WDP560HAMZ1 Whirlpool 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...

Turned off power to the dishwasher. Removed the front panel via the screws on the inner wall of the door. Lifted and pulled out the front panel. Disconnected cable connections to fully remove the front panel. Pressed down on the latches to the left and right side of the door latch. Pulled out the door latch. Put in new door latch until it clicked into place. Reattached cable connections. Put the front panel back on with the screws. Turned back on power to the dishwasher.

Replacement parts from factory installed using u tube support video


Also replaced stop ends for top rack by removing old clip in to push down and lined up to secure in slots at end of rack, notice new plastic parts are installed by pushing hardware into slots downward until they clip into place

Only one friction sleeve was broken. So I pulled out the dishwasher to see how the one on the other side went on. It was very easy to replace and I replaced both. Unit works fine now.

Disconnected the damaged hose extension from the dishwasher outlet drain hose and the connection to the sink drain. Removed two clamps. One a spring clamp and the other a screw clamps. Connected the new extension hose with a spring clamp to the dishwasher outlet drain hose. Connected the other end to the sink drain with a screw clamp. Checked for leaks. Good to go!

After replacing the door seal and the dishwasher still leaked a lot of water out the bottom of the door, I read posts by a couple of other DIY who said the lower spray arm can split at the seam and cause this. One post noted it is very difficult to determine if this is the problem, that you may have to take the blade of a screwdriver and try to pry the seam apart gently to see if a gap does appear with very little force being applied. If so, then just imagine what happens when that very hot water makes that plastic more flexible and then the seam opens and forces waves of water against the lower door. I could see a small seam split using that strategy and when I replaced the spray arm, my leak stopped. I don't regret replacing the door seal as it had a couple of small tears and hard water deposits all over it, so it was time to do that even though it was not the culprit for the extensive leak. The arm is SO EASY to replace, just twist the plastic nut under it and it pops right off. Put the new one on and twist the nut the other way and it secures it.

Put in both a new element and thermostat. Did not fix problem. Using an ohm meter I did not measure any voltage to the thermostat. Suspect it’s a problem in the control unit, and decided to replace dishwasher.

The repair was similar to the very good video provided by PartSelect. However, I did make a few changes. The new rack was slightly different in the front side compared to the old rusted rack. After I removed the old rack from the dishwasher, I placed the two racks side-by -side to make sure they were compatible. They were identical in the rear structure and overall size, so I proceeded to change out the wheel racks, rack height adjusters and upper wash arm to the new rack. I suggest transferring each part one at a time so you can get the spacing correct. Also, in my case, many of the items needed to be washed with water to remove soap buildup in these parts before moving to the new rack. I would also suggest putting the upper wash arm (needed in this case) on the new rack last. The total job took me about an hour including washing or rinsing all parts and reassembly. This is an easy job, just take your time and do one item at a time so nothing gets mixed up. I used a drill driver to remove a total of 4 Phillip head screws for the rack height adjusters but a regular Phillip head screw driver would work as well.

Thanks to everyone for posting their experiences on changing the heater element. The most difficult part of the repair was getting the dishwasher out of the cabinet. I didn't know that I should disconnect the water line underneath the sink and this would make the removal easier. Also, because the copper water line going to the dishwasher was kinked, I ended up changing it with a flexible steel braided line.....much easier to install.

Once the dishwasher was out of the cabinet, I turned it over and easily removed the clips that held the heater element in.

I would definetly recommend people doing this repair themselves, it will save you a lot of money!!!!!

After I finally got the right parts and installed them I discovered that even though I had bought the OEM part for my dishwasher it not only didn't fit but prevented me from even getting the upper rack back in the dishwasher. The dishwasher won't work with out the upper rack properly in place. Every part store I looked at offered the same part for my dishwasher so obviously Whirlpool made a huge mistake. Since it's not possible to get the old parts back on (one of them was broken anyway which is what started all of this) I had to buy a new dishwasher. I did contact Whirlpool by email but got no response. If you own a Whirlpool dishwasher be very cautious buying any replacement parts.

simply line up the new pin with the rectangular slot in the kick panel and metal panel behind, slide the pin in and turn it with a flat blade screw driver.
NOTE: the original pin was black. A black replacement part cost $29 plus shipping! A knock-off pin was only $6 plus shipping. I got the cheap one and colored it with a black Sharpee marker before installation.

Put the kick plate under the dishwasher and screwed it in. 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.

There were no instructions with the kit so I went online and watched a How-to video so I could fix it. However, the new white wheels were too big so I had to use the wheels from the old rack.

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.