Loud noise maytag dishwasher quiet series 100

Hi All,


I have had a Maytag Quite Series 300 for some years now and have done basttle with it on may occasions. I now consider myself somewhat of a veteran, although by no means a repair expert!


Grinding Noise: From either a clogged/blocked impeller or not enough water getting to the impeller.
For a clogged impeller, it is fairly easy to disassemble the washer to get at the impeller to remove any debris or blockages.
For not enough water it can be a number of things. First of all, you will notice that the noise lessens if you add a jug or two of extra water. This is because if the water level is too low, the pump impeller will get some air mixed with the water & this is LOUD! Now for the causes:
Float – If the float gets stuck in the wrong position (debris or water deposits), it will not fill enough.
Float Set Wrong – Seems thats some of these dishwashers have the float set a little too low to let the dishwasher perform without grinding. A few pennies attached to the float with a rubber band seems to help here. Don't go too far or you'll flood your kitchen!
Timer – Some folks have mentioned that dishwashers that fill on a timer will not fill enough in the allotted time, if the water pressure is low. While this is true, I have looked over the electrical & parts diagrams for the QS300 and I do not see a timer listed anywhere. Also, the wiring diagram appears to show that this dishwasher only uses the float to achieve the correct water volume. I could be mistaken here.
Note that in VERY hard water areas (like mine – TDS of 850 hardness or 49 Grains), the plastic fins on the cover of the impeller get very choked up with water salts and this can impede flow, leading to a low-water symptom, when in fact, there is plenty of water.


Dishes Not Cleaning:
Poor Water Flow – See above, all the above items will negatively impact dish cleaning.
Poor Q uality Detergent – After trying them all – Yes, all – Do not use cheap detergent. Buy the brand names: Cascade or Electrasol work well. I have found that by far, the little packs work the best. We found that the liquid works second best and the dry stuff really isn't up to the task at all, no matter which brand.
Spray Wands Catching – We found that our lower spray wand was catching on the bottom of lower dish tray, so I very slightly bent down the legs that the wheels mount to in order to lift the dish tray/basket a little and give the wand a little more room. This worked well.
Spray Wand Nut Too Tight – The factory seems to send the dishwasher out with the nut on the bottom spray wand tightened a little too far. Loosening this a little bit lets the bottom wand rotate much more easily.
Top Spray Wand Not Meeting Receptacle – The top spray wand is attached to a pipe that mates with a port (well, one of two ports, depending on if you have the top rack in the “Upper or “Lower” position). The pipe seems to have a tendency of missing the port. A well placed elastic band will help here. Note that on our dishwasher, by the time the first elastic band wore out, the pipe had been permanently moved to the correct position by the gentle pressure.
Tines/Dish Holders On Top Rack Falling Over – The tines (metal spikes) that hold dishes on the top rack fold down by design. Issue here is that they do it sometimes during the wash, causing the dishes to fall over and block the spray. A few well placed rubber bands help here as well.
Water Salt Buildup – If you live in a very hard water area, you can still get clean dishes from yor dishwasher. We do and we have VERY hard water. Buy a gallon of vinegar once a month. Pour this into a clean dishwasher. Turn it on so that it runs for 2 minutes to circulate the vinegar. Open the door & let stand over night. Close door & finish cycle. This will cut down significantly on the hard water salt buildup in the washer.
It's A Maytag – Sorry folks, it's true. I have learned (after purchasing the dishwasher) that Maytag has run into financial difficulty in recent years and has reduced build quality to save money. If you got suckered into buying one of these, you will very likely never buy one again. My opinion is “Do not by Maytag.”


Hope this helps someone!

I have a Maytag "Quiet" Series 100 having the symptoms of getting loud than soft than loud... like a vibration or grinding sound which occasionally goes away. After opening up the washer and finding no glass or plastic remnants I began to suspect that the noise is coming from lack of water flowing up into the to the impeller pump - that is - if the impeller pump doesn't get a good steady flow of input water, you get cavitations (water with voids or bubbles in it) which causes all kinds of nasty noise. In my machine, there is a food grinding blade at the bottom, then above it, a metal grinder plate with holes in it and above that the impeller. I found the grinder blade to be perfectly flat. When I removed this blade and tested the machine, it went totally quiet. So, the fix was simple. I gave the grinder blade a slight twist (shaping it like a propeller so as to push water upward towards the impeller pump). When I mean slight, the twist is barely noticeable. You need to know which way the motor rotates - you can figure that out by looking at the impeller pump fins. Anyways, I popped everything back together and the machine sounds totally normal now.

I had the same problem my dishes got clean but it was very loud. I took the inside apart and found that there was a plastic bread clip down where my grinder is I removed it and so far so good.

Added water as per Fingaluna's post...Instant quiet! I will be checking the float tomorrow. I can't believe I've been putting up with that awful grinding noise for so long! When this dies, no more Maytags for me...

My Maytag Quiet Series 400 just started being loud when cleaning. I followed the steps here and found a plastic forign object under the impeller area. It was probably the culprit, because it is working now.

Follow the advise of Fingaluna below. He has it right. I tried his advise and it worked. No more noise. Clean dishes. A gallon of vinegar is a lot cheaper than a new dishwasher. My hard water ate my first dishwasher; the Maytag is the replacement. I'm like you - only use it one every couple of weeks. I had the same noise; also dishes were not getting clean. One vinegar treatment, and all is well. I am very grateful to Fingaluna!