Dishwashers Discussions

Just found out our KitchenAid needs a new motor. It still works fine, but has gotten real loud. Not a grinding, just an all the time it's working noise. When I called the repair guy he told me it's the bearing in the motor. Can continue to use it, won't start a fire or take out other parts as well. It's not quite 3 years old. Luckily, the regular warranty covers the motor (and some other things) for 5 years. He's done so many of these, he told us it's just the labor/service call charge of $129 to fix it. Gave him the model # and serial # and when the part comes in, he'll schedule the fix. Read your warranty. Keep your paperwork.

Our GE Triniton had a grinding noise when we moved into our newly built home.  We have had 3 repair tech out and finally the pump replaced.  It begins grinding shortly after "repair".  We are looking for a dependable dishwasher and checked with Consumer Reports. There are many negative reports on the highly rated.  I think we'll go with Kitchenaid 40; but we are very disappointed in the upgrade GE Triniton.

lookn2myis said…

Since I work on these machines on a daily basis, I have more than a passing knowledge about their maintenance. For the life of me, I can't figure out what in the hell a yearly check-up will do for your dishwasher, refrig, etc. other than pad the pocket of the repair people. On a dishwasher, the only thing the repair guy can do is check for a leak which any homeowner with a flashlight can do. Otherwise, you wait for it to break. If they (or you) detect a leak in the area of the motor, they can replace the impeller kit and save you about $100 bucks not having to replace the motor if they catch it in time which isn't likely (this is not true in all models, however). The biggest and most frequent motor/impeller problem by far that I see is in the tall tub Whirlpool/Kenmore/KitchenAid dishwashers. Almost all are built by Whirlpool using the exact same motor/pump design which is poorly engineered and designed to fail in a reasonably short period of time so they can sell you a new machine. Problem is that a 25 cent seal fails allowing a few drops of water to enter the front bearing on the motor. The bearing then rusts and starts to make a grinding noise which gets progressively louder until the motor finally seizes if the owner waits that long. Sears charges over $200 just to buy the moter/impeller and then you have to pay the labor for a service call and installation. The machine has to be uninstalled from the cabinets to do the repair. On the blogs, most people complain that the total repair bill is quoted at $400-$500. Once the machine is out of the cabinet, it takes about 2 minutes to replace the motor/impeller. I buy new Whirlpool OEM motor/impellers on line for $115 and it takes me about 2 minutes to replace the motor/impeller. I could do a better job of engineering so that the drips of water cannot get to the bearing and it would be very inexpensive. The other problem with all dishwashers is that the control board (printed circuit/logic board) goes out. I think that this is frequently due to lightening and/or an electrical surge. You can have a whole house surge protector installed but they are a little pricey. The good thing is that it protects all of your appliances and electronics. Some of the mfg's of surge protectors will pay to repair appliances, etc. if they are damaged due to a surge.

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I have a Kitchenaid KUDS01DJBT0 dishwasher. Would love to find an impeller kit instead of buying complete motor assy at $138.73. It appears maybe the impeller kit from an DU1055XTSB2 might be the same stuff even though they KA don't offer the impeller kit other than buying the motor as an AP3179651. Lots of P/N'sa cross and match like the motor itself and seals, etc. so I'm wondering if I can do an "end around" their kitting mentality....?