Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
dial	keon14	09/06/04
Hello: I know this is of topic for this forum but I am hoping that one of you guys can help me.The dial ( The dial that you use to turn it on ) on my dishwasher keeps sticking, at different places. Today it stuck when it was filling up for the second wash and water came spilling out on the floor, luckily I was in the kitchen.The dishwasher is a general electric model, about 6 years old.Thanks Jerome
Answered By		Answered On
voiceguy2000		09/06/04
I am not sure where you are located, but here in Los Angeles this would be about a $200 - $225 service call, assuming that the motor-driven timer needs to be replaced. These appliances are controlled by a timer assembly consisting of a clock motor driving a gear train that rotates a cam assembly. Typically, there is a pawl that increments the assembly one "click" every 60 seconds. The shaft of this assembly is fed through the front panel of the appliance and has the control knob attached. The various cams operate snap-action switches that turn on and off the various relays, solenoids, valves, etc., that are used in operation of the appliance. If you stare at the dial on your appliance while it is operating, you can see the dial incrementing every minute as the appliance goes through its cycle. If the dial is not turning, it is probably not "stuck." Rather, it is most likely that the gear train or the pawl-advance mechanism has failed. Nowadays, many of these are made with hard nylon gear material, and they strip pretty easily if anything goes wrong. Nine out of ten repair techs will simply replace the timer/switch assembly. Last time I bought one of these at an appliance parts store, they ran about $75. With labor, I'm guessing you're looking at $175-$200 or so, depending on how fair the repair service chooses to be. You might consider calling a couple of places and asking for a quote on what it would cost to replace the timer/switch assembly in this unit. Some of these places will refuse to answer, and that would be sufficient reason for me not to do business with them. For those that will answer, you will now have nformation that will help you make a decision. Of course, there is a chance that something simpler and easier to fix is the problem. For example, if there is a bad connection in the power lead to the clock motor, fixing that would likely put everything right again, and the cost would be small. But I suspect the problem is more serious. Thus, just as with a six-year-old car that faces a major repair, you have to decide whether you want to invest money in your dishwasher. If the dishwasher is otherwise in good condition, then maybe it makes sense. If you are having other problems with it, or just dislike it for some reason, this may be a time to consider replacing it. My own practice is to nurse things along for a while, because most major appliances are just big boxes with fairly basic stuff inside. The newer models are just different boxes with the same innards. Because I can handle most repairs myself, that's what I do -- I repair them. But I know other people who will decide it is time to replace something the moment anything goes wrong. For them, this might be the right decision. There is an appliance repair question board here, with some other experts who may have additional ideas. You might want to find one of those and repost your question there.

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