KitchenAid KDI58, inlet valve active at same time as drain valve and blower motor- timer problem?

[valvashon]

Halfway through a cycle two days ago I noticed that "Phil" sounded odd, with the motor running but no water being splashed around (first half of the soak and wash cycle was fine). Doing some investigating, it appears that the inlet valve is activating at the same time as the drain valve and also starts to fill water when the blower motor activates at the end of a cycle. Mostly what I hear is the water coming in and going right back out (can hear it in the sink drain) so no washing action takes place as the machine never fills.

Is this how the timers fail- by having the drain valve, inlet valve and sometimes the blower motor all get shorted together somehow? I've never had the timer apart- is there a way to fix this or clean it by hosing it down with contact cleaner? I will assume that a replacement timer is NLA and they can't be rebuilt.

My kid just offered to build a microcontroller programmed with modern-length wash and rinse cycles that could then control a board of relays that would run the valves, motor, detergent cups, etc. A KDI series machine with a 90 minute wash cycle and two 20 minute rinse cycles (or something like that) would certainly get dishes clean with today's dish detergents. There's really nothing in a new dishwasher that is different than an old KitchenAid other than the controller that is determining how long the cycles are.

Back to today- what can I do, if anything, to keep this thing alive until the microcontroller shows up?

Thanks-

Val

 

[phillymatt53]

As a preventative measure a decade ago, I removed the mechanical timer from my KDC19 and manually burnished all the contacts to insure proper operation, since the machine's around early 1980s.
It was a tedious job getting it back together, but gives me piece of mind.
I also checked all the connections-spade terminals for tightness.

 

[qsd-dan]

There is a used timer on Ebay if you want to take a chance on it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/406289839929

 

[valvashon]

Turns out that Appliance Parts and Equipment Distributors (APED) had two replacement timers in stock for $40 each! They are a newer build and a newer part number (4162398) and marked as a Genuine product of Whirlpool. Made in USA with a date code of 940112 so they have only been sitting on a shelf somewhere for 30 years. Be aware that they now have only one in stock.

I was so excited to get "Phil" up and running again I forgot to take pictures but the new part number bolts right in although the faceplate of the timer is a little smaller so you have to use the screws to thread a previously unused existing hole. Once the thing is 100% back together there is no way of telling that there is a later model of timer in there, although the noises it makes are a little different.

While it was all apart I ran the control wire for the rinse aid dispenser that I have but never installed.

I have some questions about this dispenser but will make a separate post for that.

I found the new part number through some place (name forgotten) that can rebuild your existing timer and searched around on there until I found the "KDI18" rebuild page which gave the correct part #.

Val