Thread Number: 32609
Kitchen Aid KDI-18 Noisy drying blower 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 491630   1/26/2011 at 11:31 (4,832 days old) by Blazeword ()        

We recently moved into an older house and have been doing improvements a little bit at a time. The kitchen is fairly up to date minus the Kitchen Aid KDI-18 dishwasher. Cosmetically it is in great shape with only a few chips in the tub. The racks are in nice shape and it performs great most of the time. I have a problem with the soap dispenser opening up intermittently on the main wash and the pre wash never opens but I have read about the bi-metal strips possibly being a problem. I checked them and they are not broken so the circuit is complete, however the pre wash strip is rusted up a bit. I ran a cycle with the door cover off and saw a few drops of water coming from the center of the soap realease arms during the cycle so I suspect that is why it is rusted. The other bi-metal strip on the main wash appears clean but didn't disengage while running the test cycle. I tried repositioning it and it didn't seem to help. I am hoping that the strips are just bad and perhaps purchasing a new soap dispenser will fix those issues. Now onto the main issue the post was supposed to be about (sorry) and that is the blower on the air dry cycle. The blower sounds like something is trapped in the impeller and gives that baseball card in the bike spokes kind of sound. The dishes are always completely dry so it is blowing fine but is just noisy. My question is, how difficult is it to remove the blower assembly to see what is caught and also where does it draw air in from? I took the lower panel off and looked under the machine and everything appears to be very clean in terms of the machine itself, the floor was another story but nothing a shop vac couldn't handle. Any help is greatly appreciated and we really like the dishwasher. I thought it was funny when we first moved in but after reading about it and seeing it's results it is no longer a joke. In fact we have plans to redo the entire kitchen in the future and are already planning on keeping the dishwasher. I would love to update it's look and find someone with stainless steel panels though. We do have a home warranty that covers the dishwasher repair but they will more than likely want to replace it with a cheap model and that is a no go. Thanks again.




Post# 491647 , Reply# 1   1/26/2011 at 13:09 (4,832 days old) by stevet (West Melbourne, FL)        
lot of questions

 and a few answers???
Blaze, you can get the blower motor itself out without removing the machine as it is held in by two Phillips head screws that you only have to loosen and the motor twists out.The mounting holes are keyholes so it is less than 1/4 turn and it comes out or you can pull the whole blower assembly out as well. It is also held in with two screws to the right rear frame member of the machine. Alot of twisting and turning may be needed but it will come out.

Of course...TURN OFF ALL THE POWER TO THE MACHINE BEFORE TRYING TO WORK ON ANYTHING ON THE LOWER PART OF THE MACHINE AS THERE ARE LIVE ELECTRICAL TERMINALS THERE.

Stainless steel panels are still available thru sears parts as well as authorized parts distributors. However, unless you already have the chrome trimmed panel pack on your machine, you won't be able to mount the new panels to the machine. Most of the units back then came with a single color panel which wrapped around the door edge. The panel pack called "Vari-Front" included the frames for the upper door and the lower panel and had white, black, almond and harvest gold panels inside. You could change colors if you wanted or it allowed you to add custom panels to match the surrounding cabinetry.

You cannot buy those anymore, but I have a slew of them available that I forgot I had in my attic. The price will be reasonable..the postage may be the killer!

As far as the bimetals go, they work on the amp draw of the pump motor to operate properly so if there is not enough water in the machine the draw will be less, so start there and make sure that you have water up to no less that 1/4-1/2" below the wash arm hub. If that is cool, then they may just be bad and need to be replaced. You will actually be able to see them bend when the call to open the doors is sent from the timer. If they move enough to clear the tab on the detergent door lever, then the doors themselves are binding somewhere or the detergent is caking up and preventing the doors from swinging open. Observe the operation a bit more and see what you come up with.
BTW, avoid touching them when the machine is on as they do have 120 volts going thru them. Use a pencil or wooden dowel to touch them when the machine is running.
One last thing, if you have forced the doors open, the spring and shaft may not be aligned properly. Work the doors manually and make sure that there is good, strong spring action on the doors. You should be able to get it all aligned right and it may just work fine in the future.

Post# 492026 , Reply# 2   1/28/2011 at 06:17 (4,830 days old) by Blazeword ()        

Thank you so much for the reply. I will work on the blower motor this weekend. My dishwasher does not have the chrome trimmed panel pack so I won't be able to get inserts. I only have the wrap around white front door and lower piece. Oh well, at least it is white but it sure would be nice to change it. I am surprised to see a great deal of parts are still available for these machines but sadly not all are so it comes down to hunting on the internet for somebody that has a machine to part out. I will check the water level tonight, if it isn't filling all of the way what could be the problem? I did notice that the door is supposed to open when the timer points to the W in wash on the dial and sometimes you hear it release while still filling up yet other times it never releases at all. I also noticed that you can pull the spring shaft out of the groove causing the door to not be released like you said. The spring operation of both doors is extremely strong and not gunked up at all so I don't think that is a problem. I will give you an update and thank you so much again. Thank god for forums.

Post# 492511 , Reply# 3   1/29/2011 at 21:25 (4,828 days old) by stevet (West Melbourne, FL)        
waiting on your update

 Just wanted to remind you that I DO have the panel kits for your machine so if you want to go with the Stainless panels, you will be able to. Also, see what happens with the dispenser. I should have a spare somewhere.

Post# 493327 , Reply# 4   2/2/2011 at 10:32 (4,825 days old) by Blazeword ()        
Blower noise fixed!

 I was able to pull the blower assembly out this past weekend and found that the motor mount plate was loose allowing the impeller to scrap off of the blower enclosure. I removed the impeller and tightened up the plate and reassembled and I can't believe the difference. At first the blower didn't spin at all after reassembly but I realized that the shaft was pushed in a bit and caused the motor to be locked. I just pulled the impeller out a little bit and it is free and running great. Next I messed with the bi metal mounting a little and it released on the last wash. It releases while the machine is still filling approximately 15 to 20 seconds before the fill stops on the wash cycle so I think it is getting enough water to work the pump and cause it to release. Maybe the bi-metal strip is just getting weak. I will attempt to upload a couple pics. One is just the machine itself and the other is the water level after the wash had drawn its full cycle and stopped filling. The white soap ring is the top level of the fill. It seems to be a little lower than you described it should be but I didn't give it much time to drain off of the dishes and cups so it may be a little higher. What are you asking for the stainless door panels and do you have both the door and lower panel available? Thank you so much Steve for all of your help.

Post# 493328 , Reply# 5   2/2/2011 at 10:34 (4,825 days old) by Blazeword ()        
The old KDI-18 in brilliant white

 Dishwasher.


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