Dishwasher repair question

Have a GE GDS1100G00WW Dishwasher.
The spray arm has come out of the bottom assembly. it looks like it pulled out of part of itself, leaving a "shell" sticking up from the bottom of the tub...
the new one has this "shell" as part of the assembly and it appears to screw in (has threads). DOes the tub etc have to come out to unscrew this thing and replace it, os does it just unscrew from inside the tub? Just need to know before I put elbow grease to it...
Thanks,
Dave

Maybe a stupid question, but doesn't it say that in the instructions for assembling that come with the new part you bought?

Haven't gotten the new part yet...
it will be here Tuesday

OK, hopefully it'll be writting in the instructions. Please let us know, and if not - we'll look for it together

It just unscrews. It actually holds the motor in place so when you install the new one, it may help to hold the motor up to expose the threads more.

Cobranut, welcome here It seems you had experience with this one. Thank you for your input. I hope you will enjoy our forum

Hopefully it will go smooth... part comes in today... will post this evening how it went

I appreciate that, thank you

Well,
Got the new one, no instructions. Old one wouldn't unscrew by hand, so I used a long screwdriver thru the slots in the side of it's housing to break it loose. Unscrewed it, cleaned things up and screwed the new one in, no problems at all.

Not surprising. GE D/W's can be as cantankerous as a teenager sometimes. Just a tip, every couple of months or so, take a cup of white vinegar and put it upright in the upper rack, run it thru a rinse and hold cycle. The vinegar breaks down any soap buildup so your rinse water will run clear.

n5xmt, I'm happy it went so moothly and it's fixed.

Cobranut, thank you for the advise. One of 'those' that are invaluable

Cobranut wrote:

Not surprising. GE D/W's can be as cantankerous as a teenager sometimes. Just a tip, every couple of months or so, take a cup of white vinegar and put it upright in the upper rack, run it thru a rinse and hold cycle. The vinegar breaks down any soap buildup so your rinse water will run clear.

Would CLR damage anything?
I've run vinegar thru it 4 or 5 times, along with the Jet Dry dishwasher cleaner (citric acid and vinegar) and I've still got the undissolved soap scum sticking to everything. When I was in there, I had to scrub the heck out of it and was getting HUGE chunks off everything...

Citric acid is the key. Before there was jet dry cleaner, we used to recommend Tang or go to the drug store and get oxalic (I think I spelled that right) acid to clean up buildup. My guess is what what your scraping off is lime buildup and CLR should take care of that without any problems. Just don't put in massive amounts, I do not know what a high dosage would do to your seals.

Well, still getting the white gunk all over everything even after cleaning/scrubbing etc... CLR cleaned it spotless though LOL.
Landlord decided it was old and noisy anyway and replaced it with a new maytag Quiet series 200 Dishwasher.
first 2 loads were good, but had like the Giant waterspot film all over the dishes. Remembered to buy some Jet Dry and filled the dispenser. next load came out with the really HEAVY white powdery deposits and the sand/concrete like gunk puddled on top of the dishes (like the glass bottoms...)
Could it be the Jet Dry doesn't like our water here?

Well, took a glass with HOT water, and added a couple drops of Jet Dry. Instantly it looked like a snow storm in the water and it turned very white and milky. appears it is precipitating the hard minerals out of the water so they can sit on the dishes. Am figuring out now how to empty the Jet Dry dispenser in the door...

You know, n5xmt, you can ask the people of the company why it is that you are getting these results here.

It would be interesting to know what would be their answer, so - in case you decide to approach them - I would appreciate it if you could tell us what they said

They seem pretty clueless... "We've never seen that before".
Decided to do some experimenting with other detergents... some people have said to use powdered detergent when you have hard water, and someone else recommended "Lemi Shine" as an additive.
Dissolved a little cascade powder in water, added the jet dry and no precipitate formed! ran the dishwasher with the cascade powder, and added a teaspoon of the Lemi-Shine to the detergent cup, and the glasses came out looking like new. didn't leave any spots/film, and actually removed what was on there!
The wife is running a load with just the cascade and no lemi-shine now, and will call me when it's done. I was using Electrasol Liquid detergent... guess I won't be doing that again. and it's funny, because they are the people that make the Jet Dry...

Maybe different dishwashers have different absorption systems for all the different cleaners.
Most important is that you found 'your' best working cleaner

How the Jet Dry (and other rinse aids work) is only a few drops are added at the last rinse cycle as a surface tension reducer to reduce drops from forming and drying or calcifying on dishes. Dropping Jet Dry into Cascade really wouldn't tell you much since the detergent would reduce the effects of the surface tension reducer. My personal opinion is that there was some sort of chemical reaction between the jet dry and the minerals in the water. All detergents have different chemical signatures which react differently with different water hardness, minerals etc. Surface tension reducers the same. I tell my customers to try a box of Cascade, then a box of Finish, etc, until they find what works best for them. You may have to do the same with your rinse agent. I would stay with powders they seem to work better. Just make sure your incoming water temp is at least 120 deg 140 is much better. Good luck, you'll find the right combination!