Kitchen Aid Dishwasher KDFM404KPS 0 - Washer runs, but leaves grit

[Mrswnke]

My dishwasher runs, seems like it mostly cleans the dishes, but it looks like during the rinse cycle, it sprays some sort of food residue grit onto clean dishes and then bakes it on in the drying cycle. I had a repair guy come and tell me there's nothing wrong with the appliance and that it needs to be cleaned. We ran it with a dishwasher cleaning tab 3 times, and several times with nothing in it, once or twice with a vinegar rinse. The filter trap at the bottom has been cleaned out as well. It is still doing this, leaving a weird food residue grit all over my clean dishes. This can't just be a dirty dishwasher, can it?

[Budget Appliance Repair]

This one has the fine screen and chopper in the wash pump assembly and they seem to eat themselves up and plug.

Ref# 8 in this break down picture:

[Mrswnke]

Thank you Willie,

I got the filter off, and it looks like this. I'm assuming I need a new one?

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@Mrswnke Yes, you need to replace that filter assembly - I haven't seen or had one yet but have seen it numerous times in repair forum here to know it's a somewhat common problem on these models with that fine internal spinning filter assembly.

[Mrswnke]

Thank you, we got the filter assembly replaced and the first load of dishes have come out much cleaner! 

[Mrswnke]

Wow, so 5 months later and my filter has shredded itself again. Would my dishwasher still run if I take the mesh filter off of the plastic cone and put it back in the housing? If I'm replacing this filter twice a year at $80 a pop, it would have paid for a new dishwasher in a couple years. 

[Nathaniel Peterson]

On 8/23/2024 at 1:09 PM, Mrswnke said:

Wow, so 5 months later and my filter has shredded itself again. Would my dishwasher still run if I take the mesh filter off of the plastic cone and put it back in the housing? If I'm replacing this filter twice a year at $80 a pop, it would have paid for a new dishwasher in a couple years. 

Yes it should run fine. As long as the hose isn't using the filter for stiffness. If it is it may cavitate the hose.

[v8power]

On 8/23/2024 at 1:09 PM, Mrswnke said:

Wow, so 5 months later and my filter has shredded itself again. Would my dishwasher still run if I take the mesh filter off of the plastic cone and put it back in the housing? If I'm replacing this filter twice a year at $80 a pop, it would have paid for a new dishwasher in a couple years. 

I replaced my filter once about 5 years ago and haven't noticed an issue since.

I'm not sure what caused my original to fail, but I wonder if it destructed on its own or if something hard ran into it.

I believe one purpose of the filter is to prevent what you saw:  food debris re-deposited on the dishes.  Another is to not clog the spray arms or the drain.

When it works, the self-cleaning design of the filter is kind of nice.