KDTE254ESS3 KitchenAid Dishwasher - Instructions

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.