Looking for help with this KitchenAid KDS 15

[DADoES]

 
Reason I asked about detergent is pods can cause sudsing.  Powders don't typically do that but is there excess sudsing if you look inside when the leaking occurs, or during the main wash period even if leaking doesn't occur then?  Are you using rinse aid?  Spilled rinse aid or leaking from the dispenser can cause it.

 

[jgiotto]

Yes, I did add rinse aid

And some was spilled and settled around the rim of the reservoir.

 

[neptunebob]

For the control panel

Have you tried a toothbrush and toothpaste? I found Colgate to work well for something like this.

 

[jgiotto]

Yes, I have used the toothpaste method

Very good results. Also using aluminum foil and saltwater.

 

[jgiotto]

How to disassemble rinse aid section for inspection?

I think this is my excessive sudsing, front door leaking problem. I noticed the dip-stick for the jet dry was bone dry. Perhaps it is all leaking out during the wash. How would I disassemble this section from the door to inspect?

 

[awooff]

Ka rinse aid dispenser

Had an old ka do the same thing - leaking all the rinse aid out. Just didnt refill it and dishes were still spotless.

 

[rp2813]

We had a KDI-21 that developed this same problem, but it was intermittent.  It was easy to tell when it was occurring because the machine operated almost silently when suds were present. 

 

We had a hot tub at the time, and we had to keep a squeeze bottle of liquid de-foamer around for those times when guests wore bathing suits, which caused sudsing when the jets were in use.  I ended up squirting a shot of that into the dishwasher when the problem presented itself and it knocked down the suds. 

 

The machine had started misbehaving in this way not all that long before we sold the house, so I never attempted any repair.  Access to the rinse aid dispenser would have been fairly easy, and I would think removing the front panel on your machine would provide similar accessibility. 

 

KitchenAid experts here may be able to offer dispenser troubleshooting guidance, but you could also wait for the reservoir to empty itself and switch to hanging a Jet-Dry solid rinse aid from the top rack if a repair attempt hits any snags.  Or, as stated above, if you have soft enough water, rinse aid may not even be necessary.

 

[jgiotto]

Rinse aid dispenser

So after removing the front panel I discovered that the rinse aid dispenser was bone dry after filling it with a large amount of the Jet-dry- my sudsing issue! I wonder if it would hurt to fill it with water and see how it operates, bring the door back into place, and see if all the water dumps out, turn the action indicator by hand and go through some cycles. The plastic container has no cracks or leaks, so it must be the solenoid, spring, and/or diaphragm is shot. Has anyone attempted repairing or replacing those items?

Also, when I reassembled the door panel, I now have a "snapping" sound when I close the door from the full down position, very annoying, and not sure what's going on there. Obviously, some parts are now in the way of one another.

Great discussion board, can't thank all of you enough!

 

[chachp]

Run it with he panels off.

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Why not run it with the panels off until you get the issues worked out so you can watch what happens at certain times of the cycles?</span>

 

[jamiel]

also make sure you're not accidentally/intermittently leaving residues of dishwashing liquid (Palmolive/Dawn) on the dishes---my husband's been known to do that.

 

[jgiotto]

Watched Sanicycle with front panels off

That was a great suggestion, and after doing so, the rinse-aid had nothing to do with the over-sudsing, in fact, that dispenser seemed to be working fine. It is only when I added detergent to the prewash area that I had the suds leaking from the bottom of the door. To confirm, I just ran a full cycle without detergent in that compartment, no issue. I wonder if today's detergents are more concentrated so that a tablespoon and one half is too much. Any thoughts are welcome - thanks in advance.

 

[jgiotto]

Swing door for detergent dispenser not always closing

This is intermittent, sometimes it closes on the main wash semi-circle, other times it refuses to shut and springs open. Thoughts? Kind of dead-in-the-water with the malfunction.

 

[combo52]

KD-15 Detergent Dispenser Won't Stay Closed

This was a  common problem with these as they aged, if you take the outer door panel off you can see what is happening when you try closing the cover.

 

Some times you can fix this problem by bending the pin that holds the dispenser together, but most times we would just replace the complete dispenser.

 

There are probably still a lot of good used dispensers for these KD-16 and 16 DWs out there, if you have trouble finding one we can sell you a good used one for $30 + shipping.

 

John L.

 

[4bagger]

Hmmm

That explains why my KDS-15 soap dispenser wires were disconnected when I got it several years back. Since the machine worked fine, I left it alone and just use detergent pods. Five plus years of regular use and still going strong.