What Could Be Wrong When a Dishwasher Only Fills

You load up your dishwasher and you hear it filling, that is always a good sign. Unfortunately, it appears to fill just fine, but after the water stops flowing, so does everything else. Your dishwasher fills with water and then nothing else happens. There is no noise or no attempt to wash your dishes. It still drains fine when you abort the cycle, but no washing or rinsing is happening.

If these are your symptoms, then your problem is most likely with the motor. If the washer fills with water and also drains just fine, that rules out a lot of parts. The part that isn’t triggering is the motor that actually pushes the water through your spray arm in order to wash the dishes. Everything else is working as designed except the parts that depend on the motor.

The biggest giveaway here is the fact that you don’t hear anything after the water stops. If the motor was at least trying to work, it will make some noise. If it has gone out, then there will be no hum or any noise at all. The good news is that replacing a motor in your dishwasher is fairly simple and can be done without unmounting the dishwasher. You will, however, want to disconnect the water and electricity before attempting the replacement for safety reasons. You will need to remove the lower spray arm as well as the assembly to remove the bolt that holds it to the motor. The motor itself will be accessed behind the kick plate. Once the spray arm assembly bolt is removed, you can remove the motor after disconnecting the drain hose and wire harnesses from it. Be sure the area is thoroughly dry before installing a replacement motor. There may be some water lingering in the drain hose when you unhook it.