Dishwasher Door Falls Open - How to Repair Heavy Kenmore Elite Dishwasher Door with No Tension

Dishwasher Door Falls Open - How to Repair Heavy Kenmore Elite Dishwasher Door with No Tension

Dishwasher Balance Link Kit: https://amzn.to/3l1GlAb

Has your dishwasher door suddenly become really heavy where it can't hold itself up anymore? This problem is actually easy to fix even if you don't any experience with dishwasher repair. And in this video, I'll show you how to replace a broken balance link which is the part that keeps the tension on the door.

Here's what happened to my dishwasher. Everything was working fine until one day I heard a loud pop when I opened the door. After that, the dishwasher door wouldn’t hold itself up anymore. And I was constantly dropping the door by accident because it would just slam open when I let go.

To see the problem, the dishwasher will need to be pulled out from the cabinet. There are screws at the top which hold the dishwasher onto the cabinet. These need to be removed. And underneath there are a few more screws to take out in order to remove the cover plate. Mine is a Kenmore dishwasher but yours may have additional screws that may need to come out so check around the edges. Sliding off the cover plate will reveal the electrical and plumbing connections underneath.

On my Kenmore Elite dishwasher, I made note of the model number to help me find a correct replacement part. At this point slide out the dishwasher from the cabinet. This should be done slowly because we don't know how much slack is in the wiring and connected tubing. But don't worry, the dishwasher only has to come about half way out.

Immediately the problem with the door should be apparent. The cord has separated from the upper part of the balance link connector. The plastic got brittle which caused the cord to snap off. Normally this cord is secured tightly to a plastic arm. And in the back, the other end of the balance link has a large spring attached to it.

Replacing the balance link is really easy to do with a replacement part from Amazon for about 13 dollars. The kit I got actually comes with a pair of balance links for replacing both sides if needed. The package contains two pulley assemblies and two cords. Comparing side-by-side, I was able to confirm I ordered the correct part.

And now it's a simple matter of swapping out the old broken one. Just lift off the broken plastic arm. It has a little channel in the middle. The new part then slides on the metal hook. At this point, I can detach the old cord from the spring and throw it away.

For my dishwasher, I’m only replacing the cable on this side because there isn’t anything wrong with the large pulley assembly. The new assembly does have wheels on the top and bottom but I'll just leave the old one in place since it's not broken. You can decide if you want to change yours out. The cable is then fed through the circular parts in an S shape.

Finally, hook the spring to the back of the dishwasher frame and the repair is complete! It now has constant tension on it whether the door is open or closed. With 2 functioning balance links, the dishwasher door is again able to hold itself up in any position. There's no more heavy dishwasher door!

Last step is to slide the dishwasher back in, secure it to the cabinet and the job is done! There's no need to call a repairman because I've listed the parts here in the description so it's easy for you to find. If this video was helpful, please give me a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on all my DIY repair videos!


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