The Samsung DMR78 dishwasher has been a good dishwasher machine for our household except the top rack quick release hold-tabs broke off and went into the waste pump. I tried to fix by going in from the top mechanical area inside but had no luck. A quick search brought me to the this link on how to fix this common problem.
To get the broken rack tabs out, the washer needs to be pulled out and placed on its side to clean out the waste pump. Here are the tools that I used.
- LED Flashlight and a look around mirror
- Flat blade (big and small) phillips screw drivers
- Block of wood and a pry bar
- Wire ties and a clippers
- 5/8″ wrench
- Pliers
- Level
- Towel for water
- Blanket or floor protection for lay the washer on.
Oh ya… do this at your own risk. I am not responsible for anything you do wrong. Haha
Start out by removing the bottom skirt and the two countertop screws. Unplug from the wall or shutoff the power to the dishwasher at the breaker box. Disconnect the waterline with the 5/8″ wrench.
The important part of getting the washer out is making it easy to level it when you put it back into the cabinet space. The picture above shows you the white front leg levelers. They are white and plastic. I used a combination of the pry bar and my hand at the top of the washer to push up on the washer. Once up I used my fingers screw the white leveler legs up. Be careful, the entire bottom is plastic and it brakes easily.
Do not lower adjust the back plastic legs because it will make re-installation leveling harder. Next, lay the dishwasher on its side so the bottom can be opened up. In the next set of pictures you can see the gray waste line and the washer’s bottom. Use a phillips screw driver to remove the two screws. Gently use the flat blade screwdriver to pry the cover off.
The waste pump that I am pointing to in the picture above is where the broken tabs go. All the grinding noise come from that pump. I originally hoped they would pass out the drain, but when you look inside the gray tube, you can see that they will never make it past the ball valve inside the tube end.
The next thing to do is open the waste pump. At first look it appears to be a solid unit. I used the mirror tool to check out both sides. There are two simple snap clips that hold the magnetic induction motor on the plastic shaft. Use the small flat screw driver to carefully release the electric motor. Remember the plastic on this washer breaks every easily! Once the electric motor is off, there is a small clip molded in the plastic on the waste pump. Carefully release it and turn the shaft 1/16th of a turn counter-clockwise. It will pop open and the plastic rack tabs will fall out.
The last picture above shows the broken tab in the waste pump. Reverse the tear apart process and set the washer back on its feet. Slide the washer back into the cabinet and level it out front to back and side to side. For side to side I used the top door and for front to back I used the bottom rack track. If it is not level, the computer will not let it start. Screw the counter top tabs back into the same hole they came out of.
Next, I hooked the water back up and turned on the power. Before I tested it, I decided to fix the top rack brackets. What to use? Zip-ties of course. Check out the pictures on how I laced them around. It works good so far… Maybe I will buy new brackets some day, but at least the zip-ties will not go down into the waste pump.
I ran the dishwasher on the quick cycle and it was back to the nice quite dishwasher machine that it should be.
