KDTM354DSS5 Whirlpool - Instructions

This was tricky, not so much the difficulty of the repair so much as finding the right instructions. There weren’t any on your website. YouTube videos were all over the place in terms of specific set ups. Eventually I found the right one. This would have been very easy and would have taken less than 15 minutes if I had the right instructions from the start. Most of my time was taken with searching for instructions.

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, 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

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!

I took the old wheel assembly off and snapped the new wheel assembly on. It’s that simple. Note the dishwasher rack needs to be empty. Very pleased with this site. Parts came super fast.

Removed old tine rows and replaced with the new parts. No tools were needed. Each was replaced one at a time so the old ones could serve as a model for how the new ones were inserted and attached. Not much more complicated than changing a light bulb. Parts appear to be good original equipment quality but quite pricy for these very simple pieces.

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.

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.

Two of the four small nylon/plastic tabs on the adjusters that support the top rack on the rack slides, broke off (one on each side).

Before the new parts arrived, I printed the limited (but definitely helpful) instructions that were available and familiarized myself with the adjuster assemblies.

As practice, I took one adjuster assembly apart making notes of any "gotchas." The main gotcha I found is that the nylon/plastic parts are easy to break (obviously) as prying is involved during removal and replacement. It took me about 20 to 25 minutes to take one side apart and about 10 minutes to put it back together again.

When the new parts arrived, I was able to do the first side in about 10 minutes (removal and replacement), and the second side in about 5 minutes, all because I had printed the instructions, familiarized myself, and practiced. I hope this helps.

Hardest part was figuring out how to release and remove upper rack as mine did not match the instructions. After that is was tricky but not overly difficult. The instructions on-line did not make sense, but it all was fairly intuitive process. Take some before pictures, lol. Dishwaswasher works great.

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

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

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 dishwasher out from under the counter, removed faulty seal, installed new seal. Easy to understand directions are on web site.

First remove the front kick panel by removing 2 philips screws. Turn off the water supply, and then disconnect the supply line if not of the flexible kind. Mine was copper. Remove 2 screws holding dishwasher to counter top and pull machine out. Open door and attach replacement link by hooking the plastic end to the hinge hook on the door side and then place the string portion round the plastic pulleys and then attach the other end of the link to the end of the spring attached to the rear of the machine along the bottom side. Push dishwasher back into position, reattach supply line and re-install both screws attaching the machine to the counter top. Turn on the water supply and check for leaks. Place the kick plate into postion and secure using the 2 philips screws that were removed.