Kenmore dishwasher clean light flashes 7x, won't turn on

[neustkg]

Our Kenmore Dishwasher (Model #665.16022403) isn't turning on.  If you select say the Potscrubber cycle, and whatever drying cycle, then hit the start button, nothing happens.  What I am seeing is that the green clean light (bottom light that comes on green when the dishwasher is finished) is continuously flashing 7X instead of a solid light.  When you hit the start button, the red light flashes 3x every time you hit that botton.  I've tried unplugging the dishwasher, but that didn't reset it.

[bigbuck]

Problem with heat circuit

[LowSL2]

Either the heater coil is open (burned out) or the heat circuit in the control board has fried. Check those first.

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[tgoods]

Look behind the kick panel for the tech sheet.  Press Heated Dry, Normal, Heated Dry, Normal to clear the code.  Run it again to see if the code returns. If it does, you probably have a bad heater.  If the code doesn't return, the door may not have been closed completely.

[neustkg]

OK, I noticed a lot of dry soap buildup on the door gasket, so I cleaned that off completely and wiped down where the door touches the gasket.  Then I pressed Heated Dry, Normal, Heated Dry, Normal and it cleared the code.  I started it up and it's ran 2 loads successfully, but it stopped and gave the flashing light 7x again.  Cleared the code and ran another load successfully.  It could be that the door isn't being closed completely (we all have a habit of pushing on one side or the other) and a sensor may not be getting full contact.

I do notice that after I start a load, if I open the door a few times in the first 20 minutes and quickly touch the heater element, it isn't hot at all.  But we do keep our hot water very very hot, so it may not need to heat the water.

I need to borrow a multimeter from work and remove the heating element and check to see if it is burned out.

[tgoods]

It's probably a burnt out heater,8563007. The newer models will run three times with no heat before it will throw the code. Borrow a clamp on ammeter if you can.  Clamp the meter around the incoming power wire and do the Heated Dry, Normal dance again.  Let it go through the diagnostic cycle and look for at least a 7 amp draw at some point during the cycle.  If you don't see at least 7 amps, the heater is not coming on.

[neustkg]

Is that without removing the dishwasher or the heating element?  With the heating coil in the dishwasher?

[tgoods]

Clamp it onto the black or white wire coming out of the junction box at the front of the dishwasher, behind the kick panel.

[neustkg]

OK, I brought home a multimeter from work yesterday and today I purchased a replacement heating element at a local parts place.  I unplugged the dishwasher (luckily not hard wired), disconnected the water (had a bit of a scare as the pressure fit cut off valve started leaking, but I was able to tighten the packing nut and it was fine after that) and the drain tube (just an elbow like my washing machine drain).  Removed the kickplate and unscrewed dishwasher from the countertop and raised the leveling nuts and slowly pulled it out and laid it on the floor.  I tried to get a reading after removing the electrical leads but didn't have a lot of luck, so I removed the heating element and put it on the countertop and was able to attach the leads using alligator clip attachments.  No resistance reading.  Pulled out the new heating element and hooked it to the multimeter and got a reading of 11.5 on resistance setting.  So I knew my heating element had burned out.  Installed the new one and cleaned out the space where the dishwasher goes (was pretty dirty) and pushed it back in, trying to make sure the sides were away from the cabinet enough that the door wouldn't bind when shutting.  Hooked up everything, dropped the leveling nuts and reattached the kickplate and attached the dishwasher to the countertop.

Filled the dishwasher with another load and turned it on.  Opened the door a few times to feel the heating element (learned that the first 10-15 minutes is the pre-rinse cycle, so no heat) and after about 20 minutes, could feel that the heating element was getting hot, so I think I'm back in business.

Thanks everyone.

[tgoods]

Good job, thanks for the update.