Model #GLD2150RCS1,this tall tub dishwasher had been working just fine until now. The dishes were loaded and when the start button was pressed, the normal sounds occurred so the customer went off to work. When he returned, the dishwasher was full of water and none of the lights were on. Repeated pushing of buttons and resetting the circuit breaker provided no response.



The customer at this call was actually my brother, who called after taking the unit apart and coming to the conclusion the problem must lie in the control board. While he is a genius when it comes to auto repair, I suggested I stop by and have a look before he drops the money on a new control board, because once you buy it, it's yours whether you needed it or not.

I really only had one real check to make, because given his symptoms and the checks he made, if there was voltage to the board and no lights were on, then the board must be bad. Using my multimeter, I proceeded to check the voltage to the two terminals conveniently labeled as the line and neutral circuits, only to find 78 volts. As we should all know, the typical household circuit should be something in the 115 to 120 range. So whenever you find something around the 70's I usually suspect an open neutral.

In order for current to flow, there needs to be a complete circuit from what we call the hot line to a neutral line. Without this complete circuit, it is possible to measure voltage when using ground as the reference, but none of the loads will work. Figuring the neutral line of open at some point, I started at the junction box behind the access panel and worked my way to the board.

With voltage measuring good at the house connection, I continued along the wire harness to the door switches. The neutral branches off at a couple places before the switch, but they each looked to be good connections. When I got to the switch, both neutral wire connections came off easily without even trying. The switch terminals had some light oxidation so I cleaned them up and added some pressure to the connectors using my pliers. After reconnecting each wire to the switch and closing the door, the drain pump came to life quickly draining the day old water from the tub.

I also did a few other quick checks to make sure all was well, then proceeded to put the panels back in place. So now my brother has a working dishwasher again, and as I write this post, I am waiting for him to stop by to take a look at my truck.

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