[swearbox]

I have a whirlpool Gold Quiet Partner III dishwasher...model is GU3200XTPS3 and we've had it probably 15 years. Its been dead for a good couple of years. One day it just stopped working and I had a bit of a troubleshoot but didn't come up with anything useful so just left it alone.


Today I decided to try again to see if I could figure out whats up. If I select a program (say Normal) the Normal and Heated Dry lights come on and the Time Remaining window shows 2 horizontal dashes. If I then press start nothing happens and after about 30 secs all the lights i mentioned go out.


I have tried to put it into diagnostic mode but it won't go there. I tried Normal, Heated Dry (repeated three times) but nothing happens. Not sure where to go next with this. I had the PCB out and it looks ok, no obvious burnt parts and no blown capacitors. There are three relays on the board and I'm wondering if one of those might be shot. Basically I'm just looking for some guidance.


Thx in advance.

 

[Old Thomas]

15 years is ancient. We buy a medium quality dishwasher every 4 to 5 years.

 

[swearbox]

15 years is ancient. We buy a medium quality dishwasher every 4 to 5 years.

Congrats on your affluence.

 

[Chris616]

The operating manual says that:

“On models with a dual-digit display, the control displays “- -“ during a cycle if it believes the door is not latched”.

That matches your description of the “2 horizontal dashes”. I wouldn’t have thought that the unit would turn itself off after 30 seconds, so this may be a red herring, but I’d look into the switch that the dishwasher uses to determine if the door is latched.

Chris

https://www.whirlpool.com/content/dam/global/documents/200407/owners-manual-8535541.pdf

 

[Colbyt]

Control board driven unit? Most likely. Turn off the breaker for 30 minutes and then reboot. This resets all error codes or user errors.


The latch assembly is a common failure point.

 

[swearbox]

The operating manual says that:

“On models with a dual-digit display, the control displays “- -“ during a cycle if it believes the door is not latched”.

That matches your description of the “2 horizontal dashes”. I wouldn’t have thought that the unit would turn itself off after 30 seconds, so this may be a red herring, but I’d look into the switch that the dishwasher uses to determine if the door is latched.

Chris

https://www.whirlpool.com/content/dam/global/documents/200407/owners-manual-8535541.pdf

Good spot...I had the front control panel hinged off and the latch does look a bit loose however I physically held the mechanism so that the micro switches were made and tried to run the thing but the display didn't change...just did the same as I reported earlier.

 

[swearbox]

Control board driven unit? Most likely. Turn off the breaker for 30 minutes and then reboot. This resets all error codes or user errors.


The latch assembly is a common failure point.

Yes it has a control board which I've had out to examine. There's no obvious signs of damage or burning but that doesn't mean its not dead. The only thing that seems to work is if I hit the Cancel button...it attempts to drain the unit (though there's no water in there to drain).

 

[swearbox]

I'm going to call this thread closed. I removed the door latch mechanism and in so doing I found that the plastic anchors for the screws to secure the mechanism to the back of the control panel are shot so its now impossible to secure the door latch which obviously isn't going to help me any. I'm looking to find a whole new front panel and then go from there. Thanks all for your contributions.

 

[Old Thomas]

Congrats on your affluence.

Not affluence. A decent dishwasher that gets dishes clean is between $300 and $400. If mine dies, I see if it is something obvious that is easy to diagnose and cheap to fix. If not, we go shopping. The last one I fixed I screwed around as much as you have and then called for help. It needed a motor that would have been over half the cost of a new one. I tossed it out but still paid for a service call. Not rich, just realistic about trying to coax more life from a dishwasher while my wife makes me wash dishes if I don’t buy another. Same with the clothes washer. My wife says to fix it now or I get to go to the laundromat. I go appliance shopping.

 

[lenaitch]

There was a TV consumer show on tonight (CBC Marketplace) that seems to suggest that 15 years is beyond the average for life expectancy of major appliances these days. Many people can't get much more than 4 or 5 years. Not only is reliability/durability the issue but also parts availability. On example of a, I think, two or three year old fridge, had a failed compressor but parts were 'no longer available'.

In Europe, they are passing 'right to repair' legislation which requires parts to be available for 10 years.
All of our major appliances are 25 years old - I hope they keep chugging along but am under no illusion what will happen come the day.