My fairly new Frigidaire dishwasher (14 months old) recently stopped pumping water into the spinning arms. I diagnosed this as a busted pump motor by testing the resistance on the internal contacts on the motor (showed infinite resistance). Everything else worked, such as the drain motor and the heating element.
The motor was replaced (by me), only to show a different problem. Now the motor works, but it never stops. Once I flip the breaker back on and close the dishwasher door, the motor starts even though no cycle has been selected. If I start a cycle, the motor continues to run. It fills with water, and the pump pushes the water to the spinning arms during all stages of the cycle (heating, drying, etc.). As the cycle ends, the motor stays on.
My initial thought is that this was the original problem… my hypothesis is that the control module was the original broken part, and this caused the old motor to spin until it burnt out.
I’ve removed and inspected the control module, but I have no electronic experience so I see nothing of interest to myself. I was told that the “timer” might have a problem, but this newer washer (although cheap: ~$250) has no mechanical timer, only an electronic board. The whole module itself appears to be rather simple, relative to other electronic boards I’ve seen.
I post here to hear any alternative hypotheses before I assume mine is correct. Has anyone else had this exact problem? Could it be any other component?
I do not want to buy an $85 control module (after spending $160 for the motor) only to find out the problem persists. Should I just buy the module and hope for the best, or take a loss on the motor and buy a new dishwasher (which I should have done initially).
Thank you for reading my post.
P.S.: The unit was bought in August 2008, and it broke in October 2009. It has a one-year warranty, so that has expired.