This morning my dishwasher ran through an entire cycle, apparently with no water in it. After the cycle was finished we found that there was some condensation on the dirty dishes and a bit of steam in the unit, but it was pretty obvious there hadn't been much water in it. When I took off the kick plate, the first thing I found was the armature for the drain solenoid sitting on the floor. After messing with it for a bit, I figured that the solenoid is not engaging when the cycle starts so the drain valve is not closing and the water coming in is immediately draining out.

I tested the continuity on the solenoid and came up with 40ohms so now I'm not sure if the solenoid is bad or if it's just not getting any power. Also, the armature is barely holding on to the solenoid coil - almost as if it's pulled up further than it should be, but I can't tell if there should be another spring holding the armature down a bit further or not.

Before I go replacing the solenoid at $50+ is there anything else I should try first?

I've replaced the solenoid and the timer, but the problem persists. The drain valve isn't jammed or otherwise malfunctioning as the dishwasher fills fine when I hold it closed.

I checked the voltage across the wires to the solenoid through each click on the timer and mostly there wasn't any. There were occasional bursts of 1-2v and one up to about 40v.

Looks like the next part up the line is the relay. Is it possible for the relay to fail to activate the solenoid while providing enough power for everything else to work?

Pump & motor replacement parts for MAYTAG PDB1100AWE DISHWASHER- UNDERCOUNTER | AppliancePartsPros.com

Relay is item #45 on the pump/motor page. Looking at it again though, this is the start relay for the motor and shouldn't really have anything to do w/ the solenoid.

I did check the continuity between the timer and the solenoid and that was fine.

Thanks.

I own this dishwasher and it is the biggest piece of junk. My problem may be similar to yours.
What mine does when started is it fills , then its supposed to wash, but skips the wash and drains. The strange part is that it is intermittent. Sometimes it does it in the beginning of the cycle, in the middle of the cycle, or even worse, throughout the cycle or it runs through the cycle without any problems. You can't even add a dish once the machine has started otherwise it seems to throw the whole cycle off also.
Last year I spent 35.00 on a brand new timer, and it still done the same thing. The only reason I invested money into it is because I been renting the house and my landlord did not want to be bothered about taking care of the problem. The house has been sold to me, and its on its way out now. I am just curious as to what is actually wrong with it. It has gotten to the point in the past year and a half where I would just run it right before I left the house so I didnt have to listen to it and get aggravated. Half the time the dishes were still dirty. Now that I own the house, I am replacing it with a whirlpool. I cant wait for it to come