Kenmore Dishwasher Troubleshooting assistance

[[email protected]]

The problem I am having is that the dishwasher will not spray the water
around the inside. It will fill (although it will not fill enough to
cover the filiment anymore), it will drain, it will heat up but it will
not throw the water around inside and therefore will not complete a
cycle. I have taken off the water inlet valve and tested continuity and
even took it to a shop and they confirmed it worked. I have taken the
entire motor and pump assembly apart and cleaned everything as I
thought the crud in there was making it not work. Disgusting job by the
way.... After doing all of that...the problem is the same. When i get
to the point in which the cycle should start throwing water around
inside, I get a noise like like an electrical load being put on
something. Its like if you put a load on the motor and were strong
enough to hold it from turning....After I turned the sucker back off, I
felt the motor and it was almost hot enough to burn my
hand.....hmmm...what do you think??????? How can I test it? If it is
the motor, it sounds like it is getting electricity to it but maybe it
is functionally broken....i dont know....

Please....help....

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

The problem I am having is that the dishwasher will not spray the water
around the inside. It will fill (although it will not fill enough to
cover the filiment anymore), it will drain, it will heat up but it will
not throw the water around inside and therefore will not complete a
cycle.

How is your water pressure? Has it changed recently?

Many dishwashers have a floating limit switch that cuts off the water when
the water pushes the float up. You should be able to find this fairly easily
and test it by moving it up and down. After being sure power is
disconnected, you should be able to test the switch with a volt-ohm meter
set to the ohms resistance scale and hooked to the terminals of the switch.

Are the water feed/drain hoses cracked, kinked or blocked?

It is also possible that your dishwasher is shutting down before the water
fill has completed because of the problem you mention below with the motor.

After I turned the sucker back off, I
felt the motor and it was almost hot enough to burn my
hand.....hmmm...what do you think??????? How can I test it? If it is
the motor, it sounds like it is getting electricity to it but maybe it
is functionally broken....i dont know....

First off, BE CAREFUL. If you elect to work on this dishwasher yourself,
bear in mind that you'll be working on an electrical motor that is working
in close proximity to water. If something starts leaking or spilling water
on around the motor, just stop, disconnect power and wait until things dry
before trying again.

That said...

Is the motor in any way jammed or stuck? Can you get to the motor shaft and
turn it?

If the motor shaft will turn, then you might have a bad motor start winding,
start switch or connection causing problems. The motor could also simply
have a shorted winding. Look around for any loose, disconnected or burned
wiring connections.

If the motor shaft won't turn, or seems to be very stiff, you'll have to
figure out why this is.

Pump seals can also go bad on a dishwasher. When this happens, the motor
usually takes a bath and burns up. (I've seen this happen, and it usually
smells terrible when it does.)

If you can connect the motor to power and safely manage to turn the shaft
while it is supposed to be running, what happens? If the motor starts, then
you've most likely got a bad start switch or winding.

William

 

[[email protected]]

I have an old Lady Kenmore 180 degree hygienic rinse model dishwasher
and something you said rang a bell with me. You may not be getting
enough water into the dishwasher and the noise you hear is the pump
sucking air. There is nothing to sense if there is enough water before
it starts washing. The float switch is only a safety switch to prevent
getting too much water. The timer energizes the water valve for a
certain period of time and it depends on water pressure and flow to get
enough. Mine kept burning out the heating element because is was not
gettin enough water to completely cover the element. There is a very
fine wire mesh strainer in the input side of the water valve. Mine was
stopped up with sand and red clay and limiting the water flow. I
removed the stainer and threw it away. That was about 25 years ago and
it's still working. The only other trouble I have had was to replace
the water seal on the motor shaft twice.

Start the washer and when you hear the water valve cut off open the
door and see if the water covers the top of the heating element. If it
doesn't fix that first.

Van