Fix a squeaking, sticking dishwasher rack

Our six-year-old Whirlpool dishwasher (similar to this model) has performed pretty well, except that recently the top rack started sticking and squeaking when we moved it in and out. Internet research suggests that dishwashers should last 10 to 15 years, so I hoped we wouldn’t have to replace it yet. I’ll share what I tried to fix the problem: a few solutions that only worked temporarily, and one that seems to have worked for good.

At first I figured that our dishwasher was suffering from the hard water in our area. Hard water is simply water that, for geological reasons, contains unusually high concentrations of calcium and magnesium. Hardness doesn’t affect taste or quality — in fact many people think that hard water tastes better.

The downside is that mineral deposits (known as limescale) build up on pans, tea kettles, plumbing fixtures, and anything else that regularly gets wet. We have a water softener to alleviate the problem, but it doesn’t entirely eliminate the deposits.

So my first step was to clean the rails and casters with a toothbrush, using a mix of equal parts vinegar and water. I’ve had success with vinegar removing mineral deposits from our kitchen faucet and sink, so I was crossing my fingers that the same would hold true for the dishwasher. However, while the vinegar cleaning made the racks shinier, it didn’t stop the squeaking and sticking.

Next I tried to grease the mechanism with Petrol-Gel, a food-safe lubricant. This is an old trick that a repair technician showed me on a previous dishwasher. I smeared some grease on the wheels and worked the rack back and forth. I got it to slide smoothly and quietly — for a while. In a few weeks, though, my wife gently pointed out that the squeaking and sticking had returned.

After doing more research, I came across this Finish dishwasher cleaner as my next possible solution. You remove the cap and place it upside-down in your empty dishwasher, then run an empty cycle. The bottle has a wax seal that melts and releases the cleaning liquid. The product claims that it “breaks down and removes lime scale and grease build-up inside your dishwasher.” I wasn’t so sure but if it worked it would be a cheap fix.

After running a cycle with the dishwasher cleaner, the dishwasher did look and smell fresher. And the rack worked better, but once again, only for a while. The easy fixes had failed.

At this point I should mention another problem with the dishwasher: the wheels on the rack have little plastic tabs holding them on, and I discovered that a few of those had broken off over time. Honestly, the wheels simply weren’t designed very robustly. Maybe those broken tabs, rather than the hard water, were making the racks slide with such difficulty.

So here’s the answer: I found that I could order replacements for what are called the rack adjusters (the brackets with the wheels) and install them on my current racks. I carefully picked a replacement set that said it was compatible with my model, had measurements that matched my current adjusters, and had good reviews. I have had mixed success ordering aftermarket parts on Amazon, but in this case that’s the approach that succeeded.

I had to go through several steps to take off the old brackets and put on the new ones. If you do this (or any similar multistep disassembly), I recommend taking pictures as you go for reference. I won’t go through exact details here because they would be specific to my dishwasher model. Mostly you need a slotted screwdriver to pop off the various retaining clips.

Once the new brackets were on, the racks slid in and out more or less like new. And I got an added bonus: those weak plastic clips that broke off of the wheels? Forgotten — the new parts have metal screws holding the wheels on. After a year, I still haven’t had any issue with them.

I still think it’s likely a good idea to clean the dishwasher occasionally with a vinegar solution, and to run a cycle once in a while with the dishwasher cleaner. And the lubricant can probably help in certain situations. In my case, though, I really needed to replace some parts.

Maybe these new adjusters will eventually wear out, but I suspect that by then I may need a new dishwasher anyway.