KDTE254ESS3 KitchenAid Dishwasher - Instructions

I did a Youtube search and discovered there were a couple that showed the replacement in detail. I watch the entire process once and then had my laptop beside the upper rack and paused the video after each step. That worked well

Removed old housing parts and replaced them with the new parts I ordered. Very easy

Removed the inner panel, remove electrical connection to dispenser, remove dispenser, metal tabs that hold it in, are a bit hard to pry metal tabs, and when installing net dispenser tabs are also a little difficult to pry tabs to install but doable. So far works like it should.

I closed the water at the tank and opened all the hot water faucets in the house thereby draining static water from the inlet hose at the valve. Then I unscrewed the inlet hose from the valve, unscrewed the valve body from the support bracket under the tub, unplugged the electrical plug from the valve body, and removed the outlet hose. I installed the new valve using the reverse sequence. Then I closed all the hot water faucets, turned on the hot water at the tank, and purged air from each of the faucets. I then started the dishwasher and ran it through a complete cycle, periodically checking it for leaks, and found none. Total time for uninstall and reinstall - about 30 minutes. Not bad for an 80 year old.

1. Remove front of door with torx screws around inside top and sides of door.
2. Unclip and remove plug with two wires for dish soap solenoid. You may have to lie on your back or use a mirror to see the location of the small clip retaining the plug.
3. Unclip and remove dispenser module. Here's the rub: the clips used to retain the unit in the door panel of my dishwasher are tabs cut in the stainless steel cut-out and rolled back at a 90 degree angle to retain their springiness. They seat against the back edge of three plastic ridges along the top, bottom and one along each side of the dispenser module. The key is to remove the module without permanently bending these tabs, thereby losing their springiness and destroying their ability to clip tight against the new module to hold it in. I had some success slipping 3 pieces of flashing under the stainless tabs along the top and sides of the old module, allowing the plastic retaining ridges to ride under the tabs all together and move forward to disengage the clips without permanently bending the tabs.
4. Reassembly is just the reverse.

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.

Laid on my side amd reach under unit

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

Replaced upper rack adjuster on both sides as these adjusters seem brittle due to heated drying over years. Followed YouTube video for repair. Very easy to fix.

Replaced the detergent dispenser on the door. Followed YouTube video with slight modification given moderate difference in model on video and my model. Relatively easy repair that takes a little bit of time.

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.

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, 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

The old filter simply unscrews and the new one screws in.

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.