[psterino]

A few weeks ago we noticed a foul smell when we opened the door after running the dishwasher. I found some smelly dishwasher gunk built up where the door hinges are, and subsequently scrubbed every place I could access. There was quite a bit of gunk. I also rinsed it several times with vinegar and with baking soda, but the smell keeps getting worse.

Today I removed the hub cap and sprayer - the sprayer arm does not appear to be clogged. There are several screws preventing me from getting below the strainer. When I stuck my head in there, the smell was really bad. Our repair guy charges $70 just to show up, and I can't get any more detail about what the charges will be. What can I do?!?

[Gene]

Do you have the air gap on top of the sink or the drain hose is connected straight to the garbage disposer?

Gene.

[psterino]

Gene, thanks so much for helping me out. The air gap goes to the top of the sink. We pulled off the cap, and tried pouring some water down it, but it doesn't drain unless we ram a long wire down there.

[Gene]

Are we talking about the same device?

The Air gap

Gene.

[psterino]

Yes, we're talking about the same device.

The hose goes from the air gap on top of the sink to somewhere at the bottom of the dishwaher.

[Gene]

Remove the toe panel and check for a died animals under the dishwasher.

Disassemble the top of the pump as described in the tech sheets. If there is nothing wrong then remove the dishwasher from the cabinet and check the drain line from one end to another.

Gene.

[psterino]

Will do. I'm not looking forward to seeing what's in there, but I hope it solves the problem.

[Gene]

Keep us posted.

Gene.

[psterino]

Yesterday afternoon my hubby and I bravely took apart the dishwasher. Bottom line, there was soft tan stinky crud all over in there - the sprayer arm, strainer, all the parts we could access had gunk built up wherever there was something to cling to. We cleaned it all off and got it back together and working (yea!). But the smell is not completely gone.

Is it normal for a dishwasher to build up crud, or does this point to something not working right? Could there still be crud in the hoses that we can get at? Or will the smell keep getting better now that we've cleaned it out?

By the way, we don't leave a lot of food particles on our dishes, but we don't pre-wash them either.

[Gene]

It is very important what kind of soap did you use.

You can use white vinegar to clean the dishwasher.

You can learn how to clean the dishwasher and how to choose the right soap from one of our previous posts: How do I take remove strainer/ Clean heating element?

Gene.