Do-It-Yourself Story

While this is a Whirlpool dishwasher, I have the Kenmore Elite version of it. I believe them to be identical for parts. A little background: The first symptom I had of problems was plastic bits from the ball bearing retainer strips in the slides falling out. Then ball bearings falling out. A common problem with this dishwasher. When disassembling the upper basket, some of the gray plastic pieces were very brittle and easily snapped off. So I ended up replacing all of the plastic pieces related to the slides (adjusters, retainer pieces, etc). Poor choice of materials on the part of Whirlpool (dishwasher only 5 years old and all of it was falling apart). Once removing the washer from under the counter (two tabs screw to the underside of the countertop and there is a trim piece a the base that should be loosened or removed), the insulation blanket needs to be removed. Then there are two screws on either side of the outside of the tub that is moved to pull the slides and upper basket out. Make sure you support the basket as you are doing this - else the basket will drop inside the tub. I easily did it by myself, but FYI. Once the upper basket assembly is out, each slide has a gray plastic tab on the end of the slide facing out that needs to be depressed to release the slides. Note that these BOTH broke off on light pressure when I was removing the slides. Hence my need to replace all the plastic bits. The slides slide over a tab at each end of the "adjuster". You must replace the adjusters if those tabs break. The left-hand new slide that was sent to me did not work - somehow they reversed the portion of the slide that attaches to the tabs on the adjuster and it was impossible to lock it in place. APP sent me a new one right away (thanks). If all you have to do is replace the slides, it's a 10 min job. If you replace all the plastic pieces it takes an hour to 90 min. Now that I have done it, I could do it again in 30 min. There are spring-loaded ratchets as part of the adjusters that are the only thing that takes a little patience. Note that everything inside can be replaced with only a small standard screwdriver or tiny pry bar (some tabs need to be lifted on the piece called the "adjuster positioned". Everything can be put back together on the upper basket assembly with no tools except the adjuster lever (metal bar in front that raises/lowers the upper basket) pivot screws. These take a tiny nut driver or wrench - I think it was 1/8th. Only the screws holding the rails to the tub and the under-counter tabs and trim piece need tools once the basket is back together. Great APP service, crappy Whirlpool plastics.