The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: slugsworth on July 29, 2017, 03:01:41 PM
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I have a two year old dishwasher that stopped working. No lights, no indication of power anywhere. I was super busy with work so I called a repair guy to come out who told me it was the control panel, before quoting too much to fix it. So I ordered the panel and installed it, which was pretty easy. . . But the no change. Any ideas diy Mustachians??
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Wow, not a lot of info to go on... I assume the repairman checked to make sure the power was getting to the machine (circuit breaker, wiring).
Repairclinic.com has troubleshooting guides. We've also found lots of help on youtube.
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Search for the repair manual for your exact model (not the user manual or installation manual, but the manual that the repair people use). Even if the unit looks lifeless there may be a special sequence of button pushes that can put it into a diagnostic mode.
If that fails I would very carefully use a voltmeter to check power, starting at the outlet (had a friend who very nearly replaced a dryer before figuring out that there was a breaker box he didn't know about that had tripped), then checking power to the controller (could be a bad power supply), and so on. But don't to this if you're not comfortable working with electricity and don't blame me if you get yourself electrocuted!
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If I were to wildly guess based on my own problems, I'd guess thermal fuse. These are easy to test... put a multimeter on the thermal fuse and see if you have continuity. If not, it's blown. Mine used to blow every 6 months -- almost from when I bought it. I finally got tired of it and replaced it.
Normally, I don't think I'd replace a control panel. They're usually $300 on up. At that point, I'd buy a new dish washer.
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The control panel for our 14 year old Maytag was <$150.
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The control panel for our 14 year old Maytag was <$150.
That's good to hear. When I priced the mother board for our Whirlpool (which is now the maker of Maytag), the cheapest price I could find was around $300. I had issues paying that for a dishwasher that was already breaking every 6 months.
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Any way of testing that your new control panel isn't bad?
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Did you return the replacement panel?
I agree with the others. Sounds like power. Mine has 2 different locations where it needed to be wire (attaching wires to terminals).
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I haven't returned the replacement panel. I just haven't had time to try to test it yet. I haven't been able to find a repair manual - if anyone has info on where to find that I would be all ears.
I'll double check the fuse. . . Thanks to all for their help/ideas!
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What's the make/model?
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Often there is a rudimentary manual hidden inside. I believe on my last model had one in a plastic sleeve stuck to the back side of the toe kick. I've also seen them stuck to the back side of the door (between the inner and outer door panel. (My washer and dryer had similar manuals -- targeted towards a repair man working on it.)
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What's the make/model?
Maytag MDB4949SDM
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What's the make/model?
Maytag MDB4949SDM
Have you checked the thermal fuse? Maytag is made by Whirlpool... and I would bet it has many of the same issues.
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I know this is an old one, but I figured I would share my success/dumb luck. As I mentioned in the original post, my dishwasher broke, I replaced the control panel which is basically the CPU of the machine and nothing happened. Well out of nowhere it started working and seems fine now. I'm hoping that the new panel needed a power cycle to get going, but happy it worked!
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Woot woot!
Let us know if it keeps working (or not!)