Hello!

I am hoping that someone can help guide me. We have a 7 to 8 year old Kitchen Aid dishwasher that has performed admirably, until recently. The 3 problems that I have are:

1. It appears that the bitumen sound insulation is breaking off as we routinely find chunks of it in the bottom of the dishwasher tub. Can this be repaired? This has actually been going on for a while (6 months maybe) but we never new what it was until now.

2. The push button lever for the rinse aid dispenser just broke off. Through some searching around the web, it appears that one can only purchase the entire dispenser vs. this small part. The cost of which is $60 to $80 (installed myself). Does anyone know if just the lever part can be purchased vs. the entire dispenser?

3. We just noticed that the dishwasher is making a loud buzzing noise while running (note, it could have been doing this for a while, normally we run it in the middle of the night using the delay feature). The cycle seems to run to completion and yes, the dishes are clean when it is done. The noise is definitely coming from underneath the dishwasher, behind the toe plate. I'd estimate that it is coming from the motor (centrally located), but am not 100% certain. There hasn't been any broken dishes/glasses in it nor is there usually food on the plates (we pre-rinse). Does anyone have thoughts on what this problem could be?

Overall, my general question is whether it is time for a new dishwasher or not... A service call is estimated to be approximately $100 + the dispenser ($65) + the bitumen sound insulation (if it can be replaced) and address the buzzing noise -- yike! This could end up being 1/2 the cost of a new upper mid-level appliance. Dang, and I just had to buy a new clothes washer/dryer earlier in the month!

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it!

1. The inner door mastic insulation comes as a part of the inner door panel and is not sold separate. I do not think it is very important to have it.

2. The dispenser comes as an assembly only. Whirlpool does not sell a separate parts for it.

3. Regarding the noise I would check the pump inside and the chopper (#6 on the diagram) in the pump first. You can use the instructions from one of our previous posts: http://forum.appliancepartspros...hirlpool-dishwasher.html

If there is nothing wrong then the noise is coming from the motor.

Your decision "To do or not to do" should be based on the condition of the old dishwasher, cost efficiency and your wife happiness. :)

- The inner door panel assembly Part number: AP3138505

I looked at the grinder mechanism and it appears to be fine. Nothing is caught in there and no sludge on the screen. I cleaned it out anyhow. Put the removed parts back together, started the dishwasher and the buzzing is still present (since nothing was caught in there, I figured that it would still be a problem).

Looking a little closer underneath with a flashlight, it appears that something has been leaking a very small amount -- not really enough to pool. As I've read elsewhere on the forum, that seems to signify a motor problem -- basically Gene's other suggestion on what might be going on.

Time for a new dishwasher? Yeah, probably. Gene, thanks for your assistance!

Gene -- thank you for the brand recommendation. Before looking at the chopper we stopped by a few local appliance stores over the this past weekend to get an idea of what we are in for, cost-wise, for a new dishwasher. Bosch and (another) Kitchenaid are at the top of our list. I found it interesting that there many different price points (I saw some as inexpensive [relative speaking] as $300 up to $1700 :eek: from various manufacturers). $1700? Wow, that must be some appliance -- I wonder if it puts the dishes away as well as washes them?!

At least I can say that I did some due-diligence (with your help) so that I don't feel too bad about throwing away the old one. It has been a great dishwasher with no problems [up until now]. If it wasn't already 8 years old, I'd probably go the next step and repair it.

About Bosch -- I've heard that they don't dry all that great (as in, it was said that they leave a film and spots behind). Do you know if that is that really a concern? I understand that they don't have a fan (like the upper-end Asko's) or coil (most other brands) for heating like other manufacturers. As long as the rinse-aid is filled up, I have trouble believing that drying is an issue.

- Dave