66515923000 Kenmore Dishwasher - Instructions

The Upper Rack Wheel Mount (where wheel attaches to mount) had broken. Was able to band-aid until parts received by running a small bolt and nut (with sufficient size washers) through the wheel attaching it to the assembly, then re-attaching the Upper Rack Wheel Mount back to the dishwasher upper tray. Once the part ordered from PartSelect arrived, it was a simple matter of mounting the new Upper Rack Wheel Mount to the tray, replacing the band-aided item. The upper tray did have to be removed from the slider bars - required the plastic keepers on the end of the slider bar to be removed and then reinstalled once the Upper Rack Wheel Mount was replaced.

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

I took out the old one and started in the lower left corner and threaded it all around the edge to make sure the placement and length was correct. Then I came back around with a plastic spatula to firmly seat the gasket into the groove. Worked perfectly and havent had any trouble since!

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

Removed drain hose to ensure no blockage in drain. No blockage, then removed drain pump cap (where drain hose attaches to drain pump) with allen wrench. Push tab in on drain pump and twist counterclockwise, drain pump came off. Reversed to attach new pump and it works.

A Mouse friend had seen fit to chew through the original drain line. I used my Model Number, and was able to order the correct part . It arrived the next day. The job itself is fairly straight forward. You will need to access the rear of the machine. This may include shutting off, and disconnecting the water supply line. (Adjustable wrench). Mine is under the sink, on the "Hot" side. You may also need to un-plug the unit. (recommended) . A pair of (Pliers) will be needed for the spring clamp.

I removed the dishwasher from under the counter. This took the bulk of the repair time along with disconnecting the water supply and electrical connection. I had enough slack in drain hoses that I could turn the dishwasher over to replace the motor. I was surprised that there was only one bolt that held the motor in place. I put the motor on, turned the dishwasher upright and slide it back unde the counter and began the long process ofreconnecting everything. I am sureit could have gone faster if I were younger and did not need glasses for close work. Start to finish took me four hours. This was the fourth time I have replaced motors in dishwashers of various makes.

Checked the house circuit breaker, verified AC to the box under the dishwasher, removed the screws around the inside door cover, and removed the cover. Removed the outer circuit board cover. Used a multi-meter to verify AC to the door latch, and to verify the latch switch was working. Verified AC to the thermal fuse above the circuit board when the door latch was closed. Verified no AC on the other side of the thermal fuse. Removed the thermal fuse connections with pliers. Used thin flat blade screw driver to unsnap the thermal fuse assembly. Used multi-meter to verify no continuity through the fuse. Ordered the fuse assembly and replaced. Reconnected the thermal fuse connections. Manually closed door switch and saw lights on the display panel, and dishwasher started. Replaced all covers and works great.

Removed back of door to access the screws holding on the air inlet. The top of the door with the controls does not need to be removed, I found out--only the bottom part. Accessing the 5 screws was difficult as there was no space to get the socket onto the screws at a 90 degree angle. Also, there are two plastic shields that fall off when you remove the inlet that need to be replaced, with difficulty because of the accessibility to the area.

PartSelect site is excellent and finding the correct part was relatively simple, although I was not absolutely sure I ordered the right part until it arrived--only one day after ordering, although I paid for the least S&H option.

Need torx to remove front panel. There are four screws that hold the control panel that don't need to be removed. If you do remove them, it helps to put the control panel back before you reinstall the front. The six screws that hold the soap dispenser are a very small hex (<1/4, maybe 3/16). It would help to have some small sockets or nut drivers handy for this.

The door balance is easy.

Replaced the switch, that did not fix it, but a new circuit card did

Found the gasket to be wearing out. Once I got the part I took everything apart inside to find that I could have just taken the dishwasher out and replaced from the bottom. It was not difficult, but I've installed a ton of dishwashers. For the average homeowner, this is can be a difficult job since it requires plumbing and electrical skills.

After replacing broken door cables I had a small leak at the door corner. I replaced door seal with that not fixing the leak and found that the door hinges were bent a little from the cables being broke for awile. Installed new hinges and leak is fixed now. A little difficult but once unit was pulled out about 6 inches the hinges were not bad to replace

I did not relize that the drain hose was in two parts. Naturally I ordered the wrong half. So after I relized my mistake, I re-ordered the correct part. Once the correct part was received the repair was easy and went well.

I removed the old seal and carefully cleaned the track into which the seal was fixed. No tools other than some ordinary cleaning liquid, cloth and small wooden piece to swab out the track. Easy and quick. As a note here, I first used the incorrect schematic for the unit and ordered the wrong seal. However after receiving the wrong part, I made the correction and reordered. I did this over the phone as I needed instructions to return the part. The person taking my order and answering my questions was very helpful and I want to take this opportunity to thank her.