KDTE254ESS0 KitchenAid Dishwasher - Instructions

My wife hired a local repairman when the right side spring cable broke (I was out of town). He took two hours to fix it (and two appointments). The door would then pop open when running. He came back and replaced the latch. Problems persisted. I then ordered new hinges and replaced both in half hour or so. Would recommend doing all of these repairs yourself. None of these repairs are that hard and definitely not worth paying hundreds to do it. Trickiest part is pulling the dishwasher out from the counter without impacting the electrical or water connections. Disconnecting the power is important on all repairs. When you take the screws out of the door to get to the hinges, make sure you have a helper just to hold the door up while removing the last few screws. The left side hinge was really bent (when the right side spring cable broke) - caused the door to be out of square and thus would not effectively close. This was obvious after a 5 minute search on this this and other repair sites. Process that I used: 1. remove screws from both sides holding dishwasher into counter (may have screws into countertop as well). 2. turn off power, 3. pull out dishwasher far enough to see hinges and springs (careful of connections), 4. remove front door screws, 5. take off front panel, 6. remove spring cables (pull cable taut and remove "hook" from hinge)., 7. unscrew two screws holding hinge to door, 8. bend metal fingers around hinge pin to be able to remove hinge., 9. attach hinge in opposite path. 10. repeat on other side (if necessary), 11. reconnect things in opposite order...test door prior to reattaching door panel. Make sure you level the unit with the adjustable feet. Make sure screws in sides of cabinet aren't too tight as it can take the unit out of square pretty easily...

pushed the new retainers in the holes and we are set to go

Replaced the strainer. This keeps the two sprayers clean/clear so they do not clog up. Dishes are cleaner now. Note : if your sprayers are clogged it is a long process to clear out the sprayers. Dishes will not be clean until your sprayers are all cleared.

Following the video was quick and easy. Without the video it would have been slow and painful.

In looking at the parts catalog the part I needed didn’t state left or right side piece. I understood that the same part was used on both sides. Knowing the other side may fail also I ordered (2) pieces. Once they arrived I took apart the surrounding element using a screw driver to pop the enclosure apart carefully. I noted where each clip went and re-assembled the enclosure.

pulled the dishwasher out (took the most time-1 hour) and 30 min. to install new door balance kit and springs. Replace both sides while the unit was out.

Removed broken tin row. Replaced with new tine row. Tokk less than 1 minute.

Initial inspection of the issue and research suggested the door latch was malfunctioning / broken. I bought the part and expressed it home. The installation involved removing the door screws on the inside of the door, separating the front and back panels, unplugging the door latch, removing it from its niche and popping in the new one. Reverse the take apart and it was done. Very simple swap. Hardest part was juggling the two halves of the door and preventing the door for trying to close in the process as the bulk of the weight is in the outside half of the door.

The new part did not fix the issue. The door strike was the next part that could be broken / malfunctioning. I ordered that part as well and replaced it. In the process of replacing it I found that the original door strike had been installed upside down. I am guessing it was installed at just the right pitch, or maybe even bent at the manufacturing facility, so that it latched. No idea how it managed two years like that. I installed the new one correctly and the door latches perfectly. Both parts I removed from the unit I will retain if my new parts should fail in the future.

Unplug dishwasher. Remove lower front accessible panel. Disconnect wires to the drain pump. Rotate pump to unlock and remove. Apply plumbers grease to rubber seal and install new pump. Connect wires. Plug in dishwasher and run rinse cycle to check for no water leak. If all okay replace access panel. Done.

Laid on my side amd reach under unit

unplug, disconnect water, remove all screws holding the machine in the cabinet. slide out the machine to access the 4 bolts hold the rail. Have a prop to hold basket in place as you remove old rail> Plastic clips front and back, hold the basket to the rail. Be careful not to break, not include with the replacement rail. If you are not handy with tools and no insight...hire it done

Popping out the old tine rows was very simple and required no tools. The only issue was that the spacing of the replacement tines was different from the original parts and there was not enough space between the tines and the basket to snap the clips back on to hold the tine row. I went to my band saw and cut the extended ends off of the clips and then they snapped into place perfectly. This would have been a 20 minute, no tool job if I didn't have to run to the band saw.

Due to the way I installed the appliance originally it was not necessary to disconnect supply water nor the drain connections. When the cord broke the spring came out of the point of connection to the appliance. It some "finagelling" to reattach the spring.After some "select vocabulary" it hooked into the correct spot and the rest was history.

leveled dishwasher, it was leaning forward, raised front 1/2'", to get level.
no More leaks, WOULD LIKE TO RETURN DOOR SEAL. DID NOT USE SEAL.

THANKS,
PETE GODSHALK

I took the valve off and actually hooked 110 volts to the vale and tried to blow through it and it would not let air pass through it. I replaced the the new valve in about 15 minutes and it works fine