DU2JV Magic Chef Dishwasher - Instructions

The dripping water was coming from bottom right side of the door, almost directly beneath the detergent dispenser. Looking closely at the drips, I could see that they were coming from saturated insulation that is between the inner and outer door layers. I took the inside piece of the door apart and sure enough I could see water had been getting through the door latch and running down the inside of the door. I could see that the grommet around the door latch was cracked and brittle, so I replaced it and was pretty sure that would resolve the problem. But when I put the door all back together and did a test run, I had a leak even bigger than the first, but this leak appeared to be through the door seal at the bottom right. I then ordered a new door seal, which took only 5 minutes to replace and resolved the leak. I think the old door seal was too worn out at that spot and just by removing and replacing the inside door layer, it must have not made a good seal at that point. But I recommend starting with the door latch and grommet first, since that is a $4 part, and then proceeding with the door seal, a $43 part, only if necessary.

I took off bottom front and kick plate. Retrieved the spring which had flown to the rear of the unit. Cannot pull unit out because the trim piece on the counter top was put in after the unit was screwed to the underside of the counter. So... I noticed that you could move the plate the bottom of the spring hooked into by unscrewing a long quarter inch hex head bolt and bring the plate forward where I could hook the bottom of the spring into the plate. I had first hung the door spring linkage on the door (looked at the opposite side to see how it was arranged) then onto the top of the spring. The difficult part was keeping the bottom of the spring in its hole in the plate while moving the plate back in place. After I got it past the flange where the bolt screwed in, I screwed the bolt in and pulled the plate back to match the opposite side distance which put tension on the spring. The door now works. I am fortunate to have my husband's tools available.

I disconnected the dish washer and pulled it out. I laid it on its back, unplugged the electrical wires,removed the electrical magnet and pried the shaft seal out with a flat screwdriver. I gently packed the new seal into place with the flat screwdriver. I connected the electrical magnet and wires. I then installed the dish washer and ran it through a cycle. I am pleased to say the dish washer does not leak now.

Turn off power, remove the lower kick plate and lower trim panel with the nutdriver. The float switch is in the front on the left. Remove the two wires on the switch. Use a #1 philips to remove the one screw holding the switch to the frame. Remove switch. Install wires on new switch and install switch using the screw. Be sure to get the plastic float arm under the switch. Raise float and observe the switch clicking on and off. Replace lower plates and restore power.

***BEFORE STARTING BE SURE TO TURN OFF THE POWER!!
THE SPRING TENSION WAS GONE THAT WOULD KEEP THE DOOR FROM FALLING. KEEP IN MIND THERE IS A DOOR SPRING AND LINKAGE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE DOOR. SO BUY 2 OF EACH AND RETURN THE ONES YOU DON'T USE. IF YOU REPLACE THE LINKAGE ON ONE SIDE YOU MIGHT AS WELL CHANGE THE OTHER ONE SINCE IT'S ONLY A SMALL PLASTIC PIECE.
FOR ME THE SPRING WAS GOOD - ONLY REPLACED THE LINKAGE. REMOVED THE PANEL AT THE BOTTOM AND THE 2 SCREWS THAT HELD IT UNDER THE COUNTER TOP. I DIDN'T DISCONNECT THE WATER BUT WAS ABLE TO PULL THE UNIT OUT JUST ENOUGH (10 INCHES OR SO) TO GET TO THE SPRING. HELD IT IN PLACE WITH THE VISE GRIP SO IT DIDN'T FALL BEHIND THE UNIT. FYI - YOU MIGHT HAVE TO ADJUST THE TENSIONER ON THE BOTTOM IF YOUR SPRING TOOK A WALK WHEN THE LINKAGE BROKE. BE CAREFUL PUSHING THE UNIT BACK UNDER THE COUNTER. TOOK ME ABOUT AN HOUR AND SAVED SOME MONEY

ordered new gasket, watched the video that was in the order conformation on how to install which was very easy to understand. the actual installation was right on the money. Thank-you.

Removed front access panel
Disconnected water supply
Pulled dishwasher out approximately 1 foot to gain access to spring linkage
Connected new spring linkage to spring, connected other end of spring linkage to door
Tested operation of door
Slid dishwasher back into place, reconnected water supply and front access panel

I pulled the unit out its bay and saw that one spring was missing. I looked up the parts online and ordered replacement springs and linkages. Using the existing spring and linkage as models, I easily installed the new parts. I ordered spare parts in case the other linkage broke.

Assumed that the door gasket needed replacing so I went to Partselect.com. Ordereed the gasket and was about to check out when I noticed the comments from others. Decided to look and was glad I did! Almost everyone said that the gasket on the soap dipenser latch on their door gasket repair was bad also so I ordered the latch gasket too. Parts arrived in only two days. I was amazed.
I started by turning the power off at the panel box, then removing the door gasket and cleaning the gasket groove. Then it was a simple matter of pushing the gasket into place, avoiding stretching or compressing it. Removing the gasket and putting in the new one was only about 3 minutes work - however cleaning the groove took somewhat longer. Then unscrewed the 7 torex screws on the interior door plastic panel. Carefully work the panel free, study the solenoid to see how it pops out and it attached, remove the solenoid and the panel is free of the door.
Examine the interior workings of the soap dispenser to see how it all fits. The remove the two hex head screws with a nut driver and carefully remove the assembly. Notice how the latch gasket fits with its boot in the notch on the latch base. The old boot was completely torn from the gasket base on mine. I cleaned accumulation of soad and crud from the mechanism and from the interior side of the door panel. Put it all back together in reverse order. The cleaning took longer thna the actual repairs.
Thank goodness for the comments - saved me a ton of aggravation!!! Partselect.com rules!

Removed 2 each screws from counter top. Pulled washer out 1'. Installed springs and linkage by hand with door closed. Push washer back reinstalled 2 screws.

Access to the soap dispenser is easy just screws. One of the two hex head screws that hold the mechanism assembly is buried by a lever and required a with a special offset wrench, I used bent needle nosed pliers to loosen and remove the screw quarter turn at a time. The blocking lever was a snap-in and maybe could have been removed with high force, not generally recommended for 14 year old plastic parts. In hindsight I would use a digital camera to record the mechanism, due to a absence of any detail cartoons of the assembly. The lever arm load spring required tweezers to remove and re-install.

From other comments on this site, I learned that 2 people fixed the problem with a new door gasket; 3 fixed the problem by replacing the dispenser latch. I tried the gasket and it helped some (obviously needed replacement anyway) but then learned that the rubber boot around the soap dispenser latch was torn into two pieces. Replaced it and good-to-go.

At first I tried putting the spring into the lid where the shorter extension of the spring fit tightly into the recessed part of the lid. (If you look at the lid where the hole is for the spring and pin, you see that there is what looks like the arm of the letter "Q".) This worked, but the lid would only open with limited force and would hang down when the dishwasher door was closed.
After looking at it again, I positioned the spring so that the shorter extension of the spring ran through the partially open portion of the spring hole. (Looking at the cup laying flat on the ground, you see that the bottom of the pin/spring hole has a slit in it). This allowed the spring to have greater tension and I have had no more problems. The lid opens with force and stays closed when the dishwasher door is closed (vertical).
This may be a little confusing as I do not know the technical terms for any of this stuff, but I just mess with stuff til it works or breaks, whichever comes first! haha

After checking out the mechanism, I realized that the wax motor which operates the dispenser was no longer working. I conatacted Part select and on the second day, on a Saturday, Fedex delivered the little wax motor. I simply separated the front panel with the inside panel with 7 screws and a 1/4 inch nut driver. I slipped out the old wax motor, unclipped the two wires and slipped in the new motor. Attached the wires and put the panels back togehter. Voila, the dispenser works perfectly.
Total time, 15 minutes.

USED A STAR SCREWDRIVER TO REMOVE THE LOWER SCREEN THEN REMOVED THE SUPPORT NUT BY HAND REPLACED THE LOWER SPRAY ARM & SCREEN WORK BETTER THAN EVER.THE ONLY NEGATIVE WAS THE PART TOOK 10 DAYS TO ARRIVE .