MDBH949PAM0 Maytag Dishwasher - Instructions

Remove upper tray and spray arm. Remove two screws retaining pipe for upper spray arm and overhead. Unscrew retainer on top of lower spray arm and remove. Gently rotate the upper feed pipe clockwise until pipe can be removed from lower pipe. You may then remove the lower pipe and bearing housing where the seal is. Reverse order for reassembly. I also replaced upper spray arm bushing. Very simple, remove one screw and the arm will come out.

Very easy repair !!! I ordered my heating element on a Friday , it was on my porch Saturday. I used the directions that Parts.com sent me . I also read everyones Installation instructions ..... Every step was very easy . I did watch a utube video , so I couldn't screw this repair up......... My wife had a new dishwasher picked out for $ 579.00 , my part was $29 dollars , savings $550 dollar ...... After the repair , I ran the dishwasher and the blinking clean lite took care of itself ... The water has never been this hot and dryers the dishes like it was a new dishwasher ...... My advice , read everyone's Installation instuctions and watch the utube video .....

Disconnect the water supply, the drain line, and the two screws that go up into the cabinet frame, then pull the dishwasher out from under the counter. Tip the unit onto it's face and the main pump/motor is facing up. Turn off the power then unplug the electrical connector from the motor. Remove the single bolt at the base of the motor then turn the whole motor ~1/4 turn counter-clockwise. A firm pull will remove the motor/pump at this point.
The new motor/pump has a new seal. See that the arrows on the pump volute and the motor frame are lined up before inserting into the housing. The new motor/pump slides into the housing easily and a 1/4 turn clockwise will pull it in tight. Re-install the locking bolt and revers the rest of the steps to get running again.

The replacement of the gasket was simple and required only a flat-head screwdriver to push the rubber into the groove around the opening of the dishwasher. Took only about 15 minutes and the door is a tight fit now. I wish I had replaced the gasket 6 months ago when it first started coming loose when we opened the door to the dishwasher.

Cut power and turn off water. Pulled the dishwasher out of the cabinet. Removed internal spray unit. Lay a plastic bag on bottom of tub in case a screw falls from upper spray assembly while removing. Disconnected and drained all hoses. Put down plastic lined tarp on floor. Lay dishwaser on its side onto tarp. Removed hose from recirculation pump, removed water sensor and recirculation pump from housing and detach electric connection. Removed 3 plastic push clips and removed entire motor-pump unit from tub. Position new motor-pump unit into tub. Replace 2 push clips into position, then used a flat screwdriver to put some tension and position plastic pump assembly so I could insert 3rd push clip into position. Replaced all components & reconnect hoses. Turn on water & power. A relatively simple repair. Too bad the original motor-pump only lasted 3 years. Not built like the used to. Thank goodness for Part Select.com Great schematics and descriptions. Excellent website, service, delivery and excellent Part! Thank You!

.The easiest way to complete the impeller and chopper motor replacement is to disconnect the power, water and drain line, remove the dishwasher from the cabinet, set the washer on its back.

From this point everything is visible, pump housing, motor, etc. and it's a matter of disassembly and reassembly. Make note or a drawing of where all the wires are connected so you reconnect them in the right spots.

Reinstall water lines and power and check for leaks before replacing shield or kick plate.

If your chopper assembly has a catastrophic failure like mine did, chances are it took out the teeth on the circulation motor as well. This will lead to the teeth on the chopper being destroyed by the impeller as soon as you turn the dishwasher back on. First, follow the instructional video to remove the motor (found on this site on the circulation motor page) and chopper assembly (also found on this site on the chopper assembly page). The impeller is screwed onto the input shaft of the motor, and you must keep it from turning so that you can unscrew the impeller assembly. I removed the back cover of the motor (there are four screws holding it on) and held a flat pry bar on the rotating assembly inside the motor to keep it from turning, then unscrewed the impeller from the shaft. Mine came off very easy, but be careful not to let your pry bar slip or damage the motors internals. After that, install the washer and grommet from the impeller seal kit on to the impeller, and screw it back on while keeping the motor from turning with your pry bar. Lastly, reinstall the motor and chopper assembly per the aforementioned instructional videos. The whole thing took around an hour to do, and it is much cheaper than replacing the entire circulation motor.

The repair was really easy. First disconnected electricity staring with fuses and removing wires from dishwasher, then disconnected drain hose and water hose. Pulled it out and removed pump turning clockwise no need for tools and same way installed new one. Very easy

I followed the YouTube video exactly and it went very well

I removed the old gasket simply by pulling on it. I compared its length to the length of the new gasket, figuring there would be some trimming to do -- there wasn't. The replacement was exactly the same.
I placed a mark on the center of the new gasket, and marked the center of the mounting groove. I aligned the two marks, and pushed the new gasket into the groove, starting at the center, and worked my way out towards the two ends. After getting a majority of the new gasket to seat by hand, I GENTLY used the tip of a slotted screwdriver to ensure that the New Gasket was completely snapped into place.
The fit was perfect, and no more leaks. This repair was so simple, I'm embarressed for putting it off for so long. ;)

I pulled the unit away from the cabinet, unplugged the washer and water line(not long enough to reach) removed two nuts from the underside and replaced the heating unit.

pull out the dishwasher
lay it on its side
use a 1/4" drive socket with extension and a universal joint to undo the the hidden bolt,
twist the motor 1/4 turn. this is the hard part you have to pull fairly hard and rock the motor around a little to get the o-ring to let the motor slide out.
lube up the new motor with jet dry or soap and insert back it, turn it back 1/4 turn, install the bolt and plug the motor control wires back in, then reinstall it back under the counter

If your not getting clean dishes this is an easy check to make that will likely turn out to be your problem. If not, you need to get this far anyway and it's an easy check to make. Remove the top and bottom rack. The bottom and top sprayer are connected together as an assembly by the water transfer pipe the goes up the back side of the dishwasher interior. This needs to be removed. There are two clips that hold the assembly in place at the middle rear of the washer and the top of the washer. Grasp the water assembly with your hand at the location of the clips, top one first and give a twist that rotates the piece out of the clip. Once the assembly is free from both clips hold the assembly at the lower rear where it starts up the back of the washer and move the whole thing to your right to turn the base clockwise. The whole thing will release from the bottom of the washer and come out as one big piece. Set it aside and you will see four torx head screws that were hidden under it. Remove these screws and the round screen assembly that they are holding to the bottom of the washer. Set that part aside as well. Now your looking at the well area where water collects to get into the pump. There will be a little standing water there, it's normal and not a problem. To the left side of the well an inch or two under water you will see one Torx head screw. It's one bit size smaller than the other screws. Remove it and pull up on the cover that it is holding in place. Now you are looking at the chopper assembly, it's a four bladed knife that rotates across the face of a screen. If you can rotate the knife blades and not have the shaft behind the screen move, it bad! Grasp it by the top of the screen and lift it slightly and pull it toward you to remove it. The shaft that turns the blades has worn away where it connects to the blades. It doesn't turn anymore so the screen is plugging and no water is able to get to your dishes. Order a new one and put it back in the same order you took it apart. It helps to have a little screw driver to lift the knife blade away from the screen when your putting in your new part. Load up the washer and give it a test run. YOU DID IT!!!

Everything worked perfectly---thanks to the suggestion of your call center agent. She suggested that since the replacement door handles were no longer available, I should consider repainting them--it worked like a charm. Please tell her she was a life saver. We rent that house in Fl and my returning tenants had complained about the discoloring refer handles. Thank you

When the top rack stopped cleaning, I tracked down the problem to the food shredder/chopping blade, and then to the impeller that drives the blade. The knob on the impeller had sheared/broken off. That meant removing the motor, and replacing the impeller. Four hours, a band-aid, and a trip to Home Depot later, here are my suggestions

1. Look for videos – this site is awesome, but they don’t have a video on this particular repair. I found 4 that got me close to knowing what I was doing.
2. Do all the “remove internal stuff” - you had to anyway to find the issue with the shredder/cutting blade
3. Take pictures as you move along, you’ll need them when you have to remember the placement of the water line, drainage hose, wired connections etc.
4. You need a 1/4 inch socket set. A 3/8 drive will NOT work (it won’t fit between the shroud and the base). Don’t start working on the repair, unless you have a 1/4 in socket with about a 6" extension
5. Someone at Kitchenaid should be shot for having the waterline connection facing the back of the unit. Use a short adjustable wrench
6. The order comes with a washer, but when you take the impeller off this model, you’ll see you don’t need it.
7. Placement is everything – there was zero clearance between the bottom of the unit and the floor. Placement of the water line, drain hose, and power line was critical – had to re-position the unit about 7 times to get it to “play nice”.
8. Hindsight – only needed to remove the wire harness for the motor (take pictures)
9. Hindsight – gloves are a great idea – sheet metal is unforgiving