A friend of mine has a KA dishwasher that started to leak at the drain valve. I was wondering if these could be easily repaired or if it's better to just replace the valve. I have removed the valve but didn't try to disassemble it. It's a white plastic valve with a red solenoid and the leak it at the seal.

I know the part is still available new but here in Canada, it seems quite expensive!

The part number is 4163075

I bet you could do it Phil, but that said I would just replace the complete valve.

Phil I am still working on your F SS parts but friend has been very busy,  but it will happen, John.

Thanks John! 

I'm very anxious to get the suds saver working on my washer!

Steve,

Thanks for pointing this to me. Today, I went to the local parts store and the guy first gave me the $94.70 list price for the valve and then found that Whirlpool listed the part for a bit less (but still over $60). A member also offered me a used valve and I got an answer from an eBay seller that's selling one for less than $40 who told me he'd ship in Canada...

This dishwasher isn't mine and my friend who owns it doesn't appreciate vintage appliances as much as I do (or at all!) and he doesn't want to spend a lot on it! But he did help me a and followed me in quite a few trips to help me get some appliances and he also welded the pot metal foot pedal for my 1961 refrigerator with his Miller Synchrowave TIG welder. So I'm more than pleased to help him with that!

And I wish parts were as easy to find for old Frigidaire dishwashers! I'd have a few on order! 

This dishwasher isn't mine and my friend who owns it doesn't appreciate vintage appliances as much as I do  (or at all!)....

Tell him you'll take that "old piece of junk" off of his hands so he can buy something new and shiny

I was the one who found it for him too a few years ago... He had an older Inglis Royal (Whirlpool) from the mid-seventies that he gave to me (then Paul parted it out) when he installed the KA.

I just talked to him over the phone a few minutes ago and I told him if he decides to get a new machine, I could buy this one back for cheap... He did complain about the performance of this dishwasher a few times but he doesn't seem to want to buy a new one at the moment.

I'm wondering if the wash arm support is shot or if it's not getting enough water for each fill to prperly charge the pump to hurricane in a box status. 

How can we tell? The lower wash arm was hard to remove but it seems to turn freely on it's support. As for the water level, it seems normal from what I previously observed. The water temp might be a bit colder than average as the water heater isn't near it and it takes some time getting hot water at the kitchen sink just beside it...

I assume he's periodically checking on the status of the filter and cleaning it regularly.

Water temps are a BIG one with these pre 19 series Superba dishwashers. For the past couple of loads, I've been recording draining temps from my KDS-18 in the disposer with my infrared temp gun. My incoming water temp at the tap fully purges at a peak of 157F. Ambient temp inside the dishwasher begins at 65F.

First fill drains at 111F, second fill at 128F, 3rd (pre wash) drains at 142F (barely acceptable), and the 4th (main wash) drains at 154F.

Kitchen-Aid recommends 140-160F for proper cleaning performance and the pre wash barely made it to the lower end of the acceptable temp by the time it drained, and this is with an incoming water temp of 157F. This has proven to me that these dishwashers require a good purge of 160F at the tap for proper cleaning temps. Even though some here are annoyed by it, this is a good example why Hobart introduced multiple water heatings for the 19 and 20 series machines in order to achieve good washing performance throughout the entire cycle.

KA DWs while great over built machines were always plagued with complaints about poor cleaning performance, this was by far the MOST Frequent service request for KA DWs we used to get, [ its just not cleaning well ].

KAs because of their extra complexity, clogged filter problems, lower wash arm and support problems and detergent dispensers that did not always work correctly and then you add in the silly dual inlet valve that failed twice as often as WPs, GEs, D&Ms and about everyone else.

The great thing about KA DWs was that they were usually pretty easy to fix, [ one older repairman that Jeff and I knew said he always liked to start of his service day with a good KA DW repair call ]. So as a result we not only made a lot of money fixing KAs but people tended to keep fixing them because they had paid a premium for them and they worked really well when everything was in top condition.

In my service experience too low an incoming water temperature in way down on the list of things that cause poor cleaning outcomes. Purging the hot water lines before starting a DW [ especially on newer machines that boost heat their water and have very long cycle times ] does very little good and the hot water in the lines almost completely cools anyway before the DW fills again for its later fills as many machines now run over two hours. In the days when people actually kept their water temperatures in the 140-160 range DWs only LASTED 6-10 years on average. If you have any DW that you care about water temperatures exceeding 140 [ and 120 for anything built in the last twenty years or so ] will greatly shorten every part of the DW that water touches and your dishes themselves, LOL.

Maybe he should have kept his Inglis dishwasher! It was a Royal series from the mid-seventies, second to TOL model Royal 100 series and it had the door-mounted silverware baskets (which he prefers as he used to have a Whirlpool dishwasher!).

It's just that the aluminum trim on the control panel looked bad, the cycle selector was cracked and the silver lower panel at the front had been not too well repainted in white... When he bought the house, the dishwasher was sitting in the garage (as the former owners had a newer one that they kept when they moved!) and he didn't want to install this in his kitchen!  Maybe he should have given it a try first!