My dishwasher has always not drained completely after any cycle (light, normal, etc), but I've just gotten around to looking at it. I know that there should be *some* water at the bottom to keep the pump seal lubed, blah, blah, but after each cycle, there's enough water in the bottom to cover the element. I've never had an overflow, so either my overfill sensor is working properly or someone should tell me that, "that's how this dishwasher works." It drains completely (albeit slowly) when pressing the cancel/drain button, but I shouldn't have to go through this exercise after every wash. There are no obstructions in the drain lines or garbage disposal, I have no air-gap inline with the drain. I've checked everything from inside the tub (checked the chopper/screen and check-valve) and everything looked okay. Am I looking at a new drain motor or what? Is there a drain impeller or something else I should be looking at before the motor?

Joe, I've already checked the hoses--I installed the dishwasher a couple years ago and after a few days, I pulled it out to check on the slow drainage (checked all hoses, kinks, couplings, etc), and figured, "well, I guess this is how it works." I pulled all the hoses coulings apart to inspect for obstructions and found none.

I even ran the dishwasher out of the cabinet where I could visibly see that all hoses were not kinked or pinched and it still performed the same.

I told my wife that if I had to pull that *&^%# dishwasher out of the cabinet again without a fix for the slow drainage, we'd just get a (another) new one.

Just as a sanity check, if you'd describe how the water comes out of the drain for a dishwasher, you'd describe it as a garden hose on full blast, right? That's how all of my other dishwashers expelled water. This one has water trickle out, like you'd expect from an under-acheiving pump or kinked drain line.

The reason I ask is if the slow rate of drain is what's expected out of this pump, then, it may be a control board issue and at that point, I'd rather just invest the cost of the board towards another dishwasher.

Joe,

I ordered and replaced the drain pump a little while back and things seemed to be improved.

The dishwasher ran great for the first few days, then slowly started to get bad again.

The first sign was that there was lots of water in the tub again after completing a wash cycle, the second sign was the wash cycle was taking longer again and the third sign was that our dishes were not as clean as they have been in the past.

While I had some time, I spent a little more time poking around. The drain lines seems to be free and clear of obstructions.

The water now is even slower coming out of the drain line than it was before. You said that the pump should move a lot of water out quickly--30-45 secounds to drain a full tub--right now, it takes almost 6 minutes to empty the tub.

While watching the dishwasher drain, when the pump stops, water will retreat back down the drain hose and back in to the tub. If I blow in to the drain hose, I can force the water out of the drain hose and back in to the tub (I can also blow bubbles in the tub with the drain hose).

Could my drainage woes be a check valve issue? I've removed/cleaned/checked/reseated the check valve, but have little improvement in drainage. Could the check vavle be improperly seated and be blocking drain and also not stopping backflow?