Replacing a door gasket in my Kenmore dishwasher 665.13543N411 - not doing too well!

[reezekeys]

Well this has been quite a day - trying to do a repair that all the "DIY you-tube appliance-fixers" say is a quick 5-minute job. Not for me! At this point I'd rather scrub toilets at the bus station!

The gasket I bought was advertised as "W10300924V Dishwasher Door Gasket for Whirlpool W10660528, W11177741, PS12348515." Looking up my exact dishwasher model, the Whirpool part # specified is AP6285721, but W11177741 is listed as a "cross-reference" so I thought I was OK.

The part of the door that contacts the gasket had crud that lime-a-way couldn't touch, so I spent a lot of time scrubbing hard with a steel wool soap pad. After that, I worked the gasket into the channel but the door won't close! The picture tells the story - the gasket is not flush in the channel where it bends at the top of the dishwasher, despite all the elbow grease I could muster. I pressed as hard as I could for a long time. I was thinking of using the blade of a flat-head screwdriver to force it in but was afraid of damaging the rubber. Is there a trick to this? Maybe a different tool I can use? I have the same issue, just a little less pronounced,  on the other side. On the top & side straight sections I had no problem getting the gasket into the channel fully; in those places it sits flush.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks. And yea, I'm ready to hear "call a professional." :-) However, this really should have been a no-brainer, and I'm feeling pretty stupid right now. And my wife is VERY MUCH not happy either! Thanks again for any help.

[Vance R]

14 minutes ago, reezekeys said:

AP6285721

This is appliance part pro's part number and  W11177741 is whirlpool's part number for the same door seal. Whirlpool is the manufacturer of the dishwasher and they sub the seal to W10300924V. You may want to watch appliance parts pro's video again, the flap side should be going other direction. 

[reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Vance R said:

This is appliance part pro's part number and  W11177741 is whirlpool's part number for the same door seal. Whirlpool is the manufacturer of the dishwasher and they sub the seal to W10300924V. You may want to watch appliance parts pro's video again, the flap side should be going other direction. 

You know, I was wondering that. I spent some time looking at the old seal and how it was oriented and tried to match the new one to that. When I thought I had it right, I could not figure out how it fit into the channel – it seemed to not fit there no matter what I tried. So I turned it around and it looked like it worked. I will pull it out and try again, thank you!

[reezekeys]

Good news and bad news - the good is that I turned the gasket around,got it into the channel, and the door closed! The bad news is that it leaks! I think I might have screwed up by cutting the ends of the gasket too short. Either that or I'm still installing it wrong – or there's some other problem I'm not seeing. But I replaced the old gasket because of a leak on the left side of the dishwasher at the front – exactly where many googles told me the door seal was the likely culprit. Directly under the dishwasher has been bone-dry.

Thank for trying to help me!

[16345Ed]

There you have it. Non professionals let you down go figure. 
 

3 hours ago, reezekeys said:

exactly where many googles told me the door seal was the likely culprit.

Rarely do I find a door seal reason for leak. 
 

More likely door vent issue. 

[reezekeys]

Thanks very much for taking the time to help me out, I really appreciate it. I will be investigating the vent today. I think I'll pull the dishwasher out of the cabinet & run a quick rinse cycle to see if I can better pinpoint where the water is coming from. Originally it was dripping from the front on the left side - directly underneath where the seal is on the attached picture. It seemed logical to me, looking at this mess of a seal, that it might be the culprit - and even if it isn't, it was time to replace anyway! This is a combination of hard water and a wife that likes doing very hot washes & sometimes overloading with detergent.

[reezekeys]

OK I'm back with more amateur sleuthing. As always, I really appreciate the help from the pros here. I've always been a DIY-er and my luck has been pretty good - up to now anyway!

I pulled the dishwasher out, set up a light and filmed a small bit of a quick rinse cycle (youtube link below –  unlisted, I'm only putting it here). 16345Ed said it was more likely I had a door vent issue so I removed the outer door panel to check it out. There was zero moisture at the vent or directly below it. However, the insulation attached to the outer door panel was wet, in the area I circled in my picture below.

Looking at the video, my guess is that I screwed up the door seal install; the leak is actually worse than with the old crudded-up seal! If someone can take a look at my second set of pics in this thread and tell me whether or not I left enough length at each end of the seal I would appreciate it. I'm fairly certain there's less there than with the old seal.

Anyway, here come the visual aids! 

First the youtube – sorry for the shaky camera in spots. Does any water actually get pumped into the tub when I first start the cycle? I ask because I heard what I assumed was a pump when I started the cycle but the leaking did not occur until the diverter motor started (I assume that's what kicked in – could be wrong of course!). This video clip starts right before that happens:

 

And the pictures:

Thanks very much for any advice!

[Vance R]

In your inner door picture the vent seal is weeping. Vent seal needs to be replaced or sealed with silicone.  From the video make sure the DW is level side to side and slighty high in the front or level. Looks like water is being sprayed at door bottom from a leak or split spray arm.

[reezekeys]

Thanks Vance! Yes I saw that weeping but figured it was a longstanding issue so directly related to my leak (as I said, that area was dry). Weirdly, I cannot get a definitive part # for the vent seal but it looks like a 8269259. Amazon has me enter my dishwasher model and then tells me "we're not sure this fits your dishwasher!" The exploded parts diagram I found for my DW does not show this gasket by itself – so it's probably included in the entire vent assembly. Also, my exact dishwasher model is not mentioned as compatible when I look at this part on various web sites.

I'm also wondering if I should just do the lower door seal too - it's actually a pretty inexpensive item. Speaking of door seals, I ordered another one so I could re-do my original job if I had to (it's returnable). And thank you for the suggestion on leveling – I would have never thought of that!

[reezekeys]

5 minutes ago, reezekeys said:

Thanks Vance! Yes I saw that weeping but figured it was a longstanding issue so directly related to my leak

"NOT directly related to my leak" is what I meant to say. Seems like I can't edit my posts here once I post them.

[reezekeys]

Jeez this is getting to be a habit.. replying to my own posts (I guess editing privileges are not for the rookies!). I forgot to add a thank you for your mention to check the spray arm. My wife told me that very recently a utensil fell out of the silverware basket & got stuck there and stopped it from spinning (or so she thought). Anyway I removed & examined it but it looks OK to me – no cracks anywhere. I'm really hoping this is just me screwing up the original door seal job.

[Vance R]

23 minutes ago, reezekeys said:

Weirdly, I cannot get a definitive part # for the vent seal but it looks like a 8269259

Think that is the correct one. THe other way would be to remove old oring clean and coat with silicone.

[reezekeys]

Thanks Vance - as luck would have it, I found a bottle of "O-Ring silicone lubricant" I got when I replaced the diverter motor grommet 9 months ago. You just saved me $20 and a week's wait for that part.

The vent has what looks like a solenoid-controlled "flapper" valve I'm guessing opens up during the dry cycle. The surface is rubber and it looks a little crudded-up from the hard water & soap deposits so I'm gonna try cleaning that off and applying some of the silicone there. Not gonna try disassembling anything though!

[reezekeys]

Of course things can't just "work out" when it comes to my DIY attempts. That o-ring in the vent is proving very difficult to remove. I'm working very slowly, going around the housing using the flat end of a small plastic spudging tool, trying to not damage the seal. I also applied some silicone lubricant and tried to work it in there hoping it would loosen, but it hasn't really budged. Are there any techniques the pros use that might help me? I may need to get a new seal.

I also took out the bottom door seal and it has detergent & hard water crud that seems chemically bonded to it. A hefty dosing of lime-a-way didn't do much, so I ordered a new one.

[Vance R]

If it stuck in with hard water buildup slow and steady is all you can do. Scrap off the build carefully and slowly remove the oring.

[reezekeys]

I kinda gave up to be honest. It came partway out, but I was seeing small flakes of the rubber coming off, and more staying in the groove, no matter how gentle I was. I hit it with a hair dryer a few times too – I saw that method used on a u-tube (I was careful not to get it too hot, I know the vent is plastic). A little surprised to see how expensive this o-ring is! Close to $30 with shipping, way more than the door seal or bottom seal.

Since it looks like this part is not responsible for my current leak, I was thinking of reseating the o-ring & giving it a nice coating of silicone. If the replacing the other two seals fixes the leak, I'll give it a few days, open the DW door panel and see if the vent seal is working or not and go from there. As always, your advice is much appreciated.

[reezekeys]

I have to admit I feel very stupid - but I want to make sure I'm not screwing up. Everything is back together and I'm ready to fire up my DW to see if the leak is fixed. However, I'm still not 100% sure I'm orienting the door seal correctly. Would somebody please look at this picture and tell me if I did it right? The door seems to be closing, although not as "firmly" as before, which I understand is normal. Thanks a zillion!! (I know, I'm gonna cut the ends short once I know for sure that I've done this right!).

[Vance R]

Blue circled area would go into the track or groove. The green circled area would be pointed in toward interior of the dish washer. The yellow are would be to the outside cabinet area

[reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Vance R said:

Blue circled area would go into the track or groove. The green circled area would be pointed in toward interior of the dish washer. The yellow are would be to the outside cabinet area

Thanks for the quick reply. Is it upside down now? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your wording.

My wife is getting worried about me. And very much breaking my stones right now - deservedly I guess!

[Vance R]

In backwards, the yellow sould be outside touching the cabinet.  Nice looking circles.

[reezekeys]

I guess I win the dunce cap award. Thanks. It's in and I'm going to let it sit with the door closed for a while. I sure hope I've fixed this DW, looks like I've maxxed out my picture attachments here (you lucky people)!

 I've learned a lot the last few days, can't thank you enough!

[reezekeys]

Almost. I thought I had it - I ran an entire "quick rinse" cycle (about 18 minutes) with the DW out of the cabinet and it did fine. Got it in and now there are just a few drips of water happening. Nothing like before, only from the left side (as I look at the DW), in front. I figured it was the door vent since I never replaced the seal and might have screwed it up trying to remove it. I took off the front panel to take a look at it, and everything inside is dry. I'm at somewhat of a loss here. The next thing I thought is that the DW must not be leveled correctly since there was no leak happening with it out of the cabinet. I have the install manual and a level, and adjusted the legs as directed, but the leak is still happening. The only thing I can think of doing is raising the front more. One thing – I did not cut the ends of the door seal yet, they are extending into the cabinet about 6" on each side, could this in any way be a factor? I can't see how, but maybe it is. I was going to cut them once I knew I had the leak fixed. Thanks for any words of wisdom!

[reezekeys]

Since I replaced the lower door seal and the leak is coming from only the bottom, I thought I'd check the screws holding it in. The hex head of the screw on the extreme left (where the leak is) is deformed in a way that a socket won't grip it at all (I'm using a 3/16" socket and it works on the other screws fine). So, I either overtightened it when installing, or I never got it tight enough. I know you're screwing into plastic and I thought I was careful while tightening but there you go. Well, the saga continues but this does look like the culprit. If I stripped the plastic, is the seal toast or would you use a plastic repair compound to fill in the hole and drill a small pilot hole to get a "second chance"? Thanks as always for any help, this is turning into quite the ordeal by now!!

[Vance R]

Not sure about which piece your talking about, the gray plastic trim in your last photo? Is it out of place? Check the lower spray arm for clogged holes ans split seam.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Vance R

[reezekeys]

Yes, that grey piece. Kenmore/Whirlpool calls this the lower door seal – though I don't know how a piece of plastic with no gasket is supposed to seal out water. I'm fairly certain it's in place since all the screws & holes lined up when installed it. I remember tightening them a little at a time and it looked fine to me. There are five small hex-head screws holding the seal that are not easy to get to. The head of the leftmost one is definitely rounded, and no socket I have grips it (I tried some metric sockets close in size). However, in late-breaking news, I just moved the DW into the cabinet for the 2nd time and fired it up to see if I had made the leak worse with my shenanigans – and now it doesn't leak!

I'm about to do a full wash cycle and see what happens. Not too sure how to proceed here... I guess if it continues to not leak I'll just roll with things the way they are. Thinking of how to get that screw out does not make me a happy guy.