Advice needed: KDS-57A dishwasher leaking on wash cycle

[kevin313]

Friends,

I need some help and advice on my Kitchen Aid KDS-57A portable dishwasher. I purchased this a number of years ago and never ran it until this past weekend.

Before running for the first time, I put a couple gallons of hot water inside and closed the door and let it sit for 2+ hours. There were no leaks. After I hit the "Cancel/Drain" button and the machine emptied completely of water and shut off.

I put in some dishes and detergent and tried it on a full cycle. The pre-wash cycle went fine. When it moved to the wash cycle, the first few minutes everything was fine and then water started leaking out of the bottom of the door. I shut the water off from the sink and hit the "Cancel/Drain" button and it cycled through and emptied out completely. I tried it two other times with the same result.

What is happening? Is there a seal I need to replace? Something else? If any of you know a fix to this I'd really appreciate it. The machine is in beautiful condition and I'd really like to use it.

Thanks so much!

 

[combo52]

Leaking KDS-57A DW

Hi Kevin. Try it again and if it starts leaking as before just open the door before turning off the water etc.

 

Then you can see if it is still filling [ stuck inlet valve ] or has it filled too full [ there should only be around two gallons of water in this DW ] or is there a lot of suds on the water surface ?

 

John L.

 

[kevin313]

Thanks, John.

When the water discharged it didn't look very sudsy. I will run it again and look at the water level. If the water is overflowing the bottom of the dishwasher is there a way to un-stick the inlet valve?

 

[combo52]

KDS-17 Questions

If the valve is sticking open it can either be rebuilt or replaced, this is easy to check, while the DW is filling repeatedly unplug and plug in the machine and the inlet valve should close and stop filling within one second.

 

John L.

 

[magic_clean]

The two

lower rack front corner anti-splash clips are missing. Likely this is a factor.

LP

 

[kevin313]

OK - thanks for the instruction. I'll give it a test and see if it is the valve.

I wasn't aware it was missing these anti-splash clips. How many are there and is this a part I could find online or from some other source?

Thanks!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hello Leslie!

 

[combo52]

Leaking KDS-57

Good eye Leslie, Yes these nylon clips helped prevent water splash from leaking under the door at the corners, You can try running it with a tee-cup saucer in the lower rack in each front corner and if the leak stops the lack of clips might be the reason for the leak.

If you need some clips I could send them too you.

John

 

[kevin313]

John,

Thanks so much for the clips.

Do I have them installed correctly ?

 

[nmassman44]

Yes those splash clips are installed correctly. That should help. I did notice too that the clips were missing in the pics at the start of the thread as well.
When i had that KitchenAid KDD67 portable many years ago, I took the clips off the corners of the lower rack not realizing how important those little darlings were. I took them off and ran a cycle, I can tell you that before the Main wash they were placed right back on.

 

[DADoES]

 
I'm 99.99999% sure that our KDI-17a, and the KDI-17a already at the house we moved to in 1980 (which ran until 2002), did not have those clips.  Both were from the same dealer so maybe they didn't realize the purpose of the clips and removed them upon installation.  We never had any leaking trouble.

 

[combo52]

Lower Rack Clips For KA KD-17 DWs

Hi Glen, Yes I am also 99% sure that not all KD-17 DWs had these clips and the DW will usually work without them without leaking.

 

John