KDTM404ESS3 KitchenAid Dishwasher - Instructions

First I got online to troubleshoot issue to save mysel from a service call. One of the first UTube videos, a young man said usually the main issue was the lever. He pushed down on the floater. If it didn't click, than the lever below needed to be replaced. Most important to turn off the circuit breaker before beginning the repair. I got on whirlpool.com, Part Select, ordered the lever, which was under $10. And once delivered, was able to switch out the old lever with the new replacement. Part Quote video took me through the process step by step. The lever package was marked that usually it was only 2% of the time that replacing the lever fixed the issue. Of course, I was thrilled, my dishwasher was up and running again. Thank you.

Thought this would be much easier than it actually was. Long story short, ended up calling is an appliance professional to install the part.

Removed the inner panel, remove electrical connection to dispenser, remove dispenser, metal tabs that hold it in, are a bit hard to pry metal tabs, and when installing net dispenser tabs are also a little difficult to pry tabs to install but doable. So far works like it should.

I did a Youtube search and discovered there were a couple that showed the replacement in detail. I watch the entire process once and then had my laptop beside the upper rack and paused the video after each step. That worked well

Removed old housing parts and replaced them with the new parts I ordered. Very easy

Removed broken tin row. Replaced with new tine row. Tokk less than 1 minute.

Replaced upper rack adjuster on both sides as these adjusters seem brittle due to heated drying over years. Followed YouTube video for repair. Very easy to fix.

Replaced the detergent dispenser on the door. Followed YouTube video with slight modification given moderate difference in model on video and my model. Relatively easy repair that takes a little bit of time.

Initial inspection of the issue and research suggested the door latch was malfunctioning / broken. I bought the part and expressed it home. The installation involved removing the door screws on the inside of the door, separating the front and back panels, unplugging the door latch, removing it from its niche and popping in the new one. Reverse the take apart and it was done. Very simple swap. Hardest part was juggling the two halves of the door and preventing the door for trying to close in the process as the bulk of the weight is in the outside half of the door.

The new part did not fix the issue. The door strike was the next part that could be broken / malfunctioning. I ordered that part as well and replaced it. In the process of replacing it I found that the original door strike had been installed upside down. I am guessing it was installed at just the right pitch, or maybe even bent at the manufacturing facility, so that it latched. No idea how it managed two years like that. I installed the new one correctly and the door latches perfectly. Both parts I removed from the unit I will retain if my new parts should fail in the future.

unplug, disconnect water, remove all screws holding the machine in the cabinet. slide out the machine to access the 4 bolts hold the rail. Have a prop to hold basket in place as you remove old rail> Plastic clips front and back, hold the basket to the rail. Be careful not to break, not include with the replacement rail. If you are not handy with tools and no insight...hire it done

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

pulled the dishwasher out (took the most time-1 hour) and 30 min. to install new door balance kit and springs. Replace both sides while the unit was out.

Following the video was quick and easy. Without the video it would have been slow and painful.

In looking at the parts catalog the part I needed didn’t state left or right side piece. I understood that the same part was used on both sides. Knowing the other side may fail also I ordered (2) pieces. Once they arrived I took apart the surrounding element using a screw driver to pop the enclosure apart carefully. I noted where each clip went and re-assembled the enclosure.

Due to the way I installed the appliance originally it was not necessary to disconnect supply water nor the drain connections. When the cord broke the spring came out of the point of connection to the appliance. It some "finagelling" to reattach the spring.After some "select vocabulary" it hooked into the correct spot and the rest was history.

I closed the water at the tank and opened all the hot water faucets in the house thereby draining static water from the inlet hose at the valve. Then I unscrewed the inlet hose from the valve, unscrewed the valve body from the support bracket under the tub, unplugged the electrical plug from the valve body, and removed the outlet hose. I installed the new valve using the reverse sequence. Then I closed all the hot water faucets, turned on the hot water at the tank, and purged air from each of the faucets. I then started the dishwasher and ran it through a complete cycle, periodically checking it for leaks, and found none. Total time for uninstall and reinstall - about 30 minutes. Not bad for an 80 year old.