kitchenaid dishwasher kuds01dj problem diagnosis

[chaniarts]

this model has a row of press buttons on the top of the door to select options (length, dry, etc), 2 buttons on the front face (start, cancel), and a minute counter lcd on the front face.

loaded it up last night like usual. shut door, pressed start. the lights on the press buttons went out, the minute counter lcd went blank, and nothing happened.

usual operations turns on the lcd as it starts filling, showing a line going around in a circle until full. it then usually displays the time left.

hit cancel, which did turn on the pump, and showed 2 minutes in the lcd. this was normal operation, as it has always done this.

tried to start a couple more times, with the same results. the manual doesn't describe this, nor any way to turn on any sort of diagnostics.

just for fun, i hit start this morning on my way out the door, and it started up working normally.

something seems to be on the way out. any way to determine if it's the control board? since the pump worked on the cancel cycle, i'm thinking it's not the internal fuse, jammed or clogged pump or macerator.

i'm not sure what else this could be. any ideas? the control panel part is over $100, so i just hate to throw parts at it.

thanks, charlie

[hrhofmann]

Did you contact Kitchenaid?

[chaniarts]

typically, their answer is: the service man can come between 7am and 6pm next thursday, is that good for you?

so no.

[jamesgangnc]

It's basically a little computer. Since it did some things you can rule out the power supply which is about the only thing fixable on the control board. I would try to insure that it was not getting wet. Water can cause those sort of symptoms, strange behavior when wet that clears up when the water dries. Fresh water generally has enough resistance that sometimes it doesn't burn out things but does cause enough of a short to affect behavior. You can "reboot" it by flipping the breaker off for a bit. In all likelyhood if it starts doing this all the time you are faced with calling the service guy who will probably replace the board or buying a board and doing it yourself. If the service guy replaces the board and it doesn't fix it you can argue that you shpouldn't have to pay for a board since that wasn't it. Mileage will vary on that one. But he will also charge you a service fee for coming out that might be just as much as the board. If you replace the board and that's not it you can't return the board. You probably could sell it ebay for 1/2 to 2/3 what you paid fo r it though.

[chaniarts]

thanks. i did try to reboot it by pulling the plug and letting it sit for a while. that didn't fix anything.

since it is only run at night, it had been sitting all day prior to not working. guess i'll pull off the cover and see if any water is in there or whether anything's rusting or corroded to make an intermittent problem.