SD4920X66BB General Electric Dishwasher - Instructions

I called the repair guy, and he told me I'd have to replace the motor/pump assembly. He said he could do it for around $250 to $300. I logged onto this website for a look and saw the seal available. After reading the other responses, I figured with a seal and the cheap push-nut (that sometimes gets mangled upon removal), it would be worth a try.
I pulled the dishwasher partly out from under the cabinet; disconnected the front support mount, the drain hose, and the two water boots; dropped the motor/pump assembly; removed the solenoid; removed the e-clip, push-nut, shaft, and old seal; and then reinstalled everything. The hardest part of the repair was the tight working conditions. I wonder how many people pay hundreds of dollars because of this $15 part.

I took the inner door panel off as described by others on this website, cleaned out all the gunk left by 27 yrs of use, and replaced the door gasket and tub baffles. A Phillips-head screwdriver was required to remove the door panel, but no tools were required to replace any of the parts I ordered. I didn't find it necessary to soak the door gasket in warm water as it was pretty flexible right out of the package. I recommend stretching the gasket slightly while pressing it into the groove, particularly around corners, or it will end up being too short at the end. The rinse aid tank had also been leaking Jet-Dry for a long time, so I cleaned that mess up as well and tried to replace the tank. Unfortunately, the new tank did not fit my model of dishwasher even though this website and GE's stated that it did. The shaft on the tank that pokes through the inner door panel to the inside of the dishwasher was too short because >2 mm of it was taken up by a thick rubber washer and a hard plastic collar (fused to the shaft to hold the washer in place) that had not been part of my original rinse aid tank. PartSelect was very good about refunding me for the incorrectly identified rinse aid tank and stated that they would contact GE about correcting this error on their website as well. I therefore cleaned up my original rinse aid tank, rinsing out all Jet-Dry residue inside it, and put it back into the inner door panel. I researched this part and found that GE has redesigned it twice since my dishwasher was manufactured in 1985 -- my original part is no longer available anywhere. So, I will just not use Jet-Dry and will maybe upgrade to a dishwasher powder that includes rinse agent (e.g., Cascade Complete). Replacing the gasket and tub baffles and cleaning up my original rinse aid tank stopped the leak for less than the cost of a repairman's service call and diagnosis fees -- it would have cost me 3X more if he had provided the parts and done the repairs! Replacing my dishwasher was out of the question as they do not make them like they used to (i.e., no microchips or motherboards to fail in a few years) -- this is the first problem I've had with my dishwasher in 27 years! As a side note, I also learned from my research that my front door panel insert is reversible. I was able to remove a side trim piece, slide out the panel, and turn it over so the color is now white rather than the outdated almond. It's like I have a brand new dishwasher that is ready to go for another 27 years.

The shaft pulled out of the housing when I tried to get the push nut off. I had to take the pump housing out in order to get the shaft lined up with the valve when reassembling. In the end, the shaft had so much slop that no seal could keep it from leaking. Time for a new dishwasher.

First I removed the old gasket and seals. I replaced the seals and had difficulty getting the gasket to seal at the bottom of the door. I had to remove the seven door screws and was able to manipulate the gasket. Do not lift the inside door cover too far, as the latch may become disengaged, thus creating another problem to repair. I did this repair myself (female).

After removing the dish rack I unscrewed the center riser spray by turning it Clockwise and I removed the lower spray arm. I then removed the lower spray arm support using a phillips screw driver and replacer the worn water seal. I reversed the process and reassembled the sprayarm and center riser spray. Job completed!

Unscrewed old spray arm by hand. Screwed new one on by hand. Two minute job. New arm and tower were better than old one. Piece of cake at a very low price.

I received my dishwasher as a hand me down, my Aunt never liked the way it cleaned. After it sitting for about 2 years i installed it in my house and found that it leaked all the time from where motor shaft went into the pump housing. After disassembling everything and scouring parts sites online, I found the parts, ordered them. 3 days later i had the parts, and the next day I had a fully functioning leak free dishwasher.

The hardest part was figuring out how to disassemble the door to replace the baffles and door gasket. No pictures or clues on the internet or my owners manual. I figured it out myself and the rest was a piece of cake. When the 7 screws were removed, the door liner lifted right out and new parts fit right in.

I simply detatched the broken old roller and snapped in the new one. It was very simple and I did not need any tools.

I opened the D/W door, used needle nose pliers to remove the old baffles. They come right out. I cleaned the area using paper towels and installed the new baffles. They just sit in the corners with nothing holding them. Simple job.

I replaced the top filler tube. (The $65 price for the filler tube is outrageous. Glad I didn't have a service man fix it. With mark-up it would have cost me over $100 for a 3 foot plastic tube. Crazy!)

While I was add it, I replaced the corner tub baffles.

I popped off the front track stops--pretty easy with a little twisting and slid the basket out. A little leverage with a screw driver and the roller axle slipped off easily. Popped the new ones on, slid the basket back into the track and popped the stops in place and the job was done in under 15 minutes.

Before ordering the parts I read the posts by other do it yourselfers and found them very helpful. I ordered the seal and shaft nut from Parts Select and was impressed the parts were delivered in a couple of days. I removed the two lower panels from the dishwasher to expose the leak and the shaft. I turned off the electricity at the circuit breaker box and disconnected the wiring harness to expose the area I would work on. After cleaning the water deposits from the shaft I pried off the small lock washer and removed the plastic cam from the selenoid. Next step required removal of the push on nut. This was the most difficult part of the entire procedure. It required a bit of gentle but firm pulling with pliers and a couple of screwdrivers, sacrificing the nut in the process. It was better ordering a new one originally then trying to save the old one. Having experiencing these nuts in previous work, I knew a new nut would be a cheap fix! Once off, the old seal is easy to remove. Place the new seal on the shaft as per the included instructions, place the new push on nut and reassemble as originally taken apart. (I used a socket set to push on the push on nut.) I then ran a load of dishes to make sure there was no leak before reinstalling the lower panels. I had no leak but pay close attention to placing the seal and push on nut. The seal must be in the exact place.

The repair went smoothly. There were actually instructions included with the parts, so that was nice. The only "gotcha" I found was that . . . after you take off the old food-chopper, you have unscrew the old impeller from the motor shaft. This was a bit difficult and you'll want some good pliers to do it. Don't worry about stripping where the food chopper screwed on-to, that part is attached to the impeller and there is a new one on the new impeller. When I re-installed everything onto the dishwasher, it rattled the first couple of times while the wear-ring was finding it's seat. Don't worry, that's normal. It went away by the third wash. I think I still have a small crack in the pump housing, though. The pump housing is two halves of molded plastic fused together along a seam, and I think the seam is starting to leak. It's about one drop every 45 seconds. I'm thinking JB Weld will fix it.

Opened the package and screwed in the new rinse aid fill cap. No problems. It fit and works just fine.