Kitchenaid KDS18 won't cycle through

[duner]

New member, glad I found this forum, seems to be a lot of good information here! Not to mention a lot of smart folks.

I just moved into a house with a Kitchenaid KDS18 Superba dishwasher. It powers on fine, fills with water and runs for the initial prewash, but after that drains it basically just sits humming and clicking for the rest of the cycles. It does seem to go through the whole normal wash sequence, but as far as I can tell, it never fills with any more water after that first prewash fill. If I try to start a wash cycle again right away, even the prewash won't fill, but if I wait an hour or so before I try again, it will fill on the initial prewash, but then it's the same thing, no more water after that.

I tried different wash cycle options with the buttons, but the result always seems to be the same.

Also, in case it is an additional clue, the door of the detergent cup never opens, it is still full of detergent when the full cycle ends.

House had a home warranty so I had a serviceman come look at it. He said bad timer, but I'm not sure he had ever even seen one of these before, so I figured I would come to ask the experts.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, the warranty company offered to replace it with a new machine, but of course the one they offered is cheap garbage. I would really like to have this fine old Kitchenaid working!

 

[toploader55]

Welcome !

You've reached the right place.

The KDS 18 is one of the most coveted (by most here) best Dishwasher Hobart ever made.

This sounds like a diagnoses from Dr. Stevet our resident Hobart Man.

He should be around sooner than later. There are many experts here, but Steve has worked for Hobart for a very long time.

"Dr, Stevet, Dr. Stevet... drop what your doing and get on the internet" !!!

OK, bad take off on Dr. Bombay...

 

[stevet]

2 THINGS TO CHECK...

First of all, make sure that the float switch in the left hand corner is not getting stuck. It should move freely and if you listen carefully, you should hear the small microswitch at the bottom of the switch clicking as you move the float up and down.

The other requires checking the fill valve with a volt meter or test light and making sure that the valve is actually getting voltage from the timer. Based on the age of the machine, the valve coil(s) may be overheating or opening and the valve will fail to open. The valve is still available from Whirlpool so that machine should have many more years of life in it. Hopefully it is all due to alck of use while the house was being sold.
Hope this helps!

http://irst

 

[duner]

Thanks for the quick response!

First thing I checked was the float switch, even looked to make sure nothing was obstructing it, it seems fine and I can head the microswitch clicking when I raise and lower it.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find a service manual for this machine on line, where is the fill valve located?

Also, I did find a manual for the KDS-17 on this forum and I downloaded it. It has great diagrams and charts of the cycle timing, valves on and off, etc. how similar are the 17 and 18 when it comes to cycle timing and component layout? Can I use that 17 manual as a rough guide for my 18?

Thanks!

 

[stevet]

Fraternal Twins!

The component layout of the 2 machines are nearly identical save for the placement of the timers,thermostats and terminal blocks.On the 17, there is a pressure switch instead of a float switch.. The fill valve is in the left corner screwed into the crossmember. Just look for the water line going to it.
Hobart was very consistent with their engineering even down to the color of the wires they used for specific components. Units will differ electrically and functionally but they were very much the same.

Hope this helps.
Steve

 

[appnut]

I think I can email you an 18 series user manual.

 

[duner]

Thanks Steve, hopefully I'll be checking it tomorrow. Appnut, that would be great, thank you!

 

[appnut]

KD18 series manual

I sent it at 7:58 central time to email address in profile.  Bob

 

[toploader55]

Hey Bob...

How wah ya ???

Do you think I could look at that 18 Manuel ?

Thanks.