My Maytag Quiet Series 300 is possessed. Months ago, it just didn't start for me. Then it didn't start for other members of the family. When it wouldn't start for my husband, we called the repair man. Our usual repairman had a stroke and his wife referred us to someone else. He said it was wasn't closing properly, ordered a new switch, installed it, and it still didn't work. Then he said he didn't know what was wrong. It might be the motherboard, but by the time he paid for the part and installed it for us, we could have bought a new dishwasher. He said he would take it "for parts" and then give it to his brother-in-law and install any new one we bought for free, which tells me he has a pretty good idea what really is wrong.

My husband made me wash dishes for a month by hand. We would try it periodically, and suddenly one day it worked. We think it doesn't start when the soapbin is overfilled. We babied it, and it worked for the next 2-3 months.

Now it's back to not working. Anyone have any ideas? I figure we have nothing to lose trying to fix it ourselves, and my husband is very good with sensors and switches.

Yes when my husband gets home I know he has an electrical meter. What should he measure?