KDS-17a

[brad37]

Hi all,
My wife and I recently moved into a new home that has a fantastic vintage kitchen. The Dishwasher is a Kitchenaid KDS-17a and it works really well, but... it has started leaking from the bottom of the door. I pulled the bottom seal off and cleaned 40 years of grease out from under the seal but I noticed the stripping was hard and cracked. The stripping slides out of a metal retainer. Does anyone know of a potential replacement for this piece? I have searched all over with no luck. I tried to canibalize a seal from a new machine with no luck.
Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[vacman1961]

Hi, that is a fantastic dishwasher, actually, it is a model KDS17, the KDS17A had a black button on the left on the control panel that was an energy saver that shut the heating element off during the dry cycle, it was a great machine, my parents bought a KDS17A in 1974, we had it for many years with little to no problems. First thing you should do is remove the 4 screws that hold the front panel on and run the dishwasher that way to confirm that the water is leaking from the door. Check the wash arm support, make sure the shaft that the arm sits on is not loose and wobbly. Make sure the wash arm is not wobbly when it is on the wash arm support. Parts are out there with some searching, dont give up on it, its a fine dishwasher.