Tearing into the GESU70T dishwasher

[turquoisedude]

Amazingly, it has taken me a week to start messing with that 'unicorn' GE SU70T dishwasher I brought home last week!   I'm taking advantage of the Cadillac being in the shop for the next little while to have the whole garage to work in, so the 'new' GE got hauled out there. 

This ain't my first rodeo, so I wanted to start with an overall inspection of the dishwasher before I added power and water.  AND I'm glad I did... you'll see why... 

So, the dishwasher has been stored for over 2 years and naturally, I feared mice had gotten into it.  They did. 

The tub had some shredded insulation and mouse poop in it, along with chunks of dried, crumbled tub gasket.  All very easy to remove, fortunately. 

But I did notice a potential problem - a rust 'bubble' on the bottom of the plastisol tub...  GE's are know for this, and I have more than a few ways to fix something like this.  

 

[turquoisedude]

I figured it would be wise to check any hoses that were visible.  A good move as the drain hose for the dishwasher is showing signs of cracking.   I will suspect 'cause of death' for this dishwasher was water leaks - a double whammy of leaks from the top lid when washing and leaks from the outlet hose when draining.  Note the rough and rusty bottom of the cabinet... 

 

Curious thing about this style of pull-out  -  the drain from the pump goes up to the tub lid and is coupled to another hose which is connected to the house drain.  A convoluted way of getting an air gap, wouldn't you say??  

 

[turquoisedude]

I pulled the tub and washing mechanism out of the cabinet to check it for damage and any bad wiring.   All looked good!!  It's the first pull-out that I've worked on where the power cable from the house wiring juction box to the dishwasher mechanism was good!  No crispy cord here...  

I was immediately struck by another very odd thing - the timer is mounted under the dishwasher tub, not in the door panel like the half-moon dishwashers.  The main timer looks like the same as would be used on the models with the exposed timer dial - IF it becomes necessary, Princess Woodtone will become a timer donor...  

 

[turquoisedude]

Because there are a bunch of pushbuttons and lights on the front panel, I wanted to inspect them too.  

 

Good thing I did.... 

 

[turquoisedude]

After the fibreglas and mouse crap mess was removed, I found that sections of the wiring from the pushbutton selector switch had been gnawed, exposing bare wires.  

Sigh.... I effin' hate mice... 

Still, the wires will be relatively easy to replace.  Note that there are disconnects in sleeves for the wires between the pushbutton switch and the timer.  I just have to find the right colour wire... LOL   Figuring it'll be trailer hitch wire from the local auto parts house.  I will, obviously, replace what I have to replace BEFORE I try powering this beastie on... LOL   And fortunately, the wiring diagram and timer chart are present and intact.  

 

Stay tuned!! 

 

[turbokinetic]

Wow at the concealed mouse nests. It is indeed a good thing you took this machine apart to inspect it! 

 

 

[bajaespuma]

Paul, 

 

The male drain and the male feed to the Power Shower had the same connection to the corresponding female mounts attached to the outer cabinet which meant that it was easy for the user and service people to remove the entire dishwasher "drawer" from the cabinet, leaving only a modular electrical connection. This was devised to accommodate the new Power Shower, an improvement from the '59 machines (they had no power shower and connected directly to an oversize rubber drain hose needed to stretch when the dishwasher was pulled out. This was also an improvement for the installers. My Father and I discovered this when we removed the machine at the end of its service; we both looked at each other and decided that we might be making a big mistake by not choosing to have the motor replaced (we replaced it with a KitchenAid Custom 17a that my Mother liked more than the SU-70). Also, I never realized that the machine even had the Power Shower feature until we took it apart and I saw the thing attached to the roof of the cabinet.

 

[turquoisedude]

Latest progress

I remade a couple of connector wires to replace the ones between the cycle selector and timer patch wires AND thanks to a fellow collector from the Midwest, I snagged a NOS tub gasket!

Time to get back to work...

 

[turquoisedude]

As the tub was out, I attacked the remaining fossilized tub gasket.  It had been glued down and/or reinforced with bathtub caulking, like both 59 Princesses had.  It must've either been a GE service procedure or Popular Mechanics had a 'handy hint' for a do-it-yourself dishwasher repair...

 

[turquoisedude]

I didn't install the new gasket because I know I will need to replace the hoses from the pump chamber for both the Power Shower and drain, but I figured I should test out my replacement wiring.

The motor and calrod started up immediately, which was what I had hoped for.  However...   

The timer did not seem to advance.  I tried a couple of tests described in a GE Repair-Master but the rapid-advance did not seem to budge either.

So, next step will be to extract the timer and hope that Princess Woodtone signed her parts donor card...

 

[christfr]

eww mouse poo... been there done that .. but way cool machine i know youll get er done. love it

 

[turquoisedude]

Latest dilemma....

Testing revealed that the main timer motor is dead - not a big deal, but I'll be damned if I can extract it!

I managed to remove the mounting screws and expected the timer motor to lift off but nope...the stubborn bugger won't budge.  

I removed the coil for the rapid advance motor (which does work) to give me some "wiggle room" but it's not yielding....

Any thoughts on what's sticking??

 

[turquoisedude]

So....

I managed to get the timer motors working again but had some "fun" ressembling the timer itself.  With the help of PhilR (remember him?  LOL) with 2 heads and 2 pairs of hands we got the timer back together last week.  

I only got around to reinstalling the timer today and when I tried to start the machine, the motor powered on briefly, then clicked off.  BUT it did not throw the breaker...   I was unable to get the dishwasher to start again on any program selection.  I am thinking I goofed up on the reinstallation of the wires to the timer  - so I checked my photos on the phone that I took during disassembly.  They are too blurred to be of any use (damn my shaky hands).

So here's a long shot... does anyone out there have or know where I could find a wiring diagram for the elusive SU70T GE dishwasher?  I've got information for the SU60S but the timers and wiring are very different.  

I do have a partial wiring diagram in a GE Dishwasher Repair Master but it's the same as the one still (amazingly) stuck to the inside of the tub.  Said diagram only really explains the push-button switch bank wiring...  

 

[bradfordwhite]

You are courageous my Canadian friend. 

 

I've had a few GE dishwashers from the 60s and have had to deal with dried out rubber hoses (obviously well used and loved) and tub rust through, sadly.

 

I like that pastel pink tub, too.  

 

[steved]

Maybe this will help

It does mention "early 70T models".....

 

[turquoisedude]

Thanks, Steve, but that's the info I have, too (Repair Master, right??)     I am somehow convinced that I've got the timer motor power leads hooked up incorrectly and the second I gave the machine power, one of the timer motors advanced a cam to the 'off' position.  It may just be that I need to push a button to get the timer powered again, but I'm really not sure...   The 'half-moon' timer dial style dishwashers just needed to be powered on again to start a wash cycle, but with the pushbuttons and rapid-advance timer motor, I'm a tad confused.   

 

[bigalsf]

Will this help?

Hi Paul, I don't have that wiring diagram but I did find this one for an
SU70 & 70 S2. These models do not have a rapid advance timer but do appear to have all of the same options as yours. It looks like it's a model below yours. I hope it can help. Good luck!

 

[turquoisedude]

Alan, thank you!!  This is going to be a big help for sure!  The motor and cycle selector wiring seems to be similar!  I'm still stuck on the idea that I've got the timer motors hooked up incorrectly...  I'm getting power to the timer switch banks, so that has to be good news...  

More progress soon (I hope) - we're down at the house in Ogden this week.  

 

[bradfordwhite]

Always good technique to take thorough pictures BEFORE taking things apart that way you can use those pics as reference to put things back together.  It's saved  me numerous times.  

 

When it comes to details on wiring, numerous close-up pictures from different angles is recommended.