AARGH, got the thing totally fouled up!

[Cybrvanr]

I was working on my new KDS 18 dishwasher that I picked up a few weekends ago. The dishwasher has been doing great, but the soap cup has been a bit intermittant. Well, in the process of taking the door apart to troubleshoot the soap cup, I dropped a screw inside, and it made it's way down to the lower impeller. I knew I dropped it in there, so I didn't start it up till the screw was procured.

I took the spray arm off, and removed the wash impeller housing, and then the lower drain impeller, and found the screw. I then re-assembled everything, and I noticed that the lower impeller was not aligned properly with the upper impeller, so I took things back apart and aligned it. After re-assembling however, the motor shaft seal now leaks! Upon starting the machine back up, the motor made a bit more noise than it normally does, and I was hit with a little splash of water off of the motor's cooling rotor underneath. I immeditely cut power to the DW and dis-assembled again.

I haven't been able to find anything wrong, but it looks like I may have left out a metal washer, or gotten one in the wrong place. I went ahead and disassembled the motor shaft seal, and the lower impeller to see if I could clean things up and re-assemble it better. Now the lower impeller doesn't even grip the motor shaft, and the shaft seal doesn't even hold a cupful of water without immeditely leaking out the bottom.

I've got something assembled wrong in there! What the heck is going on!!! It always annoys me when I go in to fix something, and I make something else worse! At least this machine is easy to disassemble and work on!

 

[Cybrvanr]

The parts

Here's a picture of the handful of parts that I removed from the lower impeller, and the shaft seal. I, for the life of me can't remember the proper sequence these go back in. I still cannot figure out what makes the lower impeller grip the motor shaft. It just spins freely on it. It gripped it properly before, although it would slip a little if I put enough force onto it. Am I missing a part that supposed to be there?

 

[fixerman]

Maybe this will help. Seems when one buys the impeller and seal kit it comes with a template for spacing the lower impeller on the shaft.

 

[norgeman]

KitchenAid Dishwasher

I feel for you buddy as I also had a Kitchen Aid and it was a pretty good dishwasher. I to had to take it apart once and it was a boogger tring to put it back together. My Kitchen Aid was a Superba one of the last that Hobart had made.

http://[email protected]

 

[Cybrvanr]

Looks like I'm gonna be ordering a new pump seal and drain impeller. Luckily, they're only about $25 for this machine, and very easy to install. I just can't get the lower impeller to fit back in there. There's at least a 1/16 inch gap between the lower seal and the motor shaft, like there's a missing sleve or something. The impeller just spins freely on the shaft too. The only thing that could explain that is that the impeller has dry-rotted and the clearance is expanded. Well, I guess the new seal kit will have all the goodies I need to make it all fit back together. I've replaced the crankshaft seal on my van's small-block V8, and got a good seal, though ought not be a problem at all!

Well, in the few washes I made with this machine, it did amazingly well. A little bit noisier, but plenty fresh clean dishes!

 

[repair-man]

The drain (lower) impeller is driven by the wash (upper) impeller. It is not supposed to grip the motor shaft. So when you install the upper impeller rotate it until the tabs on the underside fall into the tabs on top of the lower impeller before tighteneing the center screw. The metal spacer washers are to raise the upper impeller just enough so that it doesn't rub against the bottom plate (#7 in the picture) of the wash tower. Hope this helps.

ED

 

[Cybrvanr]

FIGURED IT OUT!!!

Thanks for all the help! I was forgetting a little O-ring. There's an O-ring that sits right inside the the lower impeller, where it mates to the upper impeller. it keeps the water from running down the shaft of the motor between the motor's shaft and the inside of the impeller. I found the little O-ring sitting inside the machine, and after some head-scratching, figure out where it went, put it where it supposed to go! I was also making a mistake by not putting enough washers onto the upper impeller screw. Lacking the proper amount of washers meant that insufficient pressure was being put on the seal, and allowing a little bit of water to leak around it (and causing the motor to make much more noise!)

Now my machine's humming away just like it previously did! This place is great! Thanks for the help!!