Recently this dishwasher's main circulating pump failed due to a bad seal letting water into the motor windings. We came home from errands to find the washer making an electrical humming noise (which turned out to be the motor seized). I replaced the motor/pump. The dishwasher ran fine for a couple of days, and then went dead. No lights, no nothing. In looking over the diagrams I've found on line (I do not have a repair manual) I see there is a fuse in the control panel. I have taken the fuse out and tested it. It seems to have blown (it doesn't look like a normal fuse, so it's hard to tell, but it's continuity is zero). The question is, could the strain put on the electrical system as the motor sat, seized, but with power turned on, humming, have weakened the fuse, so that it woul blow a few days later? My repair job on the motor/pump is not leaking water. When I rewired the plug (had to take the wires out to get the washer out of the counter) I did not pay attention to polarity, since it's AC. However, the "fuse" looks very much like a diode. Could wiring the AC backwards (even though it's supposed to be non-polar, there is usually a "hot" and "common") have caused the problem? Green ground wire is wired properly.... Help! These fuses are 20 each. I don't want to experiment too much!

Thanks so much for the detailed replies. You are correct in regard to your clarification about continuity v. Ohms. It reads zero continuity, and obviously infinite ohms.

I did see the wiring harness that goes along with the fuse. I will replace the whole thing when I get the parts tomorrow (Wednesday morning).

It is reassuring in an odd way to hear that sometimes they just blow. I didn't really screw up any wiring, I don't think. It's pretty difficult to do that, since everything is color-coded, and plugs together with plugs that won't let you plug them in backwards, but there's always a worry when you've just replaced some parts and now fuses start to blow. Especially at 20 bucks a pop. Thanks for the tech sheet! If a simple fuse replacement doesn't work, this will help me isolate the problem. Fingers crossed that it's just a fluke. I'm a little surprised that when the motor was straining and seized, the fuse didn't blow then, but hey, weirder things have happened.

Thanks Much! I'll drop a note when the job is complete.

I replaced the fuse, using the entire "kit". It's interesting that the wires in the upgrade kit are of a thicker gauge than the originals. I assume that the wires in the original design would warm up, and cause the thermo-fuse to pop prematurely. So far so good. Dishwasher runs fine. Fingers crossed for the long-term.

Thanks again for your assistance!