Introduction
Our Kenmore dishwasher stopped working. Replacing the electronic touchpad assembly fixed it. Good, used, replacements are on Ebay. Part numbers can help, but we selected it visually: it looked like the failed touchpad. It worked.
Update: ebay saved us twice! The used ebay replacement worked for 5 years, and failed. We bought another one on ebay, it works.
Tools
Parts
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This is the front of the Kenmore washer. It was actually made by Whirlpool, but sold by Sears.
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Sears appliance service came to my house (I paid them). I assumed the circuit board inside was faulty, but the guy said "no it's the touchpad". He had experienced this many times. When he looked up the part number he said it was obsolete. OK, "that means expensive, right?" - I said. He said "no, it's not available, ANYWHERE". :-(
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But going to ebay, and looking at dozens of replacement Kenmore parts, we picked one that looked very similar. We took a chance but for $40, versus a new dishwasher for $500, we did it. And: the seller took 30 day returns!
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Safety: Turn off the circuit breaker that powers your dishwasher. You might short circuit a wire and that would be bad.
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There are 6 screw to remove, that hold the touchpad and circuit board onto the dishwasher door. A Torx-15 tool removes them. They are the top 6 screws.
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I've circled 4 of them in Red here. There are 2 more on the left that match the position of the 2 on the right.
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There are more identical screws lower on the door, closer to the floor, but don't remove them.
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With the Torx screws removed, the touchpad along with the circuit board and the door latch will flop open. I used a stool about 3 feet high to rest it on. The wires from inside the door are attached, so it will dangle in mid-air without the stool. The stool makes it easy to work on the replacement.
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There is a black plastic cover over the latch mechanism and circuit board. There are 3 plastic tabs that hold the black cover in place. In the second picture, I have circled one on the left in Red. There are two on the right side. (the tab circled in Blue holds the latch mechanism, that's later in this procedure.)
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After removing the black plastic cover, the latch assembly is exposed. There are two tabs that hold the latch assembly in place, I have circled them in Blue.
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This is what it looks like under the black plastic cover you removed. The wires on the circuit board on the right must be disconnected.
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The wires to the latch mechanism on the left can stay in place. You just have to lift the latch mechanism away when we are ready later.
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On the second picture I show all the wires removed from the circuit board. I have matched the colored circles on the wire and on the circuit board to show where they get reconnected.
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It's not important, but the third photo, I was surprised to see that a Motorola CPU was used to control the dishwasher cycles. Seems like a lot of computer for a dishwasher.
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The flat green ribbon cable is how the (failed) touchpad sends signals to the circuit board. Gently but firmly pull up on the black connector to remove it from the circuit board.
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The other end of the ribbon cable threads into the touchpad case,
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The circuit board sets in a gray plastic "sled". There are two tabs on the left that hold the circuit board onto the touchpad assembly. Move them to the left and pull up on the circuit board. It slides easily out from the left side, there are no tabs holding it.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.