Maytag dishwasher eaten by packrats...no water now

Dishwasher Repair
1

Greetings -

OK, not That dramatic, only dined off a few wires but now the washer does not fill. As far as I can tell that is the only problem now (but a critical one of course).

The washer stopped working at all, no power, right before we found the packrat. On removing the front lower cover I found that several wires had their insulation chewed off. Two, going to the water valve/soleniod, were touching. A check of the thermal boost unit showed a short. Thinking this was casused by the wires touching I replaced this. I also found the float switch off-center. The washer ran and goes through cycles but no water flows in. I checked the valve by running current directly to it and it does open and water does flow. I took the control panel cover off and see nothing obviously burnt/blown but I don’t know enough or have the diagrams to continue. I also don’t detect any heat but this may be a safety feature if there is no water flow.

Do you good folks have any idea what else may have happened from a short-circuit of the water inlet solenoid? Assuming this might be what is wrong, what might be “upstream” of it that would be affected (shorted/blown)? As I say, the valve does still appear to work. I know the unit is old and I’ve been told to just replace it but if I can fix it–it worked well before the packrat–and keep it out of a landfill for a few more years I’ll do it.

Thanks much; cheers, Joel

2

Do you have the ability to do some “live voltage” tests? If so, see if you get 120VAC at the water valve during the fill cycle. The fill valve is in series with the float switch, so also check to make sure the float switch is closed.

3

Thanks for the response, I appreciate it.

I will check voltage at the valve, I had not just assuming there WAS NONE or it would have opened–that is, the problem was before voltage got to the valve.

I had checked the float switch for continuity and it was good but I have not checked it for voltage. I did check that nothing seemed to be impeding the action of the float to turn the switch on or off.

I did find a very simple wiring diagram that I will check next…

Thanks again