Before I give up....

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turquoisedude

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I thought it would be worth asking the 'hive mind' what else I could do before I turn my back and walk away from this WU404 Maytag JetClean dishwasher.... 

 

Recall this dishwasher was "included AS IS and not working" when we bought the house in St-Lib back in August of 2015.  It was original to the house, a 1988 or 1989 model and I've done a few repairs to it over the years.  When we moved in the detergent cup trip mechanism was shot and it was scaled up to all hell from years of use with horrible hard H2O.  I managed to get the machine working reasonably well after a detergent cup transplant and a damn good cleaning of the wash arms and microfilter.  More recently, the water valve (already a replacement) gave up on me and was flooding the tub.  No problem - got that swapped out in a jiffy and again, all seemed fine. 

 

The latest issue cropped up in November of last year.  I noticed that plates, in particular those loaded on the left hand side of the rack, had finely ground food residue on the rear of them.  I didn't give it much thought because I had my own plate full emptying out my 93-year-old father's old apartment after he moved to a managed-care facility and I have a fabulous 1962 KDS54 in the kitchen in addition to the 'Tag. 

 

Last week, I took the wash arms and pump filter apart again and cleaned them; not much gunk in them and the load of dishes I ran through seemed to clean just fine.  I ran the machine last night and not only did I have the fine residue on the plates on the left side of the upper rack, it seems that the detergent didn't "wash out" of the dispensers...

 

The question I have to ask myself is, "Is it time to give up?"   My Hubby, Chris, just loves this dishwasher (probably 'cause it's not a top-loader...LOL)   I suspect that either there isn't enough water getting into the machine or the pump is just not moving water around as vigourously as it should.   

 

The water supply lines to the dishwasher got changed in 2016 when we had a new tile floor put into the kitchen (as a 'future-proofing' move for the eventual replacement of this machine).  Could the new water valve that I put in be providing too low a flow?  If so, why did it take over 6 months for this problem to crop up?

 

Or could the main pump be just plain worn out?  The machine has not had an easy life - it shows signs of hard use and I am sure the previous owners didn't handle this dishwasher with kid gloves...  

 

I just _happen_ to have a restored 1963 Whirlpool SKU70 dishwasher patiently waiting in my basement in St-Liboire and it just _happens_ to be turquoise to match my range and refrigerator....  I also have a 1963 GE SD203 that I have never used in storage down in Ogden, also turquoise....   So you can see what direction I am leaning in... LOL  

 

But for Hubby's sake, is there anything I can do with the Maytag machine?? 

 

(apologies if the pictures appear sideways, they were taken on my phone)  

 

 

[this post was last edited: 1/12/2021-10:08]

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Debris in fill valve?

Sounds like its not filling with enough water on fills. -just before the detergent dispenser slides open on mine, for the main wash there is about a 30 second fill which results in a much different sound in wash action! Id check the fill level or try pouring a gal of water in to see if that effects the wash sound as a diagnosis.

Im on my 2nd RR as christfr from st. Louis gave me a portable many years ago which i used for a while and then built it in. -i thourghly used this until the porcelean was rough and washed off, and then a few more years with no advancing timer! As the Racks had started to look a bit rough by then, decided to part with it.

Few months later had a phone call from a buddy about "some portable dishwasher being tossed out of a house looking brand new!"

Betting your not getting full fills - should be a water level almost touching the cal rod if memory serves..
 
Not sure if that has anything to do with your issue, but when my vintage Reverse Rack started giving me trouble, not washing properly.

I had to replace the belt that broke in two. Belt from the motor to the pump assembly. If you open the bottom front panel, you should see it right there.

Probably nothing to do with your problem, but it might happen eventually.
 
Fill valve - water heater?

Ive had old water heaters and even failing water softners put debris out in my lines clogging fill valves/screens...
 
The best way to check for short fills would be to add some extra water to the main wash and see if that improves the performance, or at least will wash out the detergent cups. I would pull the wash arms and make sure the holes aren’t blocked, the upper one especially can get crud in the jets. Also the micro filter can be very susceptible to mineral built up, it only takes a small amount of blockage to make a big difference in performance. I would pull the micro filter too and soak it in CLR and scrub it with a stiff brush. That would also be a good chance to make sure everything else in the pump area is kosher. Also if it’s a belt drive machine and the belt is wearing out that could make a big difference too.

What does it sound like when it’s running? It should sound powerful with a lot of water movement.
 
Check .....

faucet aerators throughout the house and see if debris is collecting in them. I had a water heater throw out some plastic gunk once and nearly stopped water flow into the dishwasher and other faucets, but really affected the dishwasher performance before I found the problem. It packed the inlet screen to the water valve which drastically reduced flow.
 
Oh Paul, you know what you have to do....

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We all must honor our spouse's wishes.  It's in the contract.  So do the right thing, Reply #6!</span>  <span style="font-size: 8pt;">Ralph ducks and runs from Chris!</span></span>
 
Sorry, a little late to this thread. I had a similar problem with my WU601. I discovered the lower arm was not turning properly; it was very slow or didn't move at all. After working on it for a bit I discovered that the two nylon washers at the top of the backwash arm were not correctly in place. They each have a little tab and corresponding slot and they connect together. If they have slipped out of place they place a drag on the entire assembly (it rides against the inside surface of the sump cover opening the assembly rides in). Once I fixed that the machine washed correctly.

Of course, I would love for you to get that Whirlpool "Dial-A-Wash" into action but I thought you should give this a try first to show you tried in good faith. :)

Good luck!
 
Paul we may have a free MT parts machine for you...

we had a MT JetClean d/w in our last house. When we replaced it with a new BOL GE (which did a fine job btw) 5 yrs ago I gave it to my cousin who lives here for a kitchen reno that never happened.

It worked fine but had a minor seal leak at the bottom of the door. I believe he still has it. You can come for a "twofer" when you visit! LOL
 

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