This is round 2 of a rather crude DIY fix for our KitchenAid dishwasher. We noticed that our dishes just were not getting clean, and there was lots of particulate left on the dishes after washing. We first tried removing the spray bars and looking for any clogs- nothing. We took apart and cleaned the filter screens in the bottom of the tub, also to no avail.
This dishwasher has a two position upper rack. There is a set of rubber seals that only allows water to flow out of the proper hole to the upper rack. We noticed that the rubber seal that shuts off water flow to the lower hole didn't seem to be sealing properly. Rather than spending the money on the replacement part on the chance that was the issue, we decided just to seal it ourselves with some aluminum ductwork tape to see if that was indeed the problem. We disassembled the seal, applied tape, reassembled, and ran the dishwasher. Quite to our surprise, it actually seemed to work. The only disadvantage is that you can't lower the rack to the lower position.
Fast forward just over a year later, and the aluminum tape finally failed, and the dishwasher was up to its old tricks. This time, I decided to make the fix a little more permanent by inserting a small piece of plastic cut from the lid of a dishwasher safe container to form the seal. The combination of aluminum tape plus the small piece of polypropylene should make the fix permanent.
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| Aluminum tape over lower water outlet. Make the tape wrap around the edges of the part, but not so far as to obstruct the snap-fit features. If the snap-fit features are covered with tape, the cover won't snap on properly. |
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| Polypropylene insert between rubber seal and plastic cover of water outlet. (only visible through circular cutout in rubber seal) You can pull the rubber seal out and use it as a pattern when you cut the polypropylene insert. |
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| "outside" view of water outlet, polypropylene insert visible in lower outlet. This is before re-assembly. |
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| Re-assembled water outlet before installation into dishwasher |
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| All parts assembled and back in the dishwasher. You can see the lower water outlet is now permanently blocked |
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