Kenmore 18" Dishwasher - Potential Problem

[launderess]

Went to unload the dishwasher and after opening the door, slid out the lower rack onto the door as per usual, after a few moments heard a rather loud sound, sort of like a spring becoming unspring. Went about unloading the dishwasher as couldn't see anything broken, however now notice the door feels rather "heavy" when going down past a certian point. Have never bothered to look how low it is supposed to go, so cannot tell if it comes to rest lower now than before. Both hinges are fine, and cannot see anything amiss, is there some sort of spring or such inside the door? Thing closes fine, and far as one can tell the unit is undamaged.

TIA

L.

 

[frigilux]

Launderess-- There may be a spring on either side of the door and one of them has given way; that could explain why the door feels 'heavy', but still opens and closes fairly normally.

 

[laundromat]

the spring(left or right side)has somehow dissengaged itself off the latch it hooks onto.I doubt if it broke.It just needs to be reattached onto latch or hook it connects to.Easy fix.

 

[thor]

Launderess

Some time ago I had a Magic Chef dishwasher that experienced exactly the same fault as yours, with the same consequences. The door felt rather heavy after that. I tipped the unit on one of its sides and I immediately found the cause: one of the two side springs had broken, actually just the tip (extreme) of the spring, which loops inside a hole in the door hinge. I guess rust was the cause (or metal fatigue).

I just rebuilt the tip with a plier bending the last loop of the spring to resemble the original tip. Then I inserted this new tip back where it had to be, and it worked perfectly from then on until some years later the dishwasher went to the crusher.

I hope this helps,
Emilio

 

[launderess]

Thanks Guys!

Took out the owner's manual parts booklet (thank you Kenmore), and the spring is located behind the kick plate. Accessing it however means taking off the door in order to get the kick panel off as well. Not something one wishes to start today, so will just have to use the door gently until such time either get up the nerve to tackle the repair on my own, or call the man for repair. Will contact Sears Parts and see if they will tell how to do the repair, or just sell the part only.

L.

 

[frigilux]

Or....if I may play the little devil standing on your left shoulder (shoes off, of course; I am a gentleman, after all)...

Now would be a great time to get a new dishwasher! New appliances solve all your problems, and make you feel better about yourself and the world around you.

 

[launderess]

Kenmore Model #587.17245990.

Found out how to remove the kick panel without removing the door, then the machine threw a curve ball, the guides that hold the panels block removal of the kick plate. Couldn't figure out how to get the darn things unscrewed, and after one half hour lost interest.

Frigilux:

You can play devil over my shoulder anytime you wish, but buying a new dishwasher is O-W-U-T, out. *LOL*

My machine works fine aside from the door issue, and haven't heard that many great things about newer models of 18" portable/convertable dishwashers. Least my unit uses lots of water during cycles, well more than the wet-wipe variety sold today. Besides the cost of a new unit prolly would equal the repair cost of this unit.

If one finds out how to get that darn kick plate off, from what one has Googled, readjusting and or replacing the springs shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Have seen a few good Miele slim dishwashers on CL and eBay, but alas no room for yet another 220v saga.

 

[frigilux]

Oh, well. I tried! Being a bad influence just isn't as easy as it was back in the '70s, LOL. May your repair karma be good, gorgeous! Let us know how it works out.

 

[stevet]

should be easy to do!

Now since when does anyone on this forum not have the patience to do things for himself?
This panel of yours should be held in by 4 screws, two on the bottom corners of the panel and one in each corner on top just inside the space between the big door and the lower panel.
Look inside with a flashlight and they should be there. The other possibility is that the top of the panel is "hooked" in place. Then you will just have to unscrew the lower screws and lift the panel off. That will give you access to the door hinges as they hang down and the springs and their attachment points.

Attached is the parts breakdown for the door and springs and it seems pretty straightfoward as far as changing or replacing the spring. Just for the record, if you do decide to replace and not repair..then replace both springs as the other one has gotten just as much use and will likely fail in the future!

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/retrieveSubComponentPartsAction.action?diagramPageId=00002&componentDescription=DOOR&documentId=P9030224&modelNumber=58717245990&productCategoryId=0130000&brandId=0582&modelName=DISHWASHER&backToLink=Return%20to

 

[maytagbear]

Well,

Laundress, what next?

Your loyal audience wants to know!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[launderess]

It's To Darn Hot

To be fooling around with that dishwasher for now! *LOL*

Seriously folks, see where I went wrong, the link above shows the built in 18" unit, ours is a portable. Portable models have a black grill like thing below the bottom plate and over the front wheels. Methinks that grille must come off before one can get to the screws at the bottom of the lower plate.
This probably means titling the unit up or putting it on it's back/side, neither of which am in the mood to do at the moment, not to mention dealing with any water still in sump or hoses that will leak out.

Will probably order the door springs from Sears as the on/off switch just went on my Kenmore vacuum cleaner, so there is that to order as well.

Once things calm down and a nice cool day arrives in the fall, will do the repair job (replace springs). But thank you for asking!

L.

 

[funguy10]

Our Tappan dishwasher has that same door spring problem. The door feels real heavy when you try to open it and it comes to rest lower then normal. It is so bad it interferes with pulling out the bottom rack.

 

[nmaineman36]

Launderess Dahlink....the Miele slimline 18incher is not a 240 volter..its 120 volts. Most if not all Miele dishwashers sold here today are 120 volts. More than likely the person on ebay might be wrong or I could be wrong but I doubt it that i am.
On another note the new 18 inch models from Kenmore and Frgidaire are no longer a Frigidaire D&M design...they are made by Haier with the stainless steel tank and the typicla wash arms one finds in the Chinese built dishwashers. Much like my friends Danby that works wonders. Amazing the wash performance of those machines.