MDB7851AWB2 Maytag Dishwasher - Instructions

Repair was fairly easy. There are 11 screws You have to remove then simply unplug the electrical connection from the door latch/switch and plug in the new one line up the screw holes tighten them down and your in business.

I thought the door springs were broken so I ordered both springs and cables. After the parts arrived I removed the six screws that hold the dishwasher in place and slid the dishwasher out about five inches. Neither of the springs were broken but one of the cables was broken. I changed both cables, slid the dishwasher back in place and replaced the screws. The whole job took about 20 minutes. It was a very easy job.

Turn off the DW power (pull the fuse or turn off the circuit breaker) Open the dishwasher door. Remove the torx screws around the periphery of the door inner panel. Lift up the inner panel far enough to get at the door latch. Lift out the entire door latch assembly. There are two wiring connectors attached to microswitches on the latch assemby. Remove the connectors. The connectors were pretty tight, so I needed pliers to pull the connectors off the switches. Discard the old latch. Get the new latch, and plug in the connectors (keep track of which wires go on which side). Lay the latch down in the door so it lines up with the mounting holes. Lay the cover back down, start each of the torx screws into their threaded holes, then tighten them all. Don't over tighten. Turn power back on. Job done. It almost takes as long to type it up as it does to make the repair.

with dishwasher running I would open the door and notice the lower spray arm was not turning. I removed all parts in the tub and clean off all the accumulated gunk (likely combination of food and soap scum - like a white paste) . The accumulator screens where more than 50% clogged with no way to clean the inside. I replaced the accumulator part and the lower spray arm because 2 holes had gunk in them that would not come out. dishes are now getting clean and I am switching to liquid - no more powder as I suspect it caused the build up over time.

I was extreemly pleased with the replacement handle unit. The original unit had a plastic pivot points - the replacement part replaced these points with metal rods. The pivot points on the old unit were the points of failure.

The repair should have been done with a "star" head. Not having this, I was able to use a hex wrench instead.

The repair time was less than 10 minutes, most of that time removing and replacing the star head screws. If you have removed the old part, you have essentially completed the repair.

The biggest problem was identifying the proper handle unit. There are two very similar. Measure the distance between the mount holes in the unit and refer to the grid in the picture. The grid on your site was extreemly helpfull given the lack of part numbers printed on the Maytag OEM parts.

Snapped the old part out and snapped the new part in.
It was a piece of cake.

I unscrewed the inner door panel and the old latch assembly came out. I went to the circuit breaker and cut off power to the DW. Then I unplugged the old latch assembly and plugged the new one in. There were some springy metal pieces that had to be pushed back to get the old plug off and the new one on. After that it was just a matter of aligning the holes of the latch assembly with the holes for the screws and replacing all the screw holding the door panel, and tightening them up.

I followed the you tube video exactly. Very easy to do. I did not tighten the screws sequentially as shown in the video, rather I did the opposite ones to make sure nothing was skewed. Very easy, about 20 minutes.

1. Turned of Power via circuit breaker
2. Opened Dishwasher
3. Removed back of door (11) hex screws with electric driver
4. Removed latch assembly
5. Pried contacts from switches
6. One switch was more difficult to pry loose than the other
7. You will probably need a plier
8. Switch or connector may break but latch assembly comes with switches, so you just need to be careful not to break the connectors
8 Plugged connectors into new switches on latch assembly
9. Replaced latch assembly
10. Replaced door with (11) hex screws - two top screws hold assembly in place
11. Turned on circuit breaker and tested machine
12. Finished

Comments: This latch assembly was better constructed than the original and I expect it to last the life of the machine. If one of the switches wasn't so difficult to pry loose, then the repair would have taken ten minutes less to repair. Well worth the effort. Repair time was probably 20-30 minutes.

I learned everything I know about the procedure from this site. but here it goes:

Turn off the power at the breaker! If you are like me, you will forget until you are trying to change out the wires and then ZZZTT! you will jump and say somehting your kids should not hear. (like I did).

After forgetting to turn off the power, I unscrewed torx-head screws (its a T-20 driver if you need to buy it --T is for torx and 20 is the size) around inside edge of door to remove the inside door panel. Take care when opening the panel because some wires are still attached to it.

Removed old latch assembly by unplugging it. Normally, the black and white wires would unclip from the assembly, but in my dishwasher, the "quick release" wire connectors going to the latch assembly were not coming apart. The wire connectors themselves were attached to two small switches on the latch body, so I just took the switches and wires off the latch assembly by gently prying the 2 retaining clips away from the switch and they come right off, with the wires still attached. I then removed the switches from the new latch assembly, so I could plug it in to the old wires/switches dangling from my dishwasher. Then I got a mild shock, and sent the kids out of the room.

I was pretty sure there was nothing wrong with those switches--it was pretty obvious that my problem was mechanical, but I saved them just in case. The latch handle itself had broken on one side. Also, upon opening the panel, I also discovered that the latch assembly was no longer securely attached to the control console--the tiny plastic mounts (about 1/16th of an inch wide) that held the latch assembly at the bottom were broken. Surprise surprise.

I took the advice of a poster here to use JB weld to secure the new latch assembly to the console where the flimsy plastic mounts had been. (instead of spending $80 for a new control panel just to get new flimsy mounts).

The latch assembly went right into the old spot. Use a hand driver or set your drill on a low clutch setting so as not to strip the screws going back in--remember, its plastic! The biggest investment here is time--unless you don't have the torx driver.

On a related note, this Maytag is only about 3 years old and already I have had 2 broken rollers on the upper rack and now the latch. I went to the hardware store and bought a couple of 99-cent cabinet knobs that were approximately the same size as the rollers I had to replace. I ground the knobs down to fit in the slide, and then screwed the knobs onto the rack. It took some machining, but it sure beats the $35 (each side!) for the replacement roller mechanism!

Have a great day and I hope this helps someone!

1. Removed door inside plastic panel, 2. Removed additional screws holding panel to hinge brackets and control panel, 3. Figured out that this would all have been easier if I'd unhooked door hinge springs first (access from sides), 4. Removed isulation from old panel and reglued to new panel, 5 Reassembled, hooking up door springs last. Voila!

received new basket without a basket handle; had to remove handle from old basket & attach it to new basket; took 2 separate tries to remove old handle & each try took about an hour; used screwdriver & pliers but had to be careful not to break handle; eventually used dimes to pry open & hold the attached sections of the handle open in order to free the handle from the old basket; we sure hope the new basket lasts a lot longer than the 2 years that the old basket lasted before it broke.

1 - Unscrew the back of the dishwasher with a hex-type driver. The latch assembly will be resting inside the outer door assembly. Make sure power is turned off to the washer - there are a couple of "hot" wires that will attach to the latch assembly.

2 - Unplug the wires from the old latch and plug into new latch assembly.

3 - Place the latch assembly back in place and re-attach the two door pieces together.

4 - Turn power back on at the breaker.

5 - Load dishwasher with the stuff that's been sitting in your sink.

6 - Gloat to spouse/significant other that you just saved $100 by fixing it yourself.

Just a quick note of thanks for shipping the replacement handle for my Maytag dishwasher.  Service was superquick and I was able to save big bucks (no service call).  I called on Saturday evening and the part was here on Tuesday.  The young lady who helped me was awesome and a Pens fan to boot.  I seldom send these types of emails but my experience was worth sharing.

You just remove the old unit and set in the new unit. the wheels were already connected.

After checking repair places who wanted $140-$200 to repair the handle (most of it labor and transportation of course) I checked this website and read the do it your self testimonials the first one being wendy from florida and figured if she could do it so could I. . . Wasn't quite as confident as her so found a handy person (charged me $30). It was a "piece of cake" -- remove the 11 screws (allen screwdriver), unclip the wires to the handle (pliers), clip in the new one, replace the screws. I could have done it myself. Took 15 minutes.