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Many (almost all) of the "female" screw parts that hold the inner door together with both the control panel and the outer door have stripped. We now have the control panel dropping out when we open the dishwasher door. One suggestion would be to replace the entire control panel assembly, but this seems ludicrous to me, as it costs almost $200, and we don't NEED the entire control panel assembly replaced... just need to replace the cheap plastic threads within the control panel (and within the door panel, for that matter, since many of the other screws in the inner door panel are no longer gripping anything either).
This dishwasher is only 6 years old, but if I have to put $200 into it, I figure I might as well buy a new one. Is there a less expensive repair?
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Have you tried just using bigger screws.
Do not over tighten them or they will just strip out again. |
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Not a bad idea... I will say the plastic "female" parts seem to have deteriorated in some areas, so this may not totally work on every screw, but maybe on enough to make a difference.
Is there any way to insert a new "female" screw part into a dishwasher door and/or control panel? Or am I just dreaming?
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Rank: Advanced Member
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I like to Rawl plug idea... I suppose I would just look for one small enough to fit inside the original "female" screw part, but how would I get it to stay there? What would keep the Rawl plug connected to the control panel and/or the exterior door? Is there a glue I would use, or am I getting myself into trouble, here?
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Rank: Advanced Member
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When you put a screw into a rawl it expands and that is what holds the rawl in. |
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Depending upon the amount of hold you need, you could put a drop or two of glue into the old female sockets to add more gripping power and rescrew. High temp hot melt glue works well if you don't need a ton of strength. If you want more, use epoxy. Since your going into plastic, get a plastic version of epoxy (formulated to stick to plastic). It's a bit "softer" when it sets, will adhear to the plastic, but still provide strength to best hold the screw threads. Just a bit down one side of the hole with either will likely provide sufficient holding power.
If you want to be really good, completely fill all the old holes then use a smaller drill to "predrill" new undersize screw holes and they should hold perfectly. The drill size should be the same as the shank size of the screws (i.e., the size of the solid metal part, excluding the thread flights).
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Worked on the door today. It was quite difficult, but I think I've managed to deal with the problem somewhat. I ran into two problems: (1) There was almost no plastic left where the "female" part of the screw used to be on the four holes at the sides of the control panel. (I decided to focus on attaching the control panel to the interior panel, since all 6 screw holes there had stripped.) Here I tried to use Krazy Glue to attach a new rawl plug, but it didn't hold. Then I tried epoxy. Perhaps I just didn't have the patience to leave the door and control panel open for 24 hours (and let the epoxy fully cure), but it was also quite difficult to position the new rawls properly to make sure they'd align with the door panel... Anyway, only one of the 4 now has a properly functioning rawl plug.
Problem #2 was that the two screw holes near the top of the control panel were not quite large enough to poke a rawl through, so even though the new rawls fit snugly in there, they also poke out slightly on the top. I got the smallest rawl possible (for a #6 screw), and now the door DOES close, but you've really got to push it closed, since clearly the door panel is elevated a few millimeters above where it ought to be.
So now I've got three properly working screws, and the whole assembly does function -- as long as I push the door closed with a bit of force.
Any other ideas? Or should I just live with this until something ELSE goes wrong with this 6-year-old dishwasher I'm regretting having ever bought? :)
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Perhaps a picture or two of the problem areas might let us brainstorm more effectively?
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