Kenmore Elite Dishwasher

My Kenmore dishwasher has worked diligently for the last 8-9 years without complain. However, in the last month or so, my little helper has not been washing the dishes well. The dishes on the top rack never get washed, and the ones on the bottom sometimes are dirty as well.
After a little 'research', it has come to my attention that it may be a simple part to be replaced. The symptoms are very consisten on all other websites and forums where people talk about the dishwasher problems....the top rack of dishes is not washed and food is allover the place.

I disassembled the interior of the dishwasher to see if some parts are broken or missing, and i found two things wrong, that seem simple enough to fix.

The first one is a part called "the chopper", which was broken. The Chopper consists a metal grill and blade with a plastic shaft. The clip that retains the metal part to the shaft can no longer hold the parts on the shaft since the plastic on the shaft was eroded probably due to heavy use. Because of this part not doing its job,  some food was stuck to the chopper grill, clogging the supply of water to the upper part of the dishwasher.

The other problem was that the spinner at the top of the dishwasher was missing completely. (but somewhat not significant)

I went online to this place were they have lots of appliance parts and i check out the parts that i want to replace, then total comes out to a fraction this with shipping and tax included. Now what remains is to replace the parts and test. not bad considering that i thought about replacing the damn thing all together for about $300+.

Replacing the parts was a snap but it took me an additional 30 mins because i decided to replace the door gasket as well.

The door gasket had been showing signs of wear and tear. One problem that i found was that once replaced the door would not close, it kept opening by itself. i read some more about this problem on the forums and solved it by soaking the gasket in hot water for about an hour, and putting it in place and i also replace the strike just in case.

In the end, with all the parts replaced, and the door not opening by itself... everything seems back to normal. All that for about $43 total, some patience and spare time.