Subject: Dishwasher water-level too low: possibilities? Solenoid/valve?

Wife says that it will wash things only on the bottom level --
not enough water (level too low) to make it into spray
at the top level.

And it worked just fine until about two weeks ago,
when it started acting this (bad) way -- washing only the
bottom-level dishes.




About the solenoid:

I put my ohm-meter across where the power goes
into it, and it was NOT shorted out; was maybe 2k ohms.

(power off, obviously)

That was a test suggested by a web site my wife found.

A question: if *any* water is coming into the dishwasher
when you turn it on, that means that the solenoid is OK?

Or, if the solenoid is kaput, then NO water would come
in, I'd guess. (Is that correct or not?)

(I didn't actually *test* the solenoid, ie didn't apply
a voltage to it to see if it made a click (or whatever)
noise, nor did I try to see opened and closed a stream
of water.)



What seems to be a "float" (upside-down cup attached
to a thin pole that extends down into a hole -- where
somehow that pole going up or down with the water level
controls the solenoid, shutting it off when the water
has gotten to the proper level) seems to be pretty
free to go up and down.


About the exit hose: for the first several years
of owning the machine, two of the three of us here
would put dishes, etc, in, DIRTY -- no rinsing, no
nuthing, straight off the table. (The more I
complained (with explanation), the more -- well,
you know the story, right?)

So, maybe some of that crud from a few years ago
ended up in that hose. Any easy wat to test it?


What else might be the problem?

Thanks!

David