GU1200 Noisy Motor - ApplianceBlog.com

moliver · #1 December 10th, 2005, 10:17 PM

I want to share my experience with my 3 year old Whirlpool GU1200 dishwasher. The motor started making a loud humming noise a few weeks ago. This particular dishwasher has the Quiet Partner III sound package so it is normally very quiet. Called the repair guy who came out and had a listen and basically said "It is not that loud. I would just live with it becasue it will cost to much to take it apart and diagnose". His response sent me over the edge. Like many of you, I am getting fed up with short warranties and bad customer service from these companies. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started my dishwasher up with the "Quick Wash" cycle and laid on the floor with flashlight and watched the motor and sump housing and listened. First thing I noticed was it only made noise during the wash cycle. It drained fine with no noise. I could hear the wash arms turning inside the tub and the dishes were clean at the end of the cycle. Also, I could see water leaking from the area where the motor attaches to the sump housing. Why didn't the repair guy notice this? My guess was that water had gotten on the bearings inside the motor and washed the grease out.

Next, I pulled the unit out from under the counter and took the insulation off so as not to damage it. I tipped the unit onto it's back so I could get a good look at the underside. I noticed dried soap on the outside of the motor where the motor connects to the sump. I detached the motor from the sump then detached the motor from the impeller assembly. Sure enough, water had been leaking onto the motor bearings. I ordered a new motor from appliancepartspros.com today.

Taking the motor and sump assembly apart was remarkably easy and doesn't require advanced knowledge. The best thing is to take pictures along the way of wiring connections, shield locations, etc. Also, http://www.appliancepartspros.com/pa...odel_id=264071 offers great exploded views of the motor and sump assembly.

The only question that I have at this point is what type of grease is used to line the tub opening where the sump seal sits?

I will post an update when I get the motor and do the installation. Here are a few pics:

This is a view of my GU1200 tipped on it's back. Notice the white crusty soap residue on the motor casing ( near the bottom of the pic).
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...1&d=1134284254

Motor and sump assembly after I removed it.
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...1&d=1134284254

View of the impeller assembly. The impeller threads onto the motor shaft and is hand tightned to form a seal with the "volute". The volute is the larger white disk with the arrow on it and is below the impeller. The impeller mashes against a seal on the volute as you hand tighten the impeller. I suspect that either the seal on the volute has failed or the impeller was never tightened down enough to form a good seal.
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...1&d=1134284254

View of the motor shaft. The bearing is visible and is very rusty and dirty. It should be dry and clean. The impeller threads onto the shaft.
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...1&d=1134284254

Had to take the motor apart to get a grip on the shaft from below so I could loosen the impeller. There are 4 screws that hold the top part of the motor to the bottom part.
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...1&d=1134284254

***Jake*** · #2 December 11th, 2005, 01:12 PM

Hi,

Great job on taking matters into your own hands, Some service techs. don't seem to care anymore about finding problems anymore, its a sad state which makes there companies look bad, which makes us techs. all look bad.

I have changed many, seems like hundreds, of these pump/motor assemblies over the last 5 yrs. I always just change out the complete assembly, as its less time consuming, but what you did is fine.

I always just use liquid hand dish washing soap, like Palmolive, or Joy to lubricate the rubber seal, so its easier to mount into the tub.

Here is the pump(sump)/motor assembly for your dishwasher:
Circulation pump & motor assembly

Jake

moliver · #3 December 17th, 2005, 08:48 AM

Jake,

Thanks for the advice. It took me about an hour to re-assemble the dishwasher and about a half hour to hook it up again. It runs like a champ. The only surprise was that the new motor was an LG brand.

Thanks again

***Jake*** · #4 December 17th, 2005, 07:46 PM

Good job on fixing it moliver!

Thats interesting about the motor being a LG brand.

Thanks for the update,

Jake

***ApplianceJunk*** · #5 January 5th, 2006, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake

Good job on fixing it moliver!

Thats interesting about the motor being a LG brand.

Thanks for the update,

Jake

I'm seeing LG on more and more parts.

LG use to be Goldstar?
Is that correct?

***Jake*** · #6 January 5th, 2006, 11:05 PM

Yes, LG was Goldstar, They are located in South Korea, where Samsung is as well.

Jake

cake1 · #7 January 30th, 2007, 08:37 AM

Hi Jake,

I've seen the question a couple times but I haven't seen it answered. Do you need to take the whole unit out to replace the circulation pump and motor assembly?

Also, I know you said that you replace the whole thing because it's less time consuming but the difference in price between just the motor and the whole assembly is about $50. Is it really a lot more work to just change the motor?

Last, you mentioned that you've probably changed hundreds of these over the last few years. Do you think it's a bad design or is there some common reason that you've seen why they go bad? I think the newer Whirlpools use the same assembly (at least the gu2400).

My unit is 4.5 years old and I've already replaced the heating element. I don't know if it's worth the effort to try myself. I use a repair person that I trust but he quoted me over $300 to do it and I'm leary when a new unit is only $100 more. My repair person said he's recommending GE's these days. Do you have an opinion?

Thanks!

Chuck

***Jake*** · #8 January 30th, 2007, 08:16 PM

Lots of the complete assemblies I replaced was also due to a recall a couple years ago too. But Whirlpool sells alot of these, and this is only a fraction that are bad that need to be changed on models without the recall.

Yes, I find it better to just change the whole assembly, since they work together anyways.

Here is a cheaper price on these pump/motor assemblies:

Jake

cake1 · #9 January 31st, 2007, 04:30 AM

Thanks Jake. The main question I have is do you have to take the whole machine out from under the counter to do this job?

Thanks,
Chuck

cake1 · #10 January 31st, 2007, 05:29 AM

Nevermind. I found this link to the service manual in another thread.

www.applianceblog.com/manuals/pointvoy8178022.pdf

Thanks,
Chuck

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