GE Dishwasher Repair

GE Dishwasher Not Dispensing Soap?

Today we’re going to look at issues that might cause your GE dishwasher to not work right anymore – specifically not dispense the detergent as it should.  Previously we looked at this with a KitchenAid dishwasher, but today we’re looking at GE and it’s associated brands which include Hotpoint, and Kenmore and of course GE Monogram.

The DIY dishwasher repair we’ll go over below is something that many people will be able to manage on their own.  However, if you find that the problem you’re having is something more than what’s covered here, we recommend you contact a professional appliance repair company.  And as long as you’re doing that, you might as well get the best, right?  Best Appliance Repair of Austin – same day service and 100% of our service call fee is applied to the cost of the repair.  Call us today! (512) 270-3577

Today we are going to show you how to change the detergent lever and shaft on your GE dishwasher.  It’s a really easy job, all you are going to need is a Philips Screw driver and a pair of needle nose pliers, let me show you how we do it.

Now before we begin this repair the first thing we’ll need to do is to disconnect the dishwasher from the power source, so if it’s a portable like this one, simply unplug it from the receptacle. If it’s a built in, locate the fuse panel or breaker panel, and disconnect the power at that point.

Well next open the door and then we are going to remove 7 Philips screws that secure the inner door panel to the outer door panel. I will take note that the two screws at the very bottom of the door are machine thread screw, and all the rest of them are a self-tapping type, so make sure we don’t mix those up when we put it back together.  We will also have to support that outer door panel as you are removing the inner door, so if you lift up on that tilt it forward and then we can lift it up and out of the way. Carefully allow the outer door panel to close.

Now with the backside of the inner door panel exposed, and the soap box in the open position this is how that mechanism should appear. Now there is a spring at the bottom of it that is hooked over a little post and the hook end of the spring is attached to this black actuator arm, just take note of the orientation of those components before we disassemble any further.

This view is with the soap door in the open position, and this is the end of the shaft that the lever is attached to, and it is a split shaft so that we would compress it to pull it out through from the front. Now there is a spring that wraps around this actuator lever that hooks on the inner hub of the actuator, and the long portion of the spring catches on a flat tab that is part of the inner door panel.

Now if we have a digital camera it’s a good idea to take a photograph of this assembly in this position.  There is a projection on that actuator that engages metal lever for the rinse aid dispenser, and there is a cam that comes up and contacts the lever on the timer.  So with the soap box in the open position will support that from the other side of the inner door panel and with a pair of needle nose pliers we are going to very gently squeeze the end of that shaft together, and that will allow us to pull that through from the front.  And now that we have the soap cover and the lever, you can simply slide that lever out of the cover, and we can locate the new lever, slide it into the cover, ensure that that tab fits into the slot in the cover and hold it in that position.

Now the shaft of this lever has two flat sides, one is slightly larger than the other that makes up with the backside of this assembly, and we will carefully slide this through in about this position from the front.  Hold the actuator and spring assembly in place – you will need to apply fair bit of pressure from the front to push that through and make sure that we have the cover engaged with the lever.

We can rotate that soap box covering lever into the closed position, and at this point the timer will engage that cam and hold it there. Make sure that you still have spring tension on it, it’s closed position and open position.

Now at this point we can reinstall the inner door panel to the outer door panel. Just lift up from the back of the, or the bottom of the inner door panel, so that it sits over the top of the tub and carefully lower it into position. Make sure nothing is jamming and when assembling the inner door panel to the outer door pane. We need to make sure that the handle slides through the opening on the front. You can lift up on that slightly with your screwdriver just enough to push it through, and just by holding that together make sure that the levers is in its right position, then we can reassemble these screws that hold the inner door panel to the outer door panel.

We’ll start with the two on the bottom, the machine thread ones, screws in the upper corners and I will make sure all those screws are secure and we’ll check the operation of the door latch, and check the operation of the soap box and push it into an open position. It should spring to a fully open position, and have tension on that spring and still be able to lock in the closed position. And our GE dishwasher repair is complete.