Dishwasher is stinky, filthy, and not fully draining

Dishwasher Repair
1

My dishwasher has been stinky. The inside is quite dirty, far more than it should be. There’s a kind of brown slime on everything – mostly in crevices where the water doesn’t reach with full force, but some even on open surfaces. I’ve removed the filter that fits on top, above where the chopper assembly is, and it’s utterly filthy in there – I was literally grabbing handfuls of this brown slime. There’s also a small amount of water that didn’t drain, but you can only see it when you take things apart. There’s not enough to be visible in the bottom of the dishwasher when it’s put together.

Any idea what would cause that? I replace the chopper blade around two years ago, and I replaced the motor that drives it about 7 months ago – but of course, it could have failed again.

Thanks for your thoughts!

2

Reading other threads, it sounds like the water at the very bottom may be normal. The smell and filth, though, are a different matter. I’ve taken steps like running an empty cycle with vinegar, but that didn’t fix it. And it’s hard for me to imagine that the brown slime is normal either. If it were just a small amount of it in the crevices, then sure, but it was a lot.

But I must admit, if I were reading this thread, I might well not be convinced anything was really wrong… So, well, I don’t know.