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Dishwasher Leaking (Again) Thru Diverter Valve Motor
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Kenmore Elite Dishwasher model 665.13942K010. Sears repairman replaced Diverter Valve Motor W10056349 on 5/21/12 due to water leaking through it. Today (9/23/13) same leak is occurring again (this time resulting in water damage to surrounding area). Unfortunately, this time the leak also damaged one of the electrical connectors (on harness) that connects to the Diverter. It appears that the following parts need to be replaced to resolve the leak.
1. Diverter Valve Motor
2. Sump with Seal (because I cannot locate a part number for the seal alone)
3. Wiring Harness (due to the one small harness connector being severely corroded)
Questions:
A. Is there a way to keep from having to replace these parts every year or so?
B. Can the connector for the harness be purchased alone so that I do not have to buy and replace the whole harness?
C. Can the seal in the Sump be purchased so that I do not have to purchase and replace the whole sump?
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
5 Answers from these members:

I am sorry for the problemw you are having. The seal in the sump can not be purchased separately. The W10168822 sump comes with the seal. At this time the seal is not available separately. The W10195290 harness comes as an assembly. I find no individual parts listed. Repairing the connection might be an option. I have seen this problem before but not excessively. Failures are tracked so even though the seal is not available separately at this time does not mean things won't change in the future. The sump with seal should have been replaced instead of the motor. I am sorry for the problems. Most repairs will come with a warranty so contact the service providere and see if some relief can be granted.

0 votes

Fred, thanks for your detailed response. Unfortunately, the repair by Sears in 5/21/12 was only warranted for 90 days, so I will do the repair myself this time. You indicated that the way to correctly resolve the leak through the Diverter is to replace the Sump. I have studied what it takes to replace the current Sump with a new Sump. It appears that none of the (many) steps are too difficult to complete except for re-installing the Wash Motor Assembly. It appears that the two factory installed hose clamps that secured the two hoses from the Wash Motor Assembly to the Sump are not reusable. These clamps do not appear in the parts list for this dishwasher. It appears the needed hose clamps are supplied only with the Inlet Hose (W10168824). The problem is that this Inlet Hose costs $124 from Sears and is not needed for this repair. Therefore, here are my questions. 1. Am I correct in my assumption that to reassemble the Wash Motor Assembly to the Sump you cannot reuse the two factory installed hose clamps? 2. If that is true, is there a part number for the correct clamps that I can use to reattach these two hoses to the Sump that will not require me to pay $124 for two clamps? 3. Also, is it acceptable (and possible) to simply purchase a new Sump, remove the new Diverter seal from it, then install that new seal into the old Sump? Once again, thanks for helping me find a reasonable way to repair this Diverter leak.
0 votes

The seal in my KitchenAid was leaking at the diverter as well. I cleaned it up (Use CLR) and used silicone grease and installed the seal with the spring side down toward the diverter. If you install the seal in the housing first it will not have enough of the seal making contact with the diverter shaft and it will leak. Use plenty of silicone grease since the seal is rotating essentially dry on the shaft otherwise.
My PCB and switch in the diverter was corroded badly so I replaced the whole unit but the shaft seal was still leaking. Not until I did the above did it fix it. The wiring harness was also damaged. I soldered the wires to the new diverter and it's working great again.
My PCB and switch in the diverter was corroded badly so I replaced the whole unit but the shaft seal was still leaking. Not until I did the above did it fix it. The wiring harness was also damaged. I soldered the wires to the new diverter and it's working great again.

0 votes

Fred, since this dishwasher is manufactured by Whirlpool I thought Whirlpool might provide some assistance with this problem, but they direct all questions back to Sears. Since you are a Sears technical person, would you please contact Whirlpool's technical staff and obtain the Whirlpool part numbers for the two clamps that are needed to secure the two Wash Motor hoses to the Sump. The two hoses are different sizes so I assume there are two part numbers (one for the smaller clamp, one for the larger clamp). Whirlpool part number W10169167 looks (from the pictures) to be exactly like the clamps included with Fill Hose part number W10168824, but I cannot be sure because there are no dimensions shown for the clamps. I would greatly appreciate it if you would contact Whirlpool and obtain this information. Many thanks.

-1 votes
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