dishwasher pooling water and THEN leaking

Yes, but I found various sites showing that you can turn the unit off after opening the door and it does in fact turn the unit off if you open the door and press that START button for a few seconds. It just, in my case, doesnt activate any pump.

Just a thought: I have a 1 yr. old GE dishwasher. One of the trouble shooting problems listed in the manual is that water remains in the bottom after a cycle. Manual says that a common cause is if your plumbing set up includes an air gap, make sure that the air gap isn't clogged. The air gap commonly is the small cap with side holes that extends up from the escutcheon near where the sprayer handle and/or faucet is located on the counter top. That cap lifts off and underneath there's a vertical pipe in the middle surrounded by a concentric drain area. Normally, the drain water from the dishwasher is pumped up against the inside surface of the cap and deflected by the cap into the drain area. Check to see that both the pipe and the drain area aren't clogged. In some areas, air gaps are required by code. In other areas, the dishwasher drains directly into a side opening either near the top of the under-sink trap or into the garbage disposal above the grinding blade. If you don't have an air gap (I don't), but do have a disposal, take the rubber or metal strainer out of the sink and with a flashlight examine the sides of the interior wall of the disposal. About 1/month I need to clean that aperture of white gunk that partially clogs it. I usually reach a little bit inside the aperture with the short arm of an allen wrench and flick out the gunk.

Well if that is the case, I'm sunk because the only economical solution is to replace the dishwasher! But I doubt it is. I said I did manage to get the basket out and although it was disgustingly blocked, not enough of what was blocking it had managed to get past the basket. And there is no 'up-pipe;' going to the top surface of the sink.

I still think the next step must surely be to figure out precisely how to flex the float valve cover to get it off. While it should be quite easy to get it off, at the moment it is extremely difficult to know how it flexes.

Then I am sunk because this unit isnt economical to repair if it is THAT far gone! I moping it isnt.

I suspect the lack of ANY gurgling at the sink means there isnt a blockage that far along the line, - and there is no up-pike at the sink

Does this help?

Have you tried calling the toll free customer service phone number for the company, describing your problem, giving them the model number, telling them what you've done to date and asking if there's anything else you can do yourself? Is there a "technical repair manual" for your model that might help? Have you considered investing in one service call from a local appliance repair shop with a good reputation to at least diagnose if not repair the dishwasher? (I wouldn't waste my time or money on a "factory authorized" repair visit as in my experience, regardless of which appliance and which manufacturer, the experience and results are worse than with good local people; exception being if the appliance is still under warranty.)

Sorry, I just meant that there is no connection between the drain pipe and the sink as is shown on the video to which reference was made. The drain obviously does drain into the waste pipe but I don't think that is where any blockage is. (There was only minimal material PAST the waste basket)

I am less thinking that the problem is to do with the float valve which seems to regulate INput not OUTput and it does seem that your first idea looks most likely, there is something stopping the pump from turning on.

Nothing I do seems to turn the pump on

That used to be a great method for getting any GE product working! There used to be people with amazing technical knowledge at the end of the 626 2000 line who had all the answers and who knew how and where to look for everything.

NEWS RELEASE: GE APPLIANCES TAKEN OVER BY HAIER, a relatively low end chinese manufacturer of vaguely OK models specialising in planned obsolescence.

Now the 626-2000 number is much more difficult to get through to and they seem to have fired all the knowledgeable reps and now they use that number as a profit centre to sell new machines at as much as a 10% discount. (They tend only to route users through to authorised repairers for a service call if the unit is new). Telling users how to get appliances working again is INIMICAL to that profit making purpose.

One would need to be desperate to spend time on calling that number in the HOPE of getting one of the knowledgeable reps who hasn't been fired yet!

Sorry to hear that! I've got a relatively new GE wall oven, dishwasher, and over the stove microwave. Fortunately, none have needed service to date. All are a few years out of warranty. Had absolutely dreadful experience about 6 years ago with GE factory authorized service personnel on an out of warranty GE fridge I no longer own. I was hoping my experience was atypical. I'm certainly not tempting fate again when I ultimately need service on any of my GE appliances.

No, but why would there be no voltage at the pump?

Add to that a defective float or switch.

No time to read the whole thread.

My dw is a Kenmore and it woudln't drain.

It took a long time but I found that the thing on the sink with the silver cap -- I think it's called a vacuum break -- had a chicken bone in it, the little bone that is along the drumstick. It was easy to remove the bone once I found it.

During t esting, I kept running the same part of the cycle, including it seems part where it heats the water. I guess the water got hotter and hotter because a plastic salad bowl got distorted. So I don't eat salads anymore.

YES! The video "Flood Switch Assembly for General Electric PDWT180R10SS Will not fill with water" is exceptionally helpful in showing me how the cover flexes from the top, not the bottom as I had been trying.

But am I correct in thinking that the electrical switch that he changes is the problem where the "PDWT180R10SS Will not fill with water", whereas the float itself is the problem where the unit will not empty?

The float/switch combination is just a backup for the timer that controls water inlet. The float triggers the float switch. The combination doesn't control the water exit.

But if the float is taken off and jiggled to make sure it isnt stuck and still the unit doesnt empty, I assume there is a problem with the pump, not the float area, whether the switch or the float.