TexInWien
Grasshopper
| Joined: | Mon Nov 22nd, 2010 |
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My apartment has a built-in Whirlpool dishwasher that I suspect is from Ikea. This is a European model that's about 6 years old and has a built-in water-softener.
Symptoms:
When we start the dishwasher, it cycles on for a few seconds, then cycles back off. Back on, then back off. Wax on, wax off. It does this numerous times, sometimes many (20 or more) and sometimes, when we're lucky, just a few. It is definitely getting worse and worse, though.
When the dishwasher is on, the green power light is lit up. When it cycles off, the light goes out. Lights up, goes out, lights up goes out - you get the picture.
If I open the dishwasher door after it's cycled a few times, there is no water on the dishes - so no water's made it through the spray arms at this point.
After cycling on and off a variable number of times, it usually decides to start up. After it starts to wash, it sometimes decides to stop (maybe between different parts of a wash cycle?). When it stops, the green power light is on (no blinking), and we just need to open the door and re-close it in order for the dishwasher to start washing again.
I largely dismantled the dishwasher yesterday and did not find any traces of mineral build-up. The door latch seems to be working fine (plenty of pressure on the switch when closed).
I did not notice any water underneath the dishwasher (neither on the floor nor in the area where the motor and other gizmos are).
I disconnected the drain hose from the kitchen drain, and noticed that each time the washer cycles on and off, it drains about a pint of water. The drain hose does not seem to be impeded at all. There seems to be plenty of water pressure going to the dishwasher (cold water from the same line that feeds into the kitchen sink). I disconnected the hose at the water line and did not notice any blockage or mineral build-up on the mesh.
I removed the left-hand panel and the front kick panel from the dishwasher. I didn't notice anything amiss. On the left side, there is something I have seen described as a "water matrix" - an opaque, plastic vessel with different tanks and tracks where water flows through or collects. Somewhere online I read that a faulty "float reed" (tiny electric gizmo that looks a little like a fuse and is attached to the water matrix) could cause problems, so I checked this out, but it looks OK (is not broken or burned out like in the picture of a faulty float reed that I found online).
I started the dishwasher and watched the water matrix. Water and air came rushing in while the dishwasher cycled on, then stopped when the washer cycled back off. A mix of water and air was running pretty quickly through the track that turns a water wheel by the float reed.
I removed the matrix and checked for blockage at the connection points - again, very minor minerals build-up (light film that was easy to remove by just wiping it with a rag), but nothing like a blockage.
I checked the mesh at the drain pipe exit point - no blockage. I removed the hoses that run to the spray arms - no blockage. No blockage in the spray arms, either.
When the dishwasher finally decides to wash, the dishes come out clean and maybe an inch of water is left standing in the central, depressed tub, underneath the main drain filter - you can only see this if you remove the main drain filter that's flush with the bottom of the washing compartment - no water is standing in the main compartment.
Noise: The dishwasher has always been a little noisy, with a reasonably load buzz. I can't say whether this has gotten worse over time, or whether it's abnormally loud.
I'd love to get this fixed on my own. I'll take the thing apart again if someone's got a solid idea of what I need to do. Otherwise, I'm trying to decide whether it makes more sense to call a repairman or just buy a new dishwasher.
-Tex
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