I hope someone can diagnose this for me and tell me if it’s worth paying for a service call or just getting a new one or fix it myself. The machine is just over ten years old which may be the life expectance of shitty appliences these days. It’s an under the counter cheap Sears model.
It’s one of those kinds where you put powdered soap in a tray the closes and also in a little bucket that pours into the bottom of the machine when you close the door.
Lately, after the cycle is completed, there is still food stuck to some of the dishes and there is a pile of gunky powdered soap on the bottom corner of the machine right where would be released when the door is closed (could be from the second cycle also.)
Is this an easy fix or do we have to go back to Sears?
Here’s a handy starting point for doing some basic diagnostics and repair of dishwashers. In your case, it might be that something is clogged or the sprayers are not rotating. Check those topics and the FAQ in the link.
We had this problem about a year or so ago. It was a water flow problem, and it actually turned out to be a problem with our water heater. Here’s the deal – there’s a tube (I think they called it a dip tube) that is made of some sort of PVC pipe and it brings the cold water in to the bottom of the water heater tank. On some heaters, like ours, the tube started to disintegrate. Apparently the line into the dishwasher started clogging up with little PVC particles, restricting the flow of water into the dishwasher. As the repairman explained it to me, the dishwasher fill cycle is based on a timer, not necessarily water level. So the problem was that the dishwasher wasn’t filling completely, which is why the soap compartment wasn’t emptying out, why the dishes in the top rack always seemed to be dirty after the dishwasher ran, etc.
Another clue to look for to see if the “dip tube” in the water heater is the problem – check your faucets and shower heads to see they are also clogging up with little white particles.