Frigidaire, poor washing quiz question

[tgoods]

Have an 18 month old Frigidaire built Kenmore, model 587.15269900. The complaint is very poor cleaning, said it's been that way since it was new.  I ran the dishwasher and found almost no spray from the lower spray and very weak spray from the upper spray arms. What is wrong with this dishwasher?

[ohmslaw]

I would look at the circulation motor.

[tgoods]

Nope. I'll give you a hint, Frigidaire dishwashers don't send water to all of the spray arms at the same time.

[domain]

Check Ball issue??

[tgoods]

Ding, ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! The check ball was missing. According to the tenant, it's never worked right since it was new.  Two "technicians" looked at it under warranty.  The first one said nothing was wrong, the second one said he fixed it.  I knew what was wrong before I even pulled a tool from my bag.

[domain]

I am awesome.  How do you check spray from each arm? Clear plexi?

[tgoods]

I open the door really fast and try to catch the spray arms spinning.  I sometimes get sprayed in the face and there's water to wipe off the floor, but it works.

[RegUS_PatOff]

... How do you check spray from each arm? Clear plexi?

Plexiglas

[tgoods]

I need one of those.


I've a got another stumper, if anyone wants to try.  It's about a 10 year old GE dishwasher. Don't know the model number but it's a bottom of the line, mechanical timer, plastic tub, round dispenser cover.  Complaint is it doesn't clean very well. He also said he's been there three months and rinse aid dispenser is still full, the level hasn't changed. What is wrong?

[haroldsappliance]

Spring tab is broke off. U can drill a small hole to attach spring or put small screw for spring attachment.

[haroldsappliance]

And or seal faces stuck.

[tgoods]

Sometimes we fix the appliance, sometimes we fix the appliance user.

[tgoods]

The detergent was closing fine. For the broken spring mounting post, I put a zip tie around the timer post and attach the spring to it. Then I adjust it to the same tension. 


When I saw that the dispenser door was working properly, I told him that there was no way the rinse aid dispenser was not working.  The design is too simple to not work.  So I closed the detergent door, closed the door but didn't latch it.  Advanced the timer all way through.  I opened the door and showed him the blue streaks of Jetdry on the door panel. It was at this point he told me he doesn't use the detergent dispenser. Finally, problem solved.  I informed him that by not using the dispenser, he was washing his dishes with a 5 minute lukewarm pre-rinse, rather than the designed 25 minute 140 degree wash and that's why his dishes were not getting clean.