HELP! - HELP! - Kitchenaid KD-21A dishwasher

[jdexter]

Salutations:

Been in love with our old/mew Kitchenaid - it's been fantastic!

Recently - it stopped pumping, then stopped tripping the soap dispensor. Basically - it turns on and runs continous wash right through dry cycle, then doesn't pump out.

Will pump out on cancel, but it's like it kicks up the pump - then seems to have to kick it a second time to in quick sequence.

Best guess is that the switch panel has finally given out, but it might also be the controller (or both). It had been laid up for a long time and was really stiff.

Any thoughts any one? Have found a parts supply - but wanted to ask around why the week was still young.

Thanks in advance!

Jon

 

[jdexter]

Ok .. calming down now

So ..

Have found a parts supply, need to flip it back here to Canada through an American Address, but working on that now.

I'm seeing a Mallory timer in place of the OEM singer timer .. Any thoughts anyone?

The seven switch prog/selector seems constant - so don't think I need to be worried there.

Anyone ever had a problem with these folks?

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?model_id=239954&diagram_id=24442#d24442

 

[stevet]

check carefully!

Jon, since parts for these venerable machines are getting harder and harder to come by, before you go crazy buying whatever you think may be wrong with it, I think you may want to check the wiring on the machine.
Unplug it before you do anything to it electrically as many components are live even when the machine is off.

I have found that the neutral wires(white wires) that all daisy chain under the machine sometimes break or a common connection overheats for some reason and burns away and leaves some of the components inoperable.
So check that all the wires are nice and secure.
You may also want to remove the timer and make sure that the wiring harnesses are plugged in securely. You may want to remove them from the timer to make sure that none of the contacts are burned or any of the wires going in to the harness blocks.

It is not unusual for the program switches to go bad as they do sometimes carry high amperage. I have seen some machines that won't work right on the normal cycle but run perfectly on the heavy duty wash or sanicycles. The switch will use different contacts when different cycles are selected so that is an option too. If you are taking out the timer, you may want to take out the program switch and check the wiring there too as wires can fall off or break their connecting tabs.

Think that will keep you busy enough for a while?

 

[jdexter]

Appreciate any advise - thx

Have a very low milage machine, being recomissioned after a very long idle. Virtually spotless - just very dry.

I'm not entirely understanding the diagonistic sheet on the door panel. Am trying to work out the timer finger pattern to test the components now.

I think I may have a problem with the timer that began at the switch.

The switch was very stiff when we installed, but recently seemed to loosen up. Over a couple of days - the washer stopped pumping out for a couple of loads .. then ditto .. and the detergent drop failed

Not seeing any transisters or ballasts - so assume the power circuit routes directly back through the switch as triggered by the timer at full 115v.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but very cool bit of analogue circuit programming .. If I'm understanding it right ..

Anyway, got the timer apart (and back together I think) and noted that one of the fingers was different from the other. The button appears to be aluminum and the tooth height is different. Bent like a tab.

I've never seen one before, so I don't know if the tooth has collapsed from heat - or if it's designed that way.

Sorry for the panic and the long post .. I've come to love the honest utility of the damned thing. The kids have started to call it 'Lisa' after a water powered Futurama Bot.

(about 11 minutes in on the link below.)

 

[beekeyknee]

What stevet said....

Do what stevet said. I just finished a renovation on a KDS-20. I have a repair manual, which always helps. I took out the selector switch and completely soaked it in WD-40, then blew it out with compressed air and wiped it off with a lint free cloth. Remove the decorative buttons before you start and make a diagram where all the wires go. When you reinstall, push the switch all the way to the left, before you tighten down the screws completely. You may have to adjust the switch cancel lever, if it doesn't push the reset tabs in all the way when you open the door. The door latch lever pushes the switch cancel lever when you open it. The switch cancel lever hangs down and is adjustable up and down to make it push harder or easier on the reset tabs. Clean the decorative buttons and spray a little bit of WD-40 on the back side of them to make them go on easier. Pay close attention when you pull them off, so you'll know exactly how they go back on. On mine it seemed like they were all the way on, but I discovered if I pushed just a little bit more, they popped on a bit farther. I don't know if your model will be like this or not. Also, when you're taking the control panel apart, it's easy to drop the end pieces and break them. Be careful when cleaning the inside panel. You can mess up the decorative back of the plastic and it will make the front look bad. All of this probably won't help with your pump-out problem, but if you figure out what's wrong with the pump you can do this to help the switch work better. If you do this, don't take the switch apart, just soak it a lot with the WD-40 and blow it out really well and wipe it off. Remember, after the KD-20 series, they switched to the reversing motor for pump-out. The ones before were single direction motors. I don't know if that could be a clue to your problem or not. If you figure out what's wrong and the rest of the machine is in pretty good condition, a pump rebuilt might be a good idea, if you think you can tackle it. Check thread #27751. One thing I omitted in that thread number is that there is a rubber "O" ring that goes between the wash and pump-out impeller. The pump rebuild kits don't have spacer shims under the pump-out impeller any more. They just have a rubber and white plastic insert piece that pushes into the bottom of the pump-out impeller. They still have shims between the pump-out impeller and the wash impeller. You have to put them back in the same way they came out or the impellers will drag and squeal. I've never worked on any thing newer than a KD-20, but I don't think they changed much until the 23. Hope that helps.