40641119 General Electric Dishwasher - Instructions

The motor seized up on my 1990 GE Dishwasher
Repair would cost 360. Replacement about 600
I ordered the motor and pump from PartSelect for 137..44
Remover the under counter washer (it‘s very light) and removed the water and drain line and disconnected the power. Turned the washer on it’s top to access the motor and pump and removed the electrical plug in lines, and the clamps holding the pump on to the connections. Replaced it with the new motor and pump, reconnected the electrical plug ins, added an adapter hose part, tightened the original clamps then reconnected the water, drain and electrical connections and reinstalled the washer. All in about an hour, The only glitch was the grounding screw for the ground wire on the motor. The screw was too long to tighten. Substituted the original shorter ground screw from the old motor, and that worked fine. Only used 4 parts from the large assortment of parts supplied.
Immediately ran the washer through a cycle, all worked perfectly.

First I removed the dishwasher from under the counter. I turned it onto it's side so I had access to the motor and pump underneath. I determined which version of the old pump I had. I removed the old part and easily installed the new motor/pump following the directions. It took a little while for the water to begin flowing when I started it back up. Eventually it did get going.

The repair went smoothly. There were actually instructions included with the parts, so that was nice. The only "gotcha" I found was that . . . after you take off the old food-chopper, you have unscrew the old impeller from the motor shaft. This was a bit difficult and you'll want some good pliers to do it. Don't worry about stripping where the food chopper screwed on-to, that part is attached to the impeller and there is a new one on the new impeller. When I re-installed everything onto the dishwasher, it rattled the first couple of times while the wear-ring was finding it's seat. Don't worry, that's normal. It went away by the third wash. I think I still have a small crack in the pump housing, though. The pump housing is two halves of molded plastic fused together along a seam, and I think the seam is starting to leak. It's about one drop every 45 seconds. I'm thinking JB Weld will fix it.

Disconnected the electrical, water supply and drain. Pulled unit out from under counter, tipped it on its side and replaced the motor/pump unit. tipped it back on its legs put it back under the counter connected the water supply, drain and electrical. All went well. The unit performs as it should. it took about two (2) hours without rushing through it.

I removed the front bottom panels to give me access to the Solenoid area. I did not take out the dishwasher from the cabinetry. I removed the screws holding the solenoid assembly and the C clip holding the hand fan shaped white nylon thing onto the valve shaft. I slipped these to the side. Then I cut through and removed the push on nut with a wire snipper plier. Then I used a knife blade tip to pick out the black seal. I then slipped the new seal onto the shaft, being careful that the flat side was outward, and slid it down the shaft and , with my fingernail, pushed it completely flush into position. The biggest challenge was the push on nut. It does not push on easily and must have the lips pointed outward. It required the use of a 3/8" diamater tube slipped over the shaft to tap the nut down the shaft. This caused the shaft to push into the pump housing, which caused the valve to bind. So I used a vice grip to pull out on and hold the shaft while I tapped the push on nut with a flat head screwdriver. Then I just reversed the solenoid assembly removal. But , when I ran the dishwasher, it no longer leaked.

1. I pulled off the plastic end caps to the top rack that allows the roller wheels to be pulled out of the aluminum rails. You need to push in the raised edge of the plastic caps so they clear the rail slot in order to remove them. This takes a little bit of finger pressure or you can use a flat-edge screw driver to pop them out.
2. Once this procedure is completed, you simply remove the rack and rollers from both rails and remove the old roller wheels and replace them with the new ones.
3. I used a phillips-head screw driver to tighten up the rail wheels before re-installing the top rack into the rails and then re-inserted the end caps. Pliers are handy to help get the end caps back into the rail slots.
4. I finally used a silcon spray on all of the rolling parts of the top tray assembly for lubrication.

Old cap was already off and had string on it. Cut the string. Placed end cap over. Used needle nose pliers to open metal rail a little and put in new cap. Locked right in. That was easy. Thanks again.

Opened the package and screwed in the new rinse aid fill cap. No problems. It fit and works just fine.

I pulled the dishwasher out from under the counter. Loosened the collar holding the sump housing to the pump motor. Unscrewed the cover inside the base of dishwasher to release the collection opening of the sump. It's very flexible so I pulled it out by hand. Put the new one in and screwed everything back down. Pushed the dishwasher back under the counter. Simple Simple Simple.

Replaced door seal, right and left corner seals. Piece of cake. A five minute job.

Thanks

Pulled the basket out the appliance and took what was left of the roller off and replaced them and slid the basket back onto the slide channel into the appliance. Then snapped the end caps on. Almost too simple. Less money than it costs to have the service man ring your door bell.

Unscrewed 2 screws from under the counter, pulled out dishwasher. Saw where it was leaking. Took wires loose, took the rack out, unscrew the white mesh, took out the dishwasher sump housing product saw a crack and ordered the piece. For anyone out there make sure you turn the electric power switch off before you attempt to fix anything!!!!!!

I unscrewed the inside of the dishwasher door and clearly saw the old interlock switch. This dishwasher has two, but it was obvious that one switch worked and one didn't (one switched was permanently pressed in). I removed the old interlock switch. It was tricky to pull out and I felt like I was going to break it but after watching youtube videos, I was pretty sure you just have to pull hard. I easily put the new switch in, reattached the dishwasher door, and it works perfectly!

It was tricky to get the old rack off. Usually you can unclip the clips closest to the front wheels to pull the rack out. However, there is an area behind one of the wheels that you can kind of release and than pull the rack out. You then have to slide out the funnel/fan piece from the middle. That piece slides/ snaps in the middle of the the new rack. Then slide the new rack in place, re attach the release used to slide oldrack out.
That is it !!

To remove the upper rack, twist the support rail end caps toward the center of the machine and slightly downward. The caps will come off and you can slide the new rack into place. Reverse the process to replace the end caps. One of mine broke and I will need to order replacements.
The original rack is no longer available. The replacement, which is the only one GE offers, has less storage space and is not as sturdy. It bends downward when full. I am very disappointed and recommend not replacing the rack unless you have no other choice.