Hi All,

I have a whirlpool dishwasher that does not clean well. Soap is left in the
soap dish. Whirlpool changed the motor and just about everything else whle
it was under warranty. Water pressure is adequate - I have done all kinds of
tests.

I started troubleshooting it now and it seems that the soap dispenser cover
does not open fully. If you look at the rack (upper)
http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=1028158

There is a small piece at the left corner that connects base tines 0,1, and
2. Similar piece is not there on the right side. I put white chalk and then
some tape etc. and confirmed that the cover of soap dispenser hits it after
it is open halfway.

Does anybody know, if they might have done this to prevent the loud sound
when the cover opens and hits the inside of the front of dishwasher.

I am thinking if I cut this small piece from the rack, cover will open fully
and water will hit the inside of the dish more easily. I experimented by
running the dishwasher on quick wash without closing the cover and dishes
are perfectly clean.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

AJ

I have a Kenmore (Whirlpool) machine that opens the soap dispenser against
the rack as you describe here. It does not affect the operation at all. When
the door is opened you can hear the dispenser lid hit the inside of the
door.

I would not modify the rack, I do not think this is your root problem. The
cut ends will only start a rusting process.

Are you using a powder or one of those gloppy paste soaps? I use powder and
have no problem but my daughter is using the paste stuff and it does not
dispense well at all.

Have you checked that the water level is high enough? The machine should not
have a slow sloshing noise as it cleans, if it does then the level may be
too low. Open the door at what you estimate to be close to the end of the
wash cycle and push down on the float. You should be able to see that it is
indeed floating and you should hear a click as it activated a microswitch.

If it is low then the purge valve( dumps collected solids) in the bottom of
the tub under the wash arm may be leaking and pushing water out the drain
while it is washing. I noticed on mine that this was happening when I heard
a steady flow of water going through the sink drain during the wash cycle.
There is a silicone rubber valve seal in this valve that disintegrates, it
is only supposed to open during the drain cycle but was leaking. The valve
assembly must be replaced, the seal is not available by itself. The assembly
is not very expensive.

Give the right tools it is about a 30-45 minute job providing Mr. Murphy
does not get involved. (Murphy Factor)

John


"opto" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I have a whirlpool dishwasher that does not clean well. Soap is left in
the soap dish. Whirlpool changed the motor and just about everything else
whle it was under warranty. Water pressure is adequate - I have done all
kinds of tests.

I started troubleshooting it now and it seems that the soap dispenser
cover does not open fully. If you look at the rack (upper)
http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=1028158

There is a small piece at the left corner that connects base tines 0,1,
and 2. Similar piece is not there on the right side. I put white chalk and
then some tape etc. and confirmed that the cover of soap dispenser hits it
after it is open halfway.

Does anybody know, if they might have done this to prevent the loud sound
when the cover opens and hits the inside of the front of dishwasher.

I am thinking if I cut this small piece from the rack, cover will open
fully and water will hit the inside of the dish more easily. I
experimented by running the dishwasher on quick wash without closing the
cover and dishes are perfectly clean.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

AJ

opto wrote:
Hi All,

I have a whirlpool dishwasher that does not clean well. Soap is left in the
soap dish. Whirlpool changed the motor and just about everything else whle
it was under warranty. Water pressure is adequate - I have done all kinds of
tests.

I started troubleshooting it now and it seems that the soap dispenser cover
does not open fully. If you look at the rack (upper)
http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=1028158

There is a small piece at the left corner that connects base tines 0,1, and
2. Similar piece is not there on the right side. I put white chalk and then
some tape etc. and confirmed that the cover of soap dispenser hits it after
it is open halfway.

Does anybody know, if they might have done this to prevent the loud sound
when the cover opens and hits the inside of the front of dishwasher.

I am thinking if I cut this small piece from the rack, cover will open fully
and water will hit the inside of the dish more easily. I experimented by
running the dishwasher on quick wash without closing the cover and dishes
are perfectly clean.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

AJ


Hi,
Leave that dispenser and rack alone. How is the water temperature?

yeah water temp.

open machine door FAST while washing, are spray arms spraying? are they
rotating?
hows the water level?

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:52:04 -0400, "opto"
wrote:

Hi All,

I have a whirlpool dishwasher that does not clean well. Soap is left in the
soap dish. Whirlpool changed the motor and just about everything else whle
it was under warranty. Water pressure is adequate - I have done all kinds of
tests.

I started troubleshooting it now and it seems that the soap dispenser cover
does not open fully. If you look at the rack (upper)
http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=1028158

Well I am not a repairman, and I've only had one dishwasher in my
life. It's a Kenmore and might be a Whirlpool, but it's very old.

What's interesting to you is that my soap door doesn't open completely
either, ever, until I open the main door and I hear it spring open and
hit something. The only place it could be resting until then is on
one of the racks. I haven't figured out which, although that should
be easy.

Because there is never any soap inside, and the washer works fine.

I don't think my uppper rack is as symmetric as yours (I can look if
it matters) but I also don't have anything so different on the left
like you do.

I don't know how far open my soap door gets, and afaict, you don't
know about yours either. I'm not sure how to figure that out but
there must be a way.

AIUI, soap goes in the part with the door and another dish without a
door. The second part is used first, and then in a second wash cycle,
the door opens and that soap is used.

Try putting a water glass in the upper rack so that it can fill with
water. You want to do this after interrupting the wash cycle by
opening the door. Close the door and let it run for a minute. The
glass should be about full. That will tell you if water is
circulating properly.

Many thanks you all. Lots of good ideas.

Thanks for confirming that soap dispenser opens part way first and then
opens fully later, when the dishwasher is opened. Obviously, this should be
fine because it did work for about 6 months. Then the pump/motor assembly
was changed. Soap dispenser was changed.
Water temp is good.
Level is good - I experimented today and water does not leak.
I agree, cutting will start the rust - it would be last resort.

I have used poweder, gel and tablets. None of them work.

I have to try two things:
Open the dishwasher fast and see if I can catch the spray arms turning. They
seemed free and turned easy.
Also try the glass trick.

This dishwasher (GU1500XTLS3) has two spray arms and also a small turning
wheel above the top rack. So, water comes out of three places. When the
upper rack is in position, a pipe inserts into the pumping water path at the
back and takes some of the water to the middle spary arm. I played with this
little piece of plastic at the end of pipe to direct more water to middle
arm thinking that not enough water is coming that way and the top spray
source is unable to spray the soap dish, since it is only half open.

Anyway, thank you all for your ideas - I will post again.

AJ

Guess what - I did a whole bunch of experiments and it turns out that the
upper spray arm is turning well and throwing enough water. I tied a string
at the base and left about 2 feet hanging to the side (weaving thru the
upper rack) to see if the arm revolves enough - the 2 ft string was rolled
up completely when I opened the washer after about 15 seconds. So RPM seems
fine.
I taped up the lower arm and closed off the third one at the top and there
was water all over.

Then I removed the tapes etc. and did the glass test and glasses filled up
in no time.

Now I am really at a loss...

AJ

I had a similar problem once and it turned out to be low water level.
Dishes would show signs of incomplete rinsing and powdered soap only
partially dissolved from the soap dispenser. I changed the water valve and
the problem went away. My dishwasher was a Kenmore (which I believe was
manufactured by Whirlpool). The soap dispenser cover hits the rack and
doesn't open completely until you open the door.

Harry

"opto" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I have a whirlpool dishwasher that does not clean well. Soap is left in
the soap dish. Whirlpool changed the motor and just about everything else
whle it was under warranty. Water pressure is adequate - I have done all
kinds of tests.

I started troubleshooting it now and it seems that the soap dispenser
cover does not open fully. If you look at the rack (upper)
http://www.repairclinic.com/0081.asp?RccPartID=1028158

There is a small piece at the left corner that connects base tines 0,1,
and 2. Similar piece is not there on the right side. I put white chalk and
then some tape etc. and confirmed that the cover of soap dispenser hits it
after it is open halfway.

Does anybody know, if they might have done this to prevent the loud sound
when the cover opens and hits the inside of the front of dishwasher.

I am thinking if I cut this small piece from the rack, cover will open
fully and water will hit the inside of the dish more easily. I
experimented by running the dishwasher on quick wash without closing the
cover and dishes are perfectly clean.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

AJ

Check your water temperature. It has to be 140 deg to activate the
soap. Maytag has the same problem "sometimes" and after countless
service calls it still wasn't fixed. To bad your servicer didn't
notice the soap dish wasn't opening.