We had a "professional" repair company look at our dishwasher. It wasn't draining completely. We could smell a burning electrical smell, it seemed to come from the control board at top of the door.

They said the drain solenoid had malfunctioned, and replaced it for some $280 (I now see I could buy that part for $31). 2 weeks later, the new solenoid literally melted. Now they say it is the control board and want another $200 or so. I refused, and asked for a partial refund of the first service call.

The owner claimed that there was no way they could have foreseen that the control board was bad too.. supposedly the board was leaving the solenoid activated too long, and thus it burned out.

I've gone ahead and bought a new dishwasher, but, as I now have the GE out and in the garage, it seems so simple to disassemble, and it is in perfect physical shape, the motor seems to work fine, no evidence of any leakage. It seems like a real shame to throw this away now, if it truly just needs a couple of parts (solenoid $31 plus the control board $88). I do own a number of rental houses, so it could be a good retrofit when the next unit in one of those houses goes belly up.

A couple of questions:
1) IS is true that the service guys couldn't/wouldn't have been able to foresee a problem with the control board as well as the solenoid?
2) Does it seem likely that I could solve the entire problem with the two parts I mentioned above, or should I cut my losses and visit the Craigslist FREE STUFF section?

Thanks in advance for the input

Phil A. Austin,TX