"New" Mobile Maid

[brainardcooper]

Well, I purchased the GE Mobile Maid from the woman in Pennsylvania and it arrived via UShip on Saturday in Chattanooga. I am pretty excited about it. It looks very clean and seems to run although I have not actually hooked it up to the water. If you inspect the hoses (which I have removed) you will see there are cracks all along each as they must not have been moved in many, many years. My most immediate task is to try to replace them. I know I can purchase a hose set from an Appliance Parts Store but I want to try to keep it looking as original as possible. Thus, I will try to keep the original hose/sink adapter/attachment. But back to the dishwasher itself. There seems to be no rust on the inside and I was surprised when I first opened the top to find a box of "Automatic Dishwasher All" detergent as well as a bottle of "Jet Dry" (For Automatic Dishwashers). Unfortunately most of the Jet Dry spilled out during shipping.

Two things I am curious about are:
1) there is no mention of "Mobile Maid" on the dishwasher. It only has "Power Shower" on it. Does that mean it is not a Mobile Maid?
2) Regarding the the seal, is there something i can put on the seal to make it more pliable/flexible? There does not seem to be any imperfections or tears in the seal but it is very rigid. I remember reading somewhere on the site about using Brake Fluid to make certain items more flexible. Is that what I should do?

Any information or comments are welcome. Also, I guess it is too much to hope that someone might have an old Owners Manual laying around. However, if anyone does I would love some info.

 

[turquoisedude]

Congratulations! I've got your machine's Canadian Cousin (actually built in my home town of Montréal, Québec).

Not sure exactly why, but GE seemed to drop mention of the name "Mobile Maid" in the mid-60s.

As for the seal, I am guessing you mean the one at the top of the tub. Glycerine may help. These seals were the achilles heel of the built-in version of these machines - they aren't easy to come by alas. If replacement is necessary, closed-cell foam insulation tape can be rigged to provide a decent seal.

There may be a way to preserve the original Unicouple fitting but with new fill and drain hoses. Here's a link to a thread I posted in 2017 that may be helpful.

Good luck with this machine! I need to get mine out of storage to play with now... LOL

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www.automaticwasher.org

 

[brainardcooper]

New Mobile Maid

Thanks, Paul. I was wondering about splicing new hoses onto the old ones. I will take a closer look today after work. Also, is there a way to tell what year the one I have was made? It is interesting that there are 2 Spray Bars in the bottom of this model. One for the main dishes and one for the utensil basket. There is also a Spray Bar in the top of the cabinet to spray/shower down on the upper racks from above.

 

[turquoisedude]

If you can post the model number, I'd be able to tell you which year it was made. I'm going to guess it's a 'B' model from 1965 (just based on mine.. LOL). The 'silver shower' for the cutlery basket has a really bad reputation - apparently GE techs in the field were instructed to disconnect it and plug it up so that the main spray arm got better water pressure. GE discontinued them pretty quickly, but I think they're kinda neat!

BTW, the '62 KitchenAid you helped me get is still going strong and gets used regularly!

 

[combo52]

GE TL Portable DW

This is around a 64-5 model, the Silver-Shower feature on these were not the ones that GE would disconnect, This DW still has the older style motor and pump and the SS feature was connected directly to the upper diffuser housing with a little hose, it was likely still about useless especially with the terrable silver ware basket with the solid sides this DW has.

One of the major problem arras this DW has is the pump often has tight motor bearings and a tendency for the relay to stick and burn out the start winding in the motor.If the motor seems at all stiff it should be dissembled and lubricated and the relay should be lubricated with a good silicone spray lubricant.

John L.