WU181 Maytag Dishwasher - Instructions

All I had to do was take apart the door by removing a few screws. Then ripped the old gasket off. I then lined all the tabs up to make sure it was going to fit and then started pulling them through with needle nose pliers. When the door was reassembled I checked the plastic piece where the gasket ends in the tub and found some loose screws that needed to be tightened. After that I ran a few cycles and it does not leak any more.

Easy to change. Just pull firmly on old gasket, clean surface with soapy water. Align tabs on new gasket, push into place a tap firmly with handle of a screwdriver and taps pop into place. Was done in about 40 minutes.

The repair was fairly simple. The hardest part was figuring out if this was the part I needed or not. After studying the inerds of the dishwasher door and the detergent cup mechanism, it seemed like this part would do the trick.

Here's how the mechanism works . . . the plastic stopper at the end of the bi-metallic strip latches the detergent cup in place. If these strips are bent away from the spring mechanism / plastic cam enough, the stopper will not latch on the cam (as was the case with mine). So, I needed to replace the bi-metallic strip. This part comes along with a new cam and spring.

The actual replacement of the parts is simple. The parts come with pretty good installation instructions.

Good luck . . .

First I shut off the water intake. Then disconnected it from the valve assembly. Then disconnected the hose on the other side of the valve assembly. Then removed and replaced the valve assembly, disconnecting and re-connecting the 4 wires attached to the 2 solenoids. Then re-connected the water intake and hose. Then turned the water back on.

Then, noticing it leaking slightly, had to do it all over and include a small amount of teflon tape on the brass fitting that screwed into the valve assembly.

Phew.

Pull old gasket off (30 seconds), take panel screws out of front panel and control panel, carefully lower control panel push tabs thru holes from inside door, once all tabs in, push door closed and take pliers and pull tabs until they lock into place, put panel back together. not that difficult, my wife and I had it back in working order in approx 30min.

Remove bottom cover.
Put the belt on the large pulley and stretch it about 5 times to make it larger. Remove the belt from the large pulley and put it on the small pulley at the motor. Stretch it to left side of the large pulley and make sure the belt is on partial of the pulley's groove then rotate the large pulley forward. The pulley will pull the belt into the groove by itself.

Put spring in plastic bushing, snapped into door arm and hooked opposite end of spring in first hole. Repeated process on opposite side of door. Did the above without moving the dishwasher from installed position.

On my maytag portable dishwasher I had to remove three side screws on right lower panel,and two lower screws to free up panel. I had to pry the panel away from the body to get axes to the springs. Replaced springs as instructed reinstalled all hardware, finished.

After nearly 20 years of use (and no service) my Maytag dishwasher stopped getting dishes clean. I called Maytag and they made me an appointment with a nearby service center. The Maytag person also suggested I do a run with an open container in the dishwasher filled with a couple of cups of white vinegar – since that dissolves the white scale buildup from hard water. That helped a lot. Yay Maytag!

I had 5 days to wait for service, so I started Googling. I found very negative reviews of my local service center, but I also learned that I could buy a replacement detergent dispenser online and I found excellent simple instructions for installing it. It arrived in two days and I installed it. The hardest part was removing the front panel of the dishwasher to get access and supporting it while taking out the last couple of screws – then holding it in place afterwards while putting the screws back in. I recommend having a second pair of hands!

I also realized that the two rotating spray arms (at the bottom and at the top) weren’t rotating! They’re easy to remove (just unscrew the center component), and I found that many of the holes were clogged – including all the ones pointing sideways that make them spin. I had to force water inwards through the holes to dislodge the debris, then I filled the arms with water through the center hole and sloshed it around to clear things out. That worked. I put it back together – and the dishwasher is now as good as new!

For good measure I took the cover off the strainer in the bottom to clean it, but surprisingly the strainer was almost completely clean.

I cancelled the service appointment, of course. I’m sure I saved a lot of $$$.

I had read that recently mandated reformulation of dishwasher detergent with lower phosphate content makes it less effective – but I’m not seeing that: a little simple maintenance and my dishes are 100% squeaky clean again!

Belt seemed too small at first to fit, but turning the power module pulley while holding the belt enabled it to slip in properly. Didn't help that there's not much space to work.

I opened the door and pulled the old gasket out using a flathead screwdriver to pry up the difficult to remove areas. I cleaned the area with a damp cloth and place the new gasket in the slots. The entire process including the cleaning took no more than 10 minutes. It was so easy. By the way, I had the part in my hands 2 days after ordering it. I am very impressed with the service.

I removed access panle then disconected the wires, water inlet line, and water outlet line from the valve. then took the two screws that held the valve in place off and removed the old valve and replaced with the new. Its that easy. I had one problem that did'nt want to stop haunting me...water leaks at the conections. Tip: don't put access panle on untill sure there are no leaks. You might notice I had an earlier article with a float switch. It turns out that that was not the problem. This water valve was, and it works great again. Not bad for 24yrs old(yes, the dishwasher).

The Retaining Nut of my Upper Spray Arm fell off and was stripped. I was thinking I was going to have to get a new dishwasher because mine is pretty old. I found Partselect.com and plugged in my model number and it gave me all the parts. It cost me less than $10 with shipping and it saved me about $450.

Removed the front of the door by removing 2 screws in each side.

Remove 2 screws on each side holding control panel

Removed old gasket by pulling it out, and installed new gasket. Used needlenose pliers to pull tabs securely into slots.

First I was amazed that the belt was available for my ancient dishwasher. Then I was amazed again when it came overnight. The instructions said to stretch it over the two pulleys but my hands weren't strong enough. In a sudden flash of brilliance I decided to use a screwdriver as a lever to force it onto the second pulley. Done deal - happy home handyman.