the top of the screen and lift it slightly and pull it toward you to remove it. The shaft that turns the blades has worn away where it connects to the blades. It doesn't turn anymore so the screen is plugging and no water is able to get to your dishes. Order a new one and put it back in the same order you took it apart. It helps to have a little screw driver to lift the knife blade away from the screen when your putting in your new part. Load up the washer and give it a test run. YOU DID IT!!!

The Upper Rack Wheel Mount (where wheel attaches to mount) had broken. Was able to band-aid until parts received by running a small bolt and nut (with sufficient size washers) through the wheel attaching it to the assembly, then re-attaching the Upper Rack Wheel Mount back to the dishwasher upper tray. Once the part ordered from PartSelect arrived, it was a simple matter of mounting the new Upper Rack Wheel Mount to the tray, replacing the band-aided item. The upper tray did have to be removed from the slider bars - required the plastic keepers on the end of the slider bar to be removed and then reinstalled once the Upper Rack Wheel Mount was replaced.

I removed the dishwasher from under the counter. This took the bulk of the repair time along with disconnecting the water supply and electrical connection. I had enough slack in drain hoses that I could turn the dishwasher over to replace the motor. I was surprised that there was only one bolt that held the motor in place. I put the motor on, turned the dishwasher upright and slide it back unde the counter and began the long process ofreconnecting everything. I am sureit could have gone faster if I were younger and did not need glasses for close work. Start to finish took me four hours. This was the fourth time I have replaced motors in dishwashers of various makes.

The repair was easy. Getting the unit to slide out from under the counter was more time consuming.
After water and power is disconnected, tip the unit over onto one side to gain access to bottom. Look for two white composite plastic posts (insulators) about 2" long each with a single wire inside. Remove the two wire connectors then unscrew the insulators from the old heating element using an adjustable wrench. Inside the box remove the two metal element supports and pull out the old element. Clean and dry the area in and around the openings where the new element will be re-inserted. Carefully place the new element into the holes with the included new rubber washers. Re-install the two metal element supports on the inside of box. On the bottom, re-install the two insulators to the ends of the element, do not to tighten too much to avoid over compressing the rubber washers which could cause premature cracking. Reconnect both wires and check continuity from the door mircro-switch (white-violet) lead to the (white-red) lead on Electronic Controller connector #1 (P6). The circuit thru the element should be good if the Multimeter reads 10-35 ohms. Put the unit securely back under the counter and run a test wash. Works fine now.
I do recommend, if don't know how to use a multimeter or are concerned about accessing the electronic control box; contact a professional.

Checked the house circuit breaker, verified AC to the box under the dishwasher, removed the screws around the inside door cover, and removed the cover. Removed the outer circuit board cover. Used a multi-meter to verify AC to the door latch, and to verify the latch switch was working. Verified AC to the thermal fuse above the circuit board when the door latch was closed. Verified no AC on the other side of the thermal fuse. Removed the thermal fuse connections with pliers. Used thin flat blade screw driver to unsnap the thermal fuse assembly. Used multi-meter to verify no continuity through the fuse. Ordered the fuse assembly and replaced. Reconnected the thermal fuse connections. Manually closed door switch and saw lights on the display panel, and dishwasher started. Replaced all covers and works great.