I have a fairly older model dishwasher. I have noticed it is not washing the dishes. I have noticed the top rack does not even get wet. The soap just opens and slides down the door. The reason is the water. I was able to see the water come in the dishwasher when it starts. The water does not fill the bottom, but attempts to push the center arm up like a piston. I have noticed there is not even pressure to turn the arms or push water out. The water then cuts off and I hear it trying to suck or empty the water. Need help.
If I understand your post correctly the water does flow into the dishwasher but there is not enough of it.
It should fill to just under the heating element.
The most common cause of this is a dirty fill valve.
Shut the water off to the unit.
Remove the kick plate.
Remove the fill valve.
To minimize the amount of water spillage. Put a shallow tray under the fill valve then loosen the water in connection till it starts to drip into your container. When container gets close to full, empty it. You can usually stop the water flow out of the input line by just finger tightening the connection.
Still a good idea to have rags or towels handy.
When you look into the input side of the fill valve you will see a screen filter.
Check/clean it.
If it is clean I would replace the valve.
Do not permanently remove the screen from the valve as it is there to keep crud out of the valve which could hold it open and cause a flood.
Denman:
I did take the 4 bolts off the valve, and observe a small metal screen resembling a thimble. It basically clean. I hope i took off the right bolts. The bolts were directly obove the 90degree in the cooper pipe leading into the blue part of the valve? If you look at the valve picture Part Details - GE Valve water dishwasher, part number: AP2039339
I took of the bolts of the right side.
what are the changes of the valve being bad? the water does come in the dishwasher but stops after like 20 secons. The motor tries to push the water through the bottom arms, but it does not spin. Then i hear the the motor trying to either empty the water out or suck in water.
Denman:
I just noticed that i have some pieces of glass in the bottom of the dishwasher. and i also noticed there is a piece of glass in the arm on the bottom that swings. Help?
Denman:
I just removed the motor and some hoses and everything is clear. I put everything back together and turned it back on. The water came on and the pump seems to try to push the water up through the arms almost immediately, is this what its suppose to do? It does not try to fill, it trys to pump the water out through the lower arm almost immediately. Let me know?
You will need a meter to do this.
Set it to read AC voltage on a scale higher than 120 volts, usually 200.
Place the meter leads on the connectors going into the water valve.
Make sure they do not short to each other.
Turn the unit on.
When the valve is energized you should see 120 volts across the water valve.
If the water stops but the voltage is still there then it is a valve problem.
If you do not have any experience or are hesitant to fool around with voltage, you may be better off calling in a pro.
Denman:
Got a valve and put it on and not the problem. When I turn the dishwasher on the water starts to flow and almost within 8-10 seconds the center arm trys to push out water but cannot. Then the water drains. and it runs dry and does not fill with water.
Did you check that the water valve was getting power?
Let it start and keep opening the door often so you can tell what exactly is going on.
Usually on these units the pump is running while the unit is filling.
This is a GE so trying to get ant tech info is difficult. They like yo keep everything a secret.
I did not check to see if it was getting power I just put a new valve on. I have been watching the dishwasher when it is on. I am able to close the latch while the door is open. The water goes in and the bottom arm tries to almost start to spin. There is a lot of water that appears to be coming out from the bottom of the arm. The underside of the arm. But even then it trys to spin right away but there is not enough pressure. Then the water stops within 20 seconds and the discharged pump turns on and empties the water. No more water then enters the dishwasher.
I just dont want to put of 3-4-500 on a new one. These machines are not that complicated and look fairly easy to fix please help?
[COLOR=“Green”]the discharged pump turns on[/COLOR]
Could you check the parts link that I posted earlier, just to be sure it is the same as yours. I do not see a discharge pump in the parts.
Just the main pump/motor and a wash/drain solenoid to control those functions.
Is the water coming out, under the wash arms, coming out of a hole.
There should be a small flapper valve (Item 557 in Section 3), that closes this hole during wash.
If I do have the correct model as far as parts here is how it should work.
The wash /drain solenoid should be up. It controls a flapper valve in the pump assembly which either directs the water up to the wash arms or out the drain hose.
Cycle started
Water enters the unit.
Pump starts.
The water entering and the pump running may happen at the same time or may have an overlap.
It should fill to just under the heating element.
Water shuts off but pump continues to run as you are in a wash cycle.
At end of the wash cycle.
Wash/drain solenoid is pulled down. It is energized for a couple seconds and then the water pressure keeps the flapper valve closed till the unit is empty.
When the unit is empty, the springs on the solenoid pull the plunger up, back into the wash position and the unit fills again for the next cycle.
All of the above are just timed events.
Unfortunately the parts do not show the pump assembly. If you look down the throat (where the wash arms are), you will see the wash/drain flapper valve. Many of them have a hole in the center which has a rubber tip in it. Check that that i9s there.
If it is just a hole then some water can be pumping out of the unit when in a wash cycle.
If you look at the diagram water seems to come out right above#545. I am not home right now, but I dont see water coming out of the hole in the arm. I would have to double check. But the diagram does look accurate. I did have the unit apart and I did observe the flapper in the tube system. Its white with a black seal around the outter side. Water does enter the system but does not fill to under the heating element. Do you think the inner valve seal is Bad? What are i9s? I dont know whats going on with this piece of junk.
[COLOR=“DarkGreen”]Do you think the inner valve seal is Bad?[/COLOR]
I sorgt of doubt it as you probably would have noticed if it was messed up.
[COLOR=“DarkGreen”]What are i9s?[/COLOR]
Sorry but I do not understand the above.
OK, lets try this.
Let the unit fill.
Then when the wash starts, open the door and add a couple quarts of hot water to just under the heating element.
Just take care that you do not overfill it.
Then close the door and see if it runs OK.
Check the drain by ear to see if while washing it is pumping out water.
You should also be able to tell by just feeling the drain hose for the heat given off by the watyer running through it.
I NOT AT home but it would almost immediately go to the drain. Yesterday I started it and then felt the drain tube and it was warm. Let me get back to ya. ill call the lady and have her fill it.