If your dishwasher door isn’t latching or the dishwasher won’t start the dishwasher door latch is most likely the cause. In this article, we show you how to fix a dishwasher door latch. The dishwasher latch assembly doesn’t just physically keep the door closed. The latch assembly also tells the dishwasher the door is closed using a small micro switch which can fail.
To test a dishwasher door latch assembly using a multimeter follow these steps.
- Confirm that your dishwasher has been unplugged before starting. You may have to turn off the breaker if your dishwasher is directly connected.
- More often than not the door latch assembly is found inside the inner door panel of your dishwasher. You should be able to open the dishwasher door and unscrew the screws along the top part of your dishwasher door revealing the latch assembly.
- Examine the door catch and ensure it is mechanically activating the latch assembly switch.
- If the switch is being mechanically activated, then we need to test the switch for continuity.
- Set your multimeter to Rx1 and touch each switch terminal with a probe. The continuity test should show a reading of exactly or near zero. (You can also check continuity using the beeping mode that most meters have.)
- If your switch doesn’t show continuity when the switch is pressed, you will need to replace the latch assembly.
These are the steps to replace your dishwasher door latch assembly.
- Confirm that your dishwasher has been unplugged before beginning. You may have to turn off the breaker if your dishwasher is directly connected.
- Remove the inside door panel with a Torx screw driver or drill driver. Once you have the inside panel opened, typically you only need to take the top section off, so I would start there and work my way down.
- Unplug the wires attached to the door latch assembly. Once unplugged you may have to release locking tabs. Now you should be able to remove the door latch assembly.
- Now install the new door latch assembly. First plug the wires into the new door latch assembly and then Insert the assembly. If your dishwasher has a locking tab you will have to re-engage it.
- Reinstall the inside door panel and your dishwasher should be fixed now!
- Turn the electrical power back on and you should be washing dishes in no time!
If you would like a video on how to do this repair, I recommend this video. There are quite a few videos on You tube but this one seemed to be the most straight forward and highest quality.
