GE Dishwasher pumps out, but no internal circulation/washing

[hrhofmann]

My son-in-law just called me and said their dishwasher is acting up. It is a GE "Quiet Power 3", about 3 years old. It will fill, go thru the washing cycle without any noise from the pump, and then pump out the water at the appropriate time. So it seems that the pump is ok, just not getting electricity for the wash cycle. I believe there are two schemes for dishwashers, in one the pump reverses direction to internally circulate/wash or to pump out. In the other, the pump runs the same direction, just a valve directs the water to circulate/wash or to pump out. I will be going down to their house tonight, with a voltmeter to check if the pump is getting power, but was hoping someone here would know which type of circulate/drain the GE dishwashers use, and if there is a most likely type of failure for which GE dishwashers are known. I believe the "timer" is electronic rather than mechanical. I prefer the mechanical, they are much easier to trouble-shoot, so that means it is probably electronic.

[Usenet]

I have just fixed my (Turkish made) Beko dishwasher: the pump was not receiving power to circulate, so the wash-cycle was stuck. My own dishwasher has a main circulation pump and a separate drain pump. The problem in my case was nothing to do with the dishwasher per se -- the inlet faucet had become very clogged up and reduced the pressure to a trickle.

However, in fixing the problem, I discovered that their are many downloadable service manuals available for Bosch, GE, etc. I could not find a Beko service manual, so they were extremely useful for getting a feel for fixing my own Beko. I'm saying it's well worth the effort, searching on the web for a GE dishwasher service manual. Also, in the US, there's an intriguing looking book "Cheap & Easy Dishwasher Repair" by Douglas Emley. Could be worth taking a look at a Douglas Emley book (fixing appliances) in a bookshop and seeing if he's as good as the cover promises.

Best wishes,

Sandy

[hrhofmann]

Thanks for the steering.