My DishDrawer has officially become vintage per AW standards by the serial number of November 2002 (UUM756561), although it's less per the purchase date.
The lower drawer became effectively unusable probably a year ago. It'd beep and go into pause with the display flashing within a few mins of starting a cycle. No fault code. Pressing Start after a couple/few mins wait would have it continue for a couple/few mins then pause again, or the paused cycle would abort after a time-out if I didn't notice the reminder beeps. I figured the IR emitter or pick-up for the drawer-closed sensor had become erratic. Easy enough to get around the situation by using the upper drawer, until it exhibited the same problem a few weeks ago.
So, time to address the problem.
Lower drawer first. There are reports of the solder loosening on the IR components on the board, fixable by remelting. However, I found that the problem was that a couple of the mounting clips for the control board housing had broken and the module had shifted from proper position, causing misalignment of the IR beam. Attempting to secure the module caused another clip to break and the whole thing dropped down. The plastic F&P used for the board housing apparently doesn't age well. I devised an alternate method of supporting and securing the module.
Examination of the upper drawer found that the same problem had occurred. Two clips had broken and the IR emitter and pick-up were misaligned with the prism light pipes. I again devised a method of anchoring the module into proper position.
Good to go for another 20 years!
I now have spares for quite a few models if anyone needs anything.
