Kitchenaid Imperial Selectra 21

[rodneypierce]

WHOO HOO!! Just got off the phone with John. The washer arm support will be on the way! What a nice, knowledgeable fella! Thanks so much John!!

 

[rodneypierce]

Alright, another update. Got the washer arm support complete with screen from Steve, and all installed. Then today I got the new flapper valve installed. Steve has tossed some axles and wheels for the lower rack, and the upper wash arm in the mail, and should be here soon. Now, just to find some of the epoxy to repair the rust spots on the racks.

 

[rodneypierce]

Sorry, washer arm support came from JOHN, not steve Combo 52 = John

 

[rp2813]

It's tough to find the plastisol repair for the racks in the right shade of blue anymore.  It's all gray or white.  I was able to get a jar of Maytag plastisol repair at one of those stacked-to-the-ceiling old stock type of appliance parts stores.  The stuff is not cheap.  I used it on the Thermador but it was still way more dark blue than the color of the racks. The package also included tips for the tines, which were of no use since the Thermador's tines are all curlicued on top.  I think the tips would look weird anyway.

 

Good luck finding the touch-up.  If you want to replace the racks entirely I think they can also be found among the membership here.

 

[stevet]

it's in the mail!

Well, almost... will mail the arm wheels on Feb 2. Hope the snow doesnt selay the delivery too much!

 

[rodneypierce]

hey Steve, no problem pal!!! thanks again

 

[rodneypierce]

well, I have came across another issue. Now that the dishwasher actually works, and its spraying water BIG TIME now, the dishes dont dry all the way when on heated dry. They used to before, but im attributing that to the fact that it really didnt spray much water, at all. I assume they are supposed to come out dry. What do I look for here.

 

[appnut]

You putting rinse aid in the jet dry dispenser?

 

[rodneypierce]

i am not putting rinse agent in there, and most likely should be. But, i talked to Steve tonight, and he asked me if I had accidentally turned off the heated dry. Which, I had not, but decided to cycle the heated dry cycle on and off a few times during the cycle, and low and behold, after the rinsing/draining has finished. I heard the blower kick on (which I hadnt heard in the last couple washes, which is when we noticed it not drying). So im curious is perhaps it just didnt have a "brain fart" if you will. It dried this load of dishes flawlessly.

 

[rp2813]

Hmmm . . .

 

With a Selectra it's probably not as easy to troubleshoot that sort of issue, but per Steve's post further up, if you open up the panel there will be a service guide in there that will have info on self-diagnostics.  Whether that includes heat/no heat issues I don't know, but I'll bet Steve would.  You might just have a loose connection somewhere.

 

I presume there's no difference in control panel removal for the Selectra.  Four small screws across the top edge of the door, two or maybe three small ones on the bottom in the area of the handle, and the two large long machine screws that come through from the tub side of the door -- not to be confused with the two screws on each side of the inner door edges that are used to attach the entire front door panel.

 

 

 

[rodneypierce]

RP2813, I did tear into it looking for the service manual, and its not there anymore. It had a sticker saying it was behind the lower front panel, but looked there too, and nothing. It dried the last cycle last night perfectly, like said above. So, I will try it again tonight, and see if it kicks the blower on again. It did start working after I tore the front panel apart, and made sure all the connections were seated, so perhaps one was slightly loose, or its just a coincidence. Im not sure.

 

[combo52]

SELECTRA DRYING PROBLEMS

Hi Rodney hopefully it will continue to work and thier many reasons why it might not work. There are two relays on the control board of this machine that are responsible for the heated dry to work one for the little blower and one for the heater. If you select air dry only the blower is used for example. If either one gives you problems check all the easy stuff first, wiring connections at the blower-heater assembly, the blower motor and heater and safety cut out them selves and possible broken wires where they go through the door hinge area. Sadly the last one of this model machine we took out about a year ago had a bad control board and would no longer operate the dry heater and the customer wanted the machine replaced. The machine was in beautiful shape and we stripped it for parts. I tried to get her to keep the machine and just let the dishes air dry, but she had to have a new DW so in went the closest thing available a new WP 900 series standard tub machine.

 

[rodneypierce]

Alright, just out of curiosity, now that it appears that issue has corrected itself, does anyone have upper or lower racks with all tines, in good shape?? Just curious as to what people would want for them. This is a very very bad thing. Im really liking this old dishwasher

 

[rodneypierce]

And another thing, how about a source for the black front panels? I thought I had some .063 prefinished black sheet here at work set aside, but it seems to have disappeared.

 

[rodneypierce]

Well, found some black anodized aluminum sheet. Im going to use that. I will get a picture of the unit when it gets put back together. I have it ripped down to clean right now, and polish all the trim, clean all the old paint off, etc. Now finding some good racks.

 

[rodneypierce]

OK, no longer need the front panels. I used the anodized, and it honestly looks really good!!!! Its not glossy, kind of a satin black, but looks very very nice.
Here are a few pictures. 6 in total

 

[rodneypierce]

another

another

 

[rodneypierce]

another

another

 

[rodneypierce]

and the last one

all cleaned up. You can tell that it def. has some use on it, but now she is good as new, well, or close to it. I also fixed the lower washer arm tonight. it was sort of sloppy, so drilled and sleeved a piece of 13/32 brass tube, .014 wall thickness into the arm as a bushing, and it fits perfectly over the shaft on the washer arm support. Now, since the brass is much softer then the steel, it wont wear at the arm support, and I bought a 12 inch stick of the tubing, so I can make atleast another 6 bushings as they wear out. I think that will last me for quite a few years

 

[rp2813]

Great looking machine. 

 

As for the matte finish on the panel, that's not too far off from normal.  I had black panels on both of my ISE's but they had either scratches or dents.  Both were very glossy; almost a mirror finish.  I had the black panel from the KDS-20 that we used as a door donor and it was positioned near one of the ISE's, where I noticed the Superba's panel had more of a matte finish.  I think your machine looks totally stock with the panel you've used.

 

Nice work!

 

Ralph

 

[rodneypierce]

Thanks Ralph!!