The Virtual Repairman's Appliance Help

[cabinfever]

dishwasher is very loud( normally very quiet). It lasts through the entire wash. The washer is only 3 years old.

[Virtual Repairman]

Ok, so it is noisy and only 3 years old. Noise in a dishwasher while it is running can be one of 2 things:

1. A bad motor bearing or pump impeller, or
2. Some small insignificant object has gotten down into the upper pump area and is making noise.

Objects that I regularly find are broken glass, toothpicks, plastic bumpers from cutting boards, screws from pot handles...the list goes on and on.

Motor bearing failure is almost always accompanied by some traces of water leaking under the motor and pump. It behooves you to open the lower panel and take a good look there. The next step is to take the lower wash arm off, then remove the cover from the pump housing so you can inspect this area thoroughly. Likely as not, you will find something drifting around down there causing the noise. With todays plastic pump designs, any small object sounds like a 747 when it gets trapped in the pump.

Start looking around at these 2 areas and report back what you find. The usual repair on this model is a broken impeller, which is inexpensive and easy enough to repair. It would be item #22 in the exploded view of your pump below.

[Virtual Repairman]

On your behalf, I have added the Whirlpool Dishwasher Manual to my list of online references.