Whirlpool WPW10195677 Grommet OEM Part

3 year old Kenmore dishwasher leaking from bottom of dishwasher down a plastic shaft actuated by a rectangular electrical unit (diverter valve motor). I called ApplianceParts Pros and they told me it was the rubber grommet located in the sump housing that seals the water from leaking down the diverter shaft. I ordered the part (W10195677) and watched the video they had showing the repair procedure. When I started the repair I found the inside of my washer was somewhat different from the video since the video was a Whirlpool dishwasher. I called to confirm how to disassemble the pump housing to get to the rubber grommet. I first removed the diverter motor & shaft from the bottom of the dishwasher by removing 2 star head screws & squeezed the plastic clip to release & drop the diverter assembly. I then removed the bottom wash arm from inside the washer by turning the cap counter clockwise; then removed the spray mechanism that attached with metal clips from the top arm & back arm and pulled the assembly to the right to withdraw the tubes sticking into the bottom pump assembly. I then removed the strainer basket & the sump cover by releasing plastic retainers & rotating the cover counter clockwise. The diverter is a round plastic disk w/ a hole that diverts the water. The rubber grommet is under the diverter disk. I removed the grommet w/ needle noise pliers & cleaned the grommet cavity, then installed the new rubber Grommet with the sealed side down. You should be able to see the metal spring retainer inside the grommet from inside the washer. Next I installed the diverter motor from the back bottom of the washer and then went back inside to install the diverter disk. This allowed me to install the diverter assembly without having to try to align the diverter motor shaft spline to the position of the diverter disk. I then re-installed the interior components and ran a short test cycle. Success!

I took out the lower and upper baskets from inside the unit. Disconnected the water supply and drain hose from under the sink, opened the door, unscrewed the dishwasher mounting screws which held the dishwasher to the cabinet, removed the black plastic kick plate cover under the door, screwed in the feet a little to be able to rock it over the flooring lip. Pulled out the dishwasher. Unplugged it. Tilted the dishwasher on its side in front of the opening, and unplugged the 2 electrical connections at the impeller motor - they have little clips you push with your fingernail as you pull on the connector. Unscrewed the 2 torx head screws holding the plastic motor housing and pulled off the housing and motor. When you pull it out there is a hole a shaft fits into, and you can see the grommet when the shaft is removed, this is what was leaking by, but you cannot remove the grommet from underneath. I put the dishwasher back on its feet, opened the door and let it lean on the lower cabinet faces. With the baskets out, the unit will tip under the weight of the door alone. I removed the bottom spin arm by rotating the plastic 'nut' directly under the spin arm - just a slight turn counterclockwise and it pops out. Took out the filter basket and plastic filter plate. There was a few cups of water in the sump, I bailed that out. Next, I had to remove the water piping that was connecting into the top of the sump housing. First I removed the 2 screws - one mid-way vertically in the back wall, the other in the overhead slightly back behind the spinner in the ceiling. Then pulled / yanked one of the 2 water supply assemblies (the one that fed water to the 'turbo clean' sprayers in the back wall, and the other which fed both the upper rack spinner, and ceiling spinner. Set these aside and removed the sump's center cover circle by lifting the latch and turning the cover counter clockwise. This pops out with about 1/8th turn. With the impeller shaft out, the white disc about 2" in diameter is loose under the cover - it has a keyed shape, the impeller shaft and this key have to mate. With the white disc to the side, I could see and easily grasp with needle nose pliers the bad grommet. Pulled it out. Observe the orientation of the grommet, one side has a bevel to it - when you replace it, make sure the bevel stays oriented like the one you removed. Pushed the new grommet into place – it fits snug. I closed the door, put the unit back on its side, and replaced the impeller motor housing, and reconnected the 2 electrical plugs into it. Turned the dishwasher back on its feet and now I saw the last 1/8” of the shaft sticking up through the grommet hole. I placed the 2” disc onto the keyed shaft end, and then went backward reassembling the components and moving the unit back place. This fix worked for me and the leak that had been going on for who knows how long was no longer dripping. This is the video that helped me the most to get to the grommet: https://youtu.be/CQ3hlJAS9M8

At first I thought I needed to replace the motor - so I picked up one of these: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/part-number/W10476222/0022/665 Turns out the motor was fine, the grommet was simply worn/stretched out. Note: I have hard water and so I assumed that cleaning build-up off the diverter motor shaft and putting pool lube under the grommet would fix it. No dice. Save yourself some time and just order one of these. Here's the other trick: This grommet is steel underneath the rubber. Putting the new one in is easy. Getting the old one out first is hard. I had to effectively tear the rubber out of it (from the inside) after removing the diverter motor from the outsside..and then use a M10x1.0 tap from my tap and die set to dig into the inner (lower) flange of the steel inside the rubber. Hope this helps!

3 year old Kenmore dishwasher began to leak from the underside in the vicinity of the diverter valve (white assembly near the center of the unit). Some FAQs and recommendations I found online said to replace the sump assembly, which is fairly costly. However, in my case it was the shaft seal on the diverter valve. The diverter valve has a shaft that passes from the underside and up into the wash compartment. The shaft seal/grommet prevents water from leaking past the shaft and onto the floor. I first removed the diverter valve assembly from the underside (two Phillips screws). Then, from the inside of the wash compartment, I removed the spray arm and couple of plastic bits to expose the grommet. Using needle nose pliers I removed the grommet, and pressed the new grommet back into place. When removing the grommet make note of how it comes out because there is a top and a bottom side to it. Reinsert the diverter assembly from below, then reinstall the plastic bits from the inside. Done!

I could not understand how or where the leak was coming from. I could only see that the water was falling down from the motor. I notice other people with the same problem and read what they did, and tried the same. Shut off the electricity, turned off the water supply, undid hoses and wiring, pulled the dishwasher out, inside the dishwasher took out spinner and water dispensers and filters. Then I laid the dishwasher on its back and took off the motor. Then put the dishwasher upright again and back inside took off the round plastic part that held the water dispenser things, and another white round disc; underneath this was the grommet that was the problem and it was also very hard to get it out. Once out, I put in the new grommet, put everything back together, and NO MORE LEAK!!!