If you’re sick of having a dishwasher full of rank, greasy water, this thread from the Samurai School of Appliantology will show you how to get back into the flow.

The solution to this problem is so stunningly simple that if you end up paying for a repair, you’ll be kicking yourself in the booty ’till next payday. Piece of pie… IF you know the trick.

Got your panties in a wad because your slick new Kitchenaid dishwasher is running rapidly through the cycles and then turns off. Fear not, my feckless grasshopper, for the Samurai has the heard your wailing, kvetching, and gnashing of teeth. The wisdom you seek is here.

Went on a service call for a Fisher Paykel dishdrawer yesterday. Complaint was that the lower drawer would not start up. Diagnosis confirmed the complaint, the drawer would act as though it wasn’t closed all the way, would just give not-ready beeps when you closed it and pressed start.

I put the drawer into diagnostic mode by pressing and holding the Key Lock and Start buttons simultaneously. In diagnostic mode, I could review the current and previous error codes. Current code showed U2, drawer not closed error. The prime suspect in this case is always the drawer limit switch. On the DD602’s, the limit switch is located on the very back of the left drawer guide which means, you guessed it, the drawer needs to come out.

If you’ve not removed a drawer from a DD602, you’re in for a joy ride. This article has details on how to do it. Fisher Paykel has made several improvements in the DD603 models which have been gratefully received by Fisher Paykel servicers. The drawer linkage is chief among them. It’s actually not that bad, you just have to be patient and methodical.

Anyway, with the drawer out, the problem was plainly visible, as seen in the thumbnail photo below. Click it for a larger view.

Fisher Paykel DD602, broken drawer limit switch. You can see that the actuating lever on the switch has been broken and bent upwards, so it can no longer depress the switch button. Consequently, the dishdrawer’s CPU never knows the drawer is closed.

Did you put too much detergent in your dishwasher (or, more likely, the wrong kind ) and now your dishwasher has become a Wonka Wash? Several of the esteemed Master Appliantologists at the Samurai School of Appliantology reveal their secret foam-busting techniques.

GE is getting sloppy with the documentation on its sorry-ass appliances. In this case, it’s a GE Triton XL dishwasher that tripped the circuit breaker (model number GSD6600G00BB). This is one of those abortion-that-lived dishwashers with the over-priced, unreliable electronic control boards. Turns out the problem was that an undocumented surge suppressor in the water inlet valve circuit had shorted– this surge suppressor was not shown on the wiring diagram! How sloppy is that? Well, that’s GE fer ya.

And, here’s a tip: putting electronic controls in wet appliances is a great recipe for selling lots of replacement control boards.

Mike Gh wrote:

I have a 2year old Kenmore dishwasher that seems to be working fine except it does not clean the dishes on the top rack. What could be causing this?
Thanks!

Mike

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The most common cause for this in any dishwasher is insufficent water fill in the basin. More details and lots more info on this at this page.

Bernard wrote:

Over the past year, at least 3 GE Model ZBD4800 dishwashers in our condo complex failed to cycle properly and stuck on water. Water flowed from the dishwasher onto the floor and from there down the inside of walls to apartments underneath. We seldom use our dishwasher and after 5 months of non-use the timer control on our own dishwasher stuck on wash (water re-cycling inside the chamber). What are your thoughts on cause? preventive maintenance?

Thanks,

Bernard

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I think this is happening because they’re cheap GE dishwashers. When these condos were built, the contractor installed the cheapest appliances he could get. This is always GE because GE has a contractor’s discount program. Let’s face it: the builder doesn’t give a rat’s hairy hind end about the quality of the appliance, he just wants to get the damn thing built and sold at a tidy profit. And anything that costs extra cuts into his profit.

Enter GE appliances.

So that’s what you’re dealing with: cheap GE junk. Oops! Saying GE and junk is redundant, pardon me for repeating myself.

So, your dishwasher is leaving gookus and slime all over your dishes? Or maybe it seems like it’s just not cleaning as good as it used to. Before you run off and buy a new dishwasher and go through the hassle and expense of having it installed (or installing it yourself), take a minute and read this article because the chances are pretty good that it’s a simple problem with an easy and inexpensive fix. I know, I know, I’m always telling you to read something. But, unfortunately, the written word is the most efficient medium for transmitting information on the internet. Ok, hang on for another episode of literary excellence in appliance repair.

Start with the simple checks listed below. Notice that the first item is to check the water fill level– this is the most common cause for poor cleaning in your dishwasher.

• Check water level when the fill cycle has completed. Should be just under the heating element. If not, you may need to replace the water inlet valve.
• Check the water temperature. Should be 125 to 140°F.
• Check pump re-circulation. Listen: does it sound like it’s spraying the water around with enough pressure?
• Check the spray arm and pump cover for splits or leaks.
• Check to make sure dishwasher is draining after each cycle. There should only be a little water in the bottom of the tub.
• Make sure the dishes are loaded properly, or dishwasher is not overloaded.
• Possibly try a different detergent. Some liquid-gels will bubble and a pump cannot pump bubbles. Make sure the detergent is fresh.

To check your dishwasher fill level, start it up using the cycle you normally use. Listen to the sounds: the first sound will probably be the dishwasher doing an initial pumpout. Then that will stop and the dishwasher will start filling. Lots of times, you can hear the water running. Give it a minute or two to fill. When it’s done filling, the spray cycle will start. Open the door at this point and check the water level. There should be enough water in the tub to cover the bottom floor of the dishwasher. On many models, the water should just come up to the heating element. If there isn’t enough water, you will have cleaning problems, guaranteed.

The most common cause for insufficient water fill is the water inlet valve, like this one showen here. Replace it. Don’t freak out; this is a repair anyone can do with just a few basic tools. This repair rates two mugs on the SUDS-o-meter. And I have a folder full of email from people who considered themselves mechanically impaired who have successfully completed this and other much more difficult repairs with a little help from Fixitnow.com. Hey, that’s what Samurai Appliance Repair Man is all about: helping you discover your inner Samurai.

Here’s how to replace your dishwasher’s water inlet valve:

1. Get your dishwasher’s model number and enter it here to find and order the exact water inlet valve you need. Water inlet valves have different flow rates so be sure to get the right one for your machine.

2. If your new valve comes with any instructions, read ’em! If you’re confused about something, ask me.

3. Turn off the water supply to the dishwasher. The shut off valve is usually under the kitchen sink or in the basement or crawlspace near the location of the dishwasher.

4. Remove the dishwasher’s kickplates. The kickplates are usually secured with two to four screws at the upper and lower corners. Several examples are shown in the dishwasher section of the Appliantology Group.

5. Locate the water inlet valve, usually near the front of the dishwasher. You’ll see two terminals on the valve with wires attached to them, a water supply line (usually copper tubing) from the house, and a rubber or plastic water feed tube going to the dishwasher.

6. Disconnect the water supply line from the valve by removing the brass compression nut holding it in place.

7. The water supply line is connected to a brass fitting on the valve, usually a 90 degree elbow fittting. Remove this fitting. If you can’t get it out of the valve, go to the hardware store and buy another one for $0.78.

8. Remove the screws holding the valve to the dishwasher frame.

9. Remove the wires from the valve by grasping the metal terminal with needle nose pliers and pulling, working it back and forth if you need to. Do not pull on the wires themselves because you could detach them from the terminals.

10. Remove the water feed tube from the valve. You’ll see a small hose clamp that you’ll remove with a pair of pliers.

11. Reinstall the old brass fitting for the water supply line onto the new valve. Use Teflon tape around the threads to make a water-tight connection.

12. Ok, now just install the new valve in the reverse order of the way you removed it.

13. Turn on the dishwasher water supply and check for leaks.

14. Reinstall the kickplates, turn on the power, and run the dishwasher.

15. Pop a cold one and give yourself a pat on the back. Good job!

If you do end up buying a new dishwasher, this installation kit will make the job easier.

Recommended reading:

• Properly Loading a Dishwashwer
• Dishwasher Drainology
• Repair Revelations
• Common Problems
• Live Help

To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.

For most Bosch’s, this sequence will turn off the incessant end-of-cycle signal. If it doesn’t work on yours, consult the tech sheet in your dishwasher (co-located with the schematic):

• Open door, push and hold Delicate/Econo button, then turn the dishwasher on while holding Delicate/Econo button.
• Release Delicate/Econo button.
• If module beeps, then end of cycle tone is on. Press Delicate/Econo button to disable tone.
• If module doesn’t beep after button is pressed, then tone is disabled.
• Turn off dishwasher to save selection.

girlscout wrote:

oh holiest of appliance repair men. i have searched thru your infinite wisdom and found no answer for this question…how do i clean mineral deposits that have accumulated in my DW? (well water) . i read your advice to test the hardness and if too hard, get a water softener. oh, and what IS life?

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Fun Fact to Know and Tell: white vinegar dissolves mineral deposits. Can we apply this Fun Fact to your dishwasher? Let’s find out!

You can try this exciting experiment at home, it’s fun for the whole family! Start the dishwasher (without any detergent or dishes) and let it fill with water. Once it starts spraying, open the dishwasher door and remove a quart of water from the basin and add a quart of white vinegar. Close the door and let the dishwasher run through the cycle. When the dishwasher stops, open the door and… well, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you take a deep whiff, you’ll find out what life is.

P.S. — For a less exciting version of this experiment, you could use citric acid crystals instead of white vinegar. But then, you wouldn’t find out what life is.

I had the opportunity to work on a Fisher & Paykel DD602 dishdrawer a couple days ago. By the way, I’m a big fan of Fisher & Paykel equipment–if you ever have the opportunity to work on one, you’ll see why. The engineering is elegant in its simplicity. Well-engineered equipment is actually much easier to work on because they’ve designed serviceability into the product.

Anyway, the problem with this particular dishdrawer was that the top drawer (with an 11 minute wash) was giving an F1 error code after the initial rinse, about five minutes into the cycle. The F1 code indicates an overfill condition. One of the most common causes for an overfill fault is that the dishwasher cannot pump out the dirty water due to a plugged drain hose.

So, I put the dishdrawer into diagnostic mode and tested the fill and pumpout functions–everything was peachy. I ran the top drawer in a normal wash cycle and, sho ’nuff, the drawer faulted out on F1 after the first rinse. Well, Houston, we had a problem and it was time for the Samurai to break open a can of whup-ass on this dishdrawer. First thing I did was pull the front panel off the drawer, like ahso:

Fisher Paykel DD602 dishdrawer with the front panel removed.

With that front panel off, I pulled the wire harness connectors off the main control board (lower right-hand side) to inspect for gookus. None found–my quest continued.

The next step to remove the botton drawer from the unit so I could inspect the flood switch. In order to do this, I had to remove the wire harness cover on the underside of the drawer. This is what the underside of the dishdrawer looks like with the botton cover panel removed:

Fisher Paykel DD602 dishdrawer, looking at the underside of one of the drawers with the wire cover plate removed.

With the bottom cover off, I could unclip the wire harness, fill hose, and drain hose. Then I unclipped the linkage at the back of the drawer and lifted the drawer off the slider arms. All this to expose the flood switch, shown on the left-hand side of the bottom panel in the picture below:.

Fisher Paykel DD602 dishdrawer with the lower drawer removed. The flood switch in mounted on the base, left hand side.

After noting the positions of the wires on the flood switch and removing them, I unclipped the switch housing from the base panel. The switch housing contains one switch for each drawer. The switches are wired normally closed (NC) and each switch has three spade connections, so it’s important to note where the wires went. With the switch housing out, I could ohm out both switches and both checked good. I inspected the contacts and noticed that one of them was oxidized, evidenced by discoloration.

I had a flash-back to my Navy days and heard Petty Officer (AT1) Crowe’s voice in my head, “Here, take this ruby red eraser and clean off them contacts. That’ll restore the current flow for that circuit. Good to go, Sailor.” You gotta understand, Petty Officer Crowe was my technical guru in the Navy; he taught me many of the practical and theoretical troubleshooting skills that I still use today.

So I cleaned the contacts as instructed by Petty Officer Crowe’s mental image in my brain and reassembled the dishdrawer. I ran the top drawer and…no F1 error code! I ran it several more times just to be sure.

Good to go, Sailor.

Ahoy, mate! Check with your local plumbing codes to see what the specific requirements are for drain hose air gaps in your neck of the woods. In some areas, codes allow looping the dishwasher’s drain hose in a high arc up under the countertop as an alternative to installing an air gap. It’s also worth noting that you can plumb it anyway you want in your own house. The only time the plumbing code is a consideration is if and when you go to sell your house. But as long as you’re doing the work on your own house, you can do whatever you want with your property.

In my au fait opinion, air gaps are over-rated and too often installed when they’re not needed. And, you know, I’ve never seen a dishwasher actually suck water up from the drain hose. Sometimes, I suspect they get installed only to add to the cost of the job (if contracted out) or because the code requirements are not clearly understood.

For example, in a dishwasher that drains into a sink pipe before the p-trap (see Figure 1), the open sink drain serves as the air gap thus eliminating the possibility of getting poopy water sucked back up into your dishwasher. The dishwasher can drain directly into the sink’s trap if you don’t have a disposal. Replace a section of the sink drain’s tailpiece with a dishwasher tailpiece, which has a short T-shape nipple that connects to the dishwasher’s drain hose. Cut the bottom of the sink’s tailpiece with a hacksaw or tubing cutter and connect the new tailpiece with slip nuts and washers.

A common dishwasher drain hose scheme that doesn’t use an air gap is to run the drain hose from the dishwasher’s waste outlet to a tee above the sink’s drain trap or to a dishwasher inlet on a garbage disposal (sealed with a “knockout” plug that’s removed for a dishwasher hookup).

Air gaps aweigh!