Fan mail from the UK. Yeah, we bad, we WORLD-wide!
From: Richard, UK
Subject: When you were offline (via LivePerson)Your article “Bosch Dishwasher Takes Forever to Complete a Cycle” was absolutely spot on, right down to the pin to re-solder. A fabulous piece of detective work, Sifu! Many thanks.
Best wishes,
Richard
BTW, here’s the article that Richard refers to with such lavish praise.
From: patty
Subject: When you were offline (via LivePerson)Hi there. hope you can help me. I have a kenmore dishwasher that is having drainage issues. it was draining slow so my husband rather than first checking hoses for clogs decided to take apart the assembly inside the dishwasher that spins and sprays the water on the dishes. he got it back to gether but now it doesn’t drain at all. there were 2 little white balls that he couldn’t figure out where they go. i’m guessing that might be the trouble. we did check the hoses and there was a clog that is now cleared. the model number is 655-16765691. I would apprieciate any help you can give. thanks
Patty
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Sounds like you’re wrestling with the flavor of Whirlpool dishwasher (despite the “Kenmore” label, your dishwasher was manufactured by Whirlpool) that has the famous PowerClean module. These are the nuclear bomb of dishwashers and were some of the best dishwasher pump assemblies ever made. All dishwashers made today are limp-wristed little bedwetters made to comply with the Gubmint’s Energy Star requirements– for more about this, see my narrowly-acclaimed screed, “Any Good Dishwashers Today?”
Anyway, if you are fortunate enough to have one of the venerable PowerClean beasts, then it sounds like hubby has misplaced his balls… the two little check balls you referred to in your email, that is. Eh hem. The correct placement of these check balls in the pump assembly is muy grande essential to the proper water pressure development and distribution in this machine. I won’t bore you with the details here because it’s all spelled out in this repair forum topic, complete with annotated and custom-made illustrations. Go git ’em!
In mid-June, Asko Cylinda AB of Vara, Sweden, recalled about 130,000 dishwashers that contain an electrical component, which can overheat, posing a fire hazard. The firm has received 21 reports of dishwasher fires. Product or property damage have been reported. No injuries had been reported.
The recalled dishwashers include the Asko model series DW95 with model numbers 1355, 1375, 1385, 1475, 1485, 1555, 1585, 1595, 1655, 1805, 1885, or 1895 manufactured from January 1995 through April 2000. The model number, serial numbers and manufacture date are printed on the name plate on the right interior side of the dishwasher door. Asko dishwashers manufactured after April 2000 are not included in the recall. The products were sold for between $750 and $1,300.
Made in Sweden and imported/distributed by AM Appliance Group Inc., of Richardson, TX, consumers are advised to contact Asko at (866) 309-9921 to arrange for a free inspection and repair or to participate in a rebate program. More information: www.askousa.com or www.cpsc.gov/
cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07213.html.
As we say in the trade, “Asko? Oh NO!”
To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.
Lynne wrote:
I bought a DD603 (dishwasher) today which is to be delivered July 30. Now having found this website I’m scared to death that I should cancel the order for my Fisher Paykel and get something half the price.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
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I’ll answer your question about dishwashers with an astute observation from Samurai Apprentice Grizzly, a brother-at-arms in the ancient craft of Appliantology:
Observation 3. Appliances, like most consumer products, have a sweet spot at which the best long term value can be derived by purchasing items towards the middle of the price scale. Sure don’t see many catastrophically expensive repairs with 600 to 1000 dollar Whirlpool washers. Can’t say the same about Sam’s Club spec GE appliances nor for many uh dem der fancy pants Yourapeen brands.
Amen.
And let us conclude this sermon with a quote from the Samurai Scriptures:
There are no good dishwashers today. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Yea verily all doth sucketh and fall short of the glory of the Samurai.
— Psamurai Psalms 14:3 (Shogun Tanaka Version)
Right about now you’re nodding smugly to yourself and saying, “Yeah, uh huh, planned obsolescence so the manufacturers can rip us off and line their pockets.” You wanna know the real reason all dishwashers today suck? Go look in the mirror. While you were out clamoring for a new gubmint program to wipe your kid’s bottom or some other inane activity that government has no business getting involved with, the felons in the District of Criminals passed yet another “mandate” requiring that all dishwashers comply with their Energy Star requirements. As if we can just pass a law and, walla!, all our energy problems will be solved. What they’re really saying is that you’re too stupid to be trusted with even having a choice about what type of dishwasher you want: a robust, long-lasting energy hog like yo momma used to have or a limp-wristed bedwetter that uses less energy but that you’ll be fixing or replacing every two to four years. How much energy does that save?
Yet another appliance recall notice *yawn*.
According to CPSC, this recall is due to a faulty liquid rinse-aid dispenser. Apparently, the dispenser can leak rinse aid onto the dishwasher’s internal wiring which can cause an electrical short and overheating, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Read the sordid details ratcheer.
I wonder how much of this is just hype. OK, how many of you have actually had your dishwasher catch fire because of this? Raise your hands. No one? Yep, sounds like yet another gubmint make-work project to me.
Something else verrry interestink about this recall is that it sounds suspiciously like the recently-announced Maytag and Jenn-Air dishwasher recall, which was for the exact same reason!
Hmmm… even though all the manufacturers are in bed with each other, seems like we’re the ones getting screwed. 
Whirlpool dishwasher
Need to reset control board
Run Rapid Advance.
(click for larger view)
2.3 million Maytag and Jenn Air dishwashers are being recalled for a very real fire risk. Apparently, the rinse aid dispenser can leak onto internal wiring causing an electrical short circuit and, in some cases, fire. It’s already happened to 135 unhappy Maytag owners. You could be next! More info here.
This recall comes right on the heels of Whirlpool’s recent purchase of Maytag. Interestingly, Whirlpool investors don’t seem too concerned– Whirlpool stock just keeps going up. I wouldn’t buy any just yet, though.
If the Clean Light is blinking seven times on your Whirlpool-built dishwasher (this includes Kitchenaids and most Kenmores), this excellent video from Whirlpool Corporation explains the causes and how to troubleshoot it.
Recommended Reading:
Another post on this specific issue.
More on Whirlpool-built dishwashers.
Order parts for your dishwasher.
To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.
…other than that, it works great! And it sure looks sharp filling in that big gap in the cabinets. What’s that? You say you’d like it to actually wash dishes, too? OK, I guess we can talk about that after you try cutting power to the dishwasher for at least 15 minutes. If, after restoring power, it’s still just an expensive cabinet filler, then we go to DEFCON 3.
From the genuine GE service manual for this dishwasher:
The DRYING LED will flash and control will beep when the sequence switch is not reaching its target position within 30 seconds:
1. Check connections between sequence switch and control.
So, in other words, GE’s recommended corrective action for this problem is to first try replacing the sequence switch. If that fixes it, great! Go pop a cold one. If not, wel-l-l-l, now you get to throw another part at it: the control assembly.
Are you smelling the real problem here? It’s not merely that something’s already broken on your two-year old dishwasher. It’s the fact that 1) GE designed a dishwasher with such convoluted controls that 2) even the engineers who excreted this future landfill ornament don’t know enough about this problem to be able to give any better instructions than just, “Throw this part at it; if it’s still broken, then try this other part.” [sniff-sniff] What’s that smell? 
At some point, the electronic controls on your GE dishwasher will go squirrelly and you’ll need to troubleshoot them. How do I know this? Because GE dishwashers, along with just about every other dishwasher on the market today, violate the 5th Law of the Prophecy; repeat after me, “Electronics and wet appliances do not mix.”
OK, so the day of reckoning finally arrives and your GE dishwasher shi’ites the bed. First thing you gotta do is locate the dishwasher’s tech sheet. Every, and I mean every, GE dishwasher is shipped with a tech sheet. The tech sheets are carefully hidden in the dishwasher body to keep homeowners from finding them.
So, let us attend to the sage instruction of Jedi Appliance Guy on the proper technique for locating and extracting the tech sheet in your GE dishwasher:
Take out the 4 1/4 inch screws that hold the two parts of the service panel in place. Lay down on the floor on your left side and look under the dishwasher. You’ll notice there is a piece of sheet metal lining the underside of the tub.
The tech sheet is tucked between the tub and the sheet metal on the right side of the machine toward the front. Grab the sheet with your left hand.
Now suppose you go and search for the tech sheet as instructed but you still can’t find it.
“But, Samurai, my dishwasher never came with one!”
Yea verily, Grasshoppah, this is bullsheist that doth stinketh in my nostrils. If the dishwasher has never been serviced by anyone other than you, then the tech sheet is indeed there, you just ain’t lookin’ hard enough.
If, on the other hand, your dishwasher has been visited by a “professional” appliance tech and you really, really can’t find the tech sheet, then that can only mean one thang: the sorry sumbeech done stole it from you! 
You should always use the specific tech sheet made for your exact model number. For example, if you have a GE Quiet Power III, Model GSD5610D02AA, and you just can’t find your tech sheet, you can borrow my copy (just be sure to return it):
You can order a replacement tech sheet for your model directly from GE for a nominal fee.
HELLO!
YOU ARE A GOD!
I just logged onto your site and fixed my F&P dishwasher (there was water in the pan)
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I LOVE YOU!
HAHAH
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Bless you, my son.
I went on a service call for a three-year old Miele dishwasher; the complaint was that water wouldn’t enter the basin. Miele coded the call as warranty unless the problem was customer-induced or caused by external factors. After some preliminary troubleshooting, I found that the water inlet hose had been attacked by a rat!
Naturally, this job was re-coded to COD since Miele is not responsible for rat attacks. 😆
BTW, this is typical of service calls on Miele dishwashers– most problems with these dishwashers are customer-induced.
The other unique aspect of this call, which is typical for Miele but no one else, is that the manufacturer was willing to cover this under warranty *if* it was an internal part failure even though the official warranty had expired two years ago. That’s pretty cool. Of course, this excellent engineering, construction, and support all come with a price– expect to pay at least $2,000 for a Miele dishwasher. Now, let’s zoom out to the more general case of all appliances and brands…
Y’see, Hoss, the deal today with all major appliances is that you can either pay more up front for really good stuff or you can buy your wannabe Bosch, Sub-(standard)-Zero, mediocre Kitchenaid, cheesy Frigidaire or whatever, and then pay-as-you go for repairs. The appliance industry average for the “big brands” is that you’ll be doing some type of repair every two to four years; the only real variable there is how big the repair’s gonna be. For example, will you be replacing the compressor in your Frigidaire refrigerator in two years (this is common) vs. replacing the compressor start relay in a Whirlpool refrigerator (again, common). The difference is hundreds of dollars in parts and labor costs and, in the latter case, is a repair that most do-it-yourselfers can easily do themselves… if they can figure out what the problem is in the first place. But, lucky for you, that’s where I come in… and may even be why you’re reading this right now. 
If your dishwasher is leaving film and gookus deposits on your dishes after running through the cycle, the problem is most likely one of three things: 1) insufficient water fill in the basin, 2) poor draining between cycles, or 3) your water is too hard.
Come, browse through all my pearls of dishwasher wisdom.
MESSAGE SENT THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE
name = tiny grasshopper
country = USA
comments = i just pulled some serious grasshopper samurai moves on my dishwasher.and the sweet sound of spraying water is my reward.
thank you. great site!
Congratulations, grasshopper, you have earned a green belt in Fixite Do. 
Other grasshoppers reading this post may wish to browse all my dishwasher pearls of wisdom for that rare and exquisite morsel of appliance minutia.
If your GE dishwasher isn’t draining, this cheat sheet will step you through the most common causes.
First check is underneath the sump entrance screen (item 4 in this thumbnail — click for a larger view). Remove the one or two screws on the cover to remove and check for gookus– anything that shouldn’t be there. Many GE dishwashers have a self clean filter (item 3) inside the basin, at the back. The draining water must pass through a plunger in the self clean filter body. This can get clogged up, or the plunger may twist and distort and not allow the draining water to get past. The filter can be removed from the inside and the plunger will twist out of the self cleaning body for testing/checking. For additional information on this filter plunger/piston check valve assembly, see this post. Part link for the piston check valve assembly is ratcheer.
The next obstacle for draining water is the back flush valve (item 2 in this thumbnail– click for a larger view). This valve can twist or distort and block the water flow as well. You’ll need to get to the drain port to check this flapper valve– it simply untwists from the self clean filter body. All hoses between the items mentioned above and the drain hose itself all the way to the house plumbing should be checked for restrictions.
Some newer GE dishwashers have a separate drain pump and motor; the older models, however, used a drain solenoid valve (item 1 in the above thumbnail). If this solenoid fails, the dishwasher won’t drain, plain and simple. If the solenoid cannot pull in the silver plunger, the drain port will not open to allow the motor and pump assembly to drain the water out. Use your ohm meter to test the continuity of the solenoid coil. You should also test to see if it’s receiving 120vac when the dishwasher is supposed to be draining. For help using a meter to make simple electrical measurements, see this post.
Some additional phun photos for you to gaze upon lovingly:
To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.