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-   -   Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher model #665.1703, Flashing light-won't start (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=32571)

  • Aug 25, 2006, 11:24 AM
    L0gansm0mmy
    Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher model #665.1703, Flashing light-won't start
    I have a Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher. It will not start. The light above normal wash is flashing continuously. Any advice will be helpful.
    Our warranty ran out 9 days ago:rolleyes:
    Thank-you in advance:o
  • Sep 16, 2006, 10:33 PM
    zrocket
    My clean light was blinking on my kenmore I just pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up and the thing just started going through different settings then it all quit so I pushed normal wash and its working now.
  • Sep 17, 2006, 05:50 AM
    L0gansm0mmy
    Thank-you for your response ZRocket. Unfortunately, this was not the case for us. I do, however, appreciate your help:)
  • Sep 17, 2006, 06:39 AM
    esquire1
    Sometimes if you disconnect the power to the unit for a short period it will rest itself.
  • Sep 17, 2006, 03:35 PM
    L0gansm0mmy
    Thank-you, Esquire-we have tried this as well. More than likely we have a faulty electrical board.
  • Sep 23, 2006, 09:02 AM
    pacogomez
    I just wanted to join this discussion to express that I have similar problems (Flashing green light - no start) with the same model. I called on it and was told it would cost some $170 to have the guy come and take advantage of our recently expired warranty. Any advice would be helpful!
  • Sep 23, 2006, 12:05 PM
    L0gansm0mmy
    I am so sorry to hear you are dealing with this as well, Paco. :(
    We went out & purchased a new dishwasher from a totally different store.
    The way Sears handles all this-well, let's just say we are DONE dealing with SEARS. :mad: We didn't want to give them a dime more of our money & we gave our faulty unit to a friend of ours who is going to repair it--somehow, w/o the help of Sears.
    BEST WISHES TO YOU!! :)
  • Oct 14, 2006, 02:02 PM
    celaa
    Comment on zrocket's post
    It worked for me too!
  • Oct 23, 2006, 10:07 AM
    Hotrod
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zrocket
    my clean light was blinking on my kenmore i just pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up and the thing just started going through differant settings then it all quit so i pushed normal wash and its working now.

    Thank You.. That Worked for me too!!

    THE POWER OF THE WeB!!
  • Oct 23, 2006, 10:50 AM
    Jennybean25
    Hi, Thanks for telling me which buttons to push. I had this problem with my dishwasher about a year ago. I think what happens is I put a large pan in the rack. If the spray is not allowed to turn due to something in the way the dishwasher malfunctions. Otherwise it will burn out the motor or something. Anyway I called sears and I had a nice guy who told me how to reset it by pushing the buttons. Heated wash/heated dry a few times. All the lights will light up and the dishwasher will continue its cycle before it malfunctioned. He said let the cycle complete and then it will be ready to go. I just had this happen again and could not remember the two button to push. I tried to call and the lady told me it would be $65.00 for a tech to come out an look at it. I tried to tell her I knew what the problem was and just wanted to talk to a tech. She would not listen so I said forget it. I decided to look up the problem on the internet. I am so glad I found this site. Anyway, I will be writing down the button in my user manual. Thanks and I hope this helps people in the future. :p :p :p
  • Nov 19, 2006, 05:19 PM
    edshark
    Thank you for the fix. My my clean light was also blinking on my kenmore ultra wash and I pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up for me too and the dishwasher started up again.

    You saved my Thanksgiving.
  • Nov 21, 2006, 09:21 PM
    photusEnigma
    Wow! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKY YOU!! (and the wife absolutely loves you all and offers a place at our thanksgiving table if you can find out where we live... and also says "I love this internet thingy!"). You've saved our turkey day as well! The pushing of the heated wash and heated dry buttons one after the other in rapid succession worked like a charm! May you all have a wonderful thanksgiving... and a working dishwasher to clean up after!
  • Dec 5, 2006, 06:32 PM
    Jeffmo
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by edshark
    Thank you for the fix. My my clean light was also blinking on my kenmore ultra wash and I pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up for me too and the dishwasher started up again.

    You saved my Thanksgiving.

    I too have a Kenmore Ultra Wash dishwasher. I've had it for 15-months now and found mine in the same condition as described... clean light blinking... dishwasher not functioning.
    I cycled between the two buttons and wahlah... it came back to life. All lights luminated, it went through some cycles and finished with a quick rinse. It was good to go just moments later. Thanks for this tip
  • Dec 19, 2006, 11:41 PM
    yob2kanobe
    I had this identical problem on my 2 yr. old Kenmore elite 665.17052400 a clean light that flashed repeatedly 7 times then off. I reset as above with the heated wash and heated dry buttons, however I then noticed a reduced flow from the pump so I dissasembled the lower arm and water inlet assy. To find it mostly plugged with foregin matter and some broken glass chunks. Upon removal of that stuff and reassembly my Kenmore now works as new! Thanks for the heads up on the reset procedure.
    Yob~
  • Jan 2, 2007, 02:23 PM
    geeper
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by L0gansm0mmy
    I have a Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher. It will not start. The light above normal wash is flashing continuously. Any advice will be helpful.
    Our warranty ran out 9 days ago:rolleyes:
    Thank-you in advance:o

    I think if you push the heated wash and heated dry buttom several times until all the buttoms light up this will fix your problem
  • Jan 3, 2007, 08:51 AM
    L0gansm0mmy
    Thanks for your response, geeper. We have since given the appliance to a friend & she had it repaired. All the best to you!
  • Jan 3, 2007, 03:04 PM
    _PK_
    I've newly registered on this site and I hope it is OK if I piggy-back my question in this thread.

    I've just had installed a Kenmore Elite Ultra Wash Dishwasher and cannot for the life of me figure out how to run a rinse cycle. The manual, on multiple occasions, notes that a rinse cycle should be run -- it just never says how to do it. There is no button exclusive for "Quick Rinse"

    Hope someone can help, Thanks
  • Feb 12, 2007, 05:25 AM
    blatz
    I paid $95 from F & F Appliance Doctors in San Diego to come out and reset the clean light. Stupid me didn't check the message boards first! (or at least look at the technical data under the machine! Which also describes the reset procedure)

    Anyway, my idiot light was complaining about the heater circuit when I looked up the code. I have a Kenmore Elite Stainless model. The manual does not describe the reset procedure - you have to take off the two screws to get to the front panel and inside there is a guide that gives more technical data.

    So the appliance tech looks at the manual, resets it, collects his $95 and on his way. At first I thought this was the heater element going bad based on the clean light description failure in the manual and was calling around to someone local to see if they would sell it as I wanted it back online ASAP. Nobody had the element in stock so figured I would try to call repair places and see if someone had it. The tech convinced me over the phone that the heater element was not the problem and unfortunately I believed him.

    So the point of all this... rambling... is that the flashing clean light is telling you that something went wrong. And of course it just came back on a day later after F & F left. So don't just reset it - it is not a fluke computer glitch... something was actually wrong!!

    Thanks to Yob's tip about the dissasembly of the lower arm... however... on my model it is quite painful to do this. There were 4 holes used by the dishwasher to push debris into the chopper blade and they were clogged up with seeds and what looks to be picked garlic stems. So here is how to get at that clogged output drain... this was not the problem with the blinking light BTW but it will help with efficiency and the extension of motor life and chopper blade which I understand is difficult to replace also.

    Instructions:
    1) Remove both racks... top rack is painful - you will have to take the rear clips out... they don't come out that easy... press the tab under the clip to get it out
    2) unscrew wash arm by turning clockwise (not the normal way)
    3) take out this blue power wash doohickey
    4) take out this grey u-shaped arm that runs from top to bottom in the unit. There are steel clips on top and in back... unclip and turn the whole assembly clockwise... now you can get it out
    5) unscrew the 4 torx type screws to get out the plastic grate

    Now you can see the gunk stopping up the chopper. Clean it out and put everything back.

    Make sure in the future you are extra careful not to put any crap that might block this up again as it is a royal pain to get out the debris.

    I paid $1000 or so for this dishwasher so not torqued enough to just replace it and I don't know if any other brands are better. This kenmore is really just a whirlpool.

    OK... so I did all that and the clean light is still blinking!! ARRRGH

    I decided to call up Sears service as I just noticed there was stuff covered under the two year warranty and didn't really want to call back F & F Appliance as they didn't really fix it the first time. In their defense the green clean light did go solid before they left indicating things were OK. I still think $95 was too high for this repair and they gave me that number w/o having an estimate in advance so I could have contested but didn't as they did do something... whatever... live and learn. So Sears came out and charged me $55 to tell me the heater element was indeed bad. The way to tell if the heater is bad is to run it through the diagnosis cycle and then feel the element itself to see if it is hot. Taking out the unit to ohm it out is painful and only a secondary thing to try. If it doesn't heat up it is bad.

    Of course Sears does not have the element in stock and I have to wait a week for them to install.

    Just ordered another element on partselect.com 2-3 day shipping. Plan to cancel the follow up appt from Sears and return the element they ordered for me (which is taking a week to ship). You can also get this element on eBay for $28 with shipping so I will keep one of these on hand for the future (kind of like a spare light bulb).

    According to the tech the old heater elements from dishwashers past were very durable. But thanks to Energy Star compliance the heater element is now less durable and will fail about every year or so with normal usage. Wonderful.

    I also found this whirlpool video on another site that talks about the clean light blinking issue... just Google for it.

    Note also that the dishes will be unsanitary at the end of a cycle where the heater is bad so be sure to wash those manually rather than putting them away like me.

    Hope all this rambling helps someone. What a f&*(king pain.
  • Feb 12, 2007, 07:15 PM
    supernutritionist
    Comment on Jennybean25's post
    I had the same experience! Thanks for breaking the code!
  • Feb 12, 2007, 07:18 PM
    supernutritionist
    Sears totally rots! What a scam, they will only tell you how to fix the dishwasher panel, if you are under a service contract! I think we should start a grass roots campaign to expose them!
  • Feb 12, 2007, 07:29 PM
    blatz
    I think any reputable appliance repair shop, Sears or otherwise should just tell you the reset sequence and inform you that if it keeps happening you really have a problem and need someone on site to diagnose if you can't yourself. It did come on for a reason - not just a fluke in all cases. But in my "about to fully fail" heater element it was on it's way out so got ripped for $95 and then another $55 for a re-diagnose. IE: the first time a reset gave the solid clean, the second time the reset just resulted in another blinking clean after the element fully gave out. The problem changed over the course of a few days. I suspect my issue might be pretty common.

    My advise would be to just call up Sears first rather than a third party.
  • Feb 24, 2007, 07:49 PM
    champ1203
    Comment on zrocket's post
    Wahoo!! You guys are great. This worked for us too!.
  • Apr 2, 2007, 05:31 AM
    tgiunta
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zrocket
    my clean light was blinking on my kenmore i just pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up and the thing just started going through differant settings then it all quit so i pushed normal wash and its working now.

    zrocket, you "rock". We had this same problem about a year ago and luckily our repair call was still covered under warranty. The Sears repairman came out, pushed the buttons in sequence, then left. In our case, he said the water entering the dishwasher from our hot-water tank was too hot. I lowered the temp on our hot water and the problem didn't occur again... until last night (hopefully the hot water thing will help someone else out there scratching their heads about the green light blinking again and again). My wife couldn't remember the sequence of pushing buttons, so I was all set to call "repair" this morning and eat $100. This site and all your responses saved me time, money, aggravation, and, most importantly the dish pan hands of having to manually wash an entire load-then some ;-). Thanks!
  • Apr 2, 2007, 08:20 AM
    blatz
    Here is an update:

    1) first trip by f&f - just reset the clean light and left. Dishwasher worked temporarity - said heater element was fine
    2) light blinking 1-2 days later
    3) cleaned out chopper - filled with seeds and pickled garlic stems... good to know how to clean that but a major pain - should be easier
    4) LIGHT STILL BLINKING - finally called sears repair to diagnose. Said bad heater element as he ran the diag cycle, reached into the unit and touched the heater element which felt cold. Had to order new heater element to fix which took 10 days
    5) didn't want to wait that long so ordered one at partselect 2-3 day - made it in two
    6) had to pull out the unit to get at heater element. Finally found the true story:

    Heater element had crack in fitting where it went through bottom of unit. Crack let water seep through and corroded electrical connection. Looks like I had a small fire under there!! That is why things were intermittent - the element was hooked up by a small thread of wire until that finally caved. I soldered on a new connector as the wire was fried - hooked everything back up and it's working great!! Hope this helps someone.

    My feeling though on this dishwasher is that it is still a problem design:

    1) too hard to access or see anything underneath to diagnose - if I could have seen that electrical fire I would have known the real problem - check your unit's back heater element fitting real close for a crack - this will cause the intermittent nature of the clean light failure
    2) too hard to clean the chopper - should just be a door to access

    But everyone likes that full door, no access appearance so I guess this is driven by the marketplace - but does have a cost. I should not have had to remove the unit to make this repair. Disconnecting the electrical and water was a real pain!

    Hope this helps someone
  • May 2, 2007, 07:20 PM
    bevmartinphillips
    I have the same machine but I don't think its working correctly, HOw many minutes does it usually take for your machine to go through a normal wash cycle? My lights never go past the second on sensoring.. I have let it go for 2 hours and it never shuts off.
  • May 3, 2007, 11:59 AM
    tgiunta
    Did this problem originally start with a blinking "green" clean light? If so, did pushing heated wash-heated dry buttons work? If neither of these scenarios fit your situation, then the only advice I can offer is our machine seems to take forever to finish a cycle too; but it does finish. If yours never finishes a cycle and the green light is not blinking, I don't know where you go from here. Sorry.

    Tg
  • May 9, 2007, 07:18 PM
    DebChaffee
    My dishwasher wasn't working tonight either, same problem as everyone else flashing green light stuck, and I couldn't reset it. I called Kenmore repair and they wanted $198.00for a one year extended warranty, I told them someone helped me at Sears repair before and I knew it was only a matter of pushing a button or two and they said they couldn't help me unless I paid and if they did they would be fired... (total rip off). Anyway I told them forget it, Googled my question and found this wonderful site!! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP I PUSHED THE MORMAL WASH AND HEATED DRY AND IT WORKED!! Thanks again for this useful/helpful site :-)
  • Jul 23, 2007, 08:08 AM
    jrflyboy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by L0gansm0mmy
    I have a Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher. It will not start. The light above normal wash is flashing continuously. Any advice will be helpful.
    Our warranty ran out 9 days ago:rolleyes:
    Thank-you in advance:o

    Thank you so much for the fix! Just installed my Elite model 665.13793K602. Ran it through one cycle OK, but then got the green blinking light. I alternated pushing the Normal Wash and Heated Dry buttons until all the lights came on steady. It seems to have reset, all lights are out, and I am running it through a normal cycle. I'm looking forward to cancelling the Sears service call (BTW - a two week wait for service!). Thanks again for the info!
  • Aug 20, 2007, 06:20 AM
    lecorob
    I am currently tickled pink that I could find an answer to the green blinking light question. It worked for me and now I'll inspect the entire unit to discover if there are any other underlying problems that might need attention.
    Thank you everyone!! ;)
  • Aug 20, 2007, 03:46 PM
    FallenJJ
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zrocket
    my clean light was blinking on my kenmore i just pushed the heated wash,and the heated dry buttons one after the other for about 5 times and all the lights lit up and the thing just started going through differant settings then it all quit so i pushed normal wash and its working now.

    WOW thanks that worked perfactly! Thank you! :eek:
  • Aug 21, 2007, 03:00 PM
    amtv serv adv
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by L0gansm0mmy
    I have a Kenmore Ultra Wash Dishwasher. It will not start. The light above normal wash is flashing continuously. Any advice will be helpful.
    Our warranty ran out 9 days ago:rolleyes:
    Thank-you in advance:o

    If it is the clean light blinking call call the mfr there is a heater recall kit for that dishwasher
  • Oct 7, 2007, 08:15 AM
    kz9j2m
    I followed this and it worked perfectly - this is a great site for troubleshooting - saved another $65.00 service call!

    :)
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Hotrod
    Thank You.. That Worked for me too!!!

    THE POWER OF THE WeB!!!

  • Nov 24, 2007, 08:49 PM
    kent420
    Comment on zrocket's post
    Thank you... it worked for me too... you guys are great!
  • Dec 18, 2007, 09:30 PM
    dozer1234
    Hey Folks; Had the same problem with my Kenmore elite d/w.( CLEAN light blinks 7 times. ) After reading your posts I pushed the norm wash and heated dry buttons 3 times each and it worked. WAY TO GO TEAM I also found the serviceman's schematic taped to top of D/W. It says the unit failed to detect a heat increase in the dry or heat circuit so threw this trouble code.Has lots of diagnostic tips in it . If you're stuck, I suggest check it out. Here's HOPIN' IT'S FIXED!! Dozer Hey Thanks AMTV SERV ADV I will check that out ASAP. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
  • Jan 16, 2008, 07:28 PM
    West Siberia
    YEEHAAW!

    Thanks for the tip, it worked great! I don't want to pay Sears any more money. I had a dishwasher for 12 years, no problems, then it died, and we got this one. First the thing wouldn't work without a really loud buzzing noise, found out it was the relay on the soap dispenser. A new dispenser, that didn't fix it, then a new control board for 260.00 and now I am almost into this thing for as much as a new one. Thanks again for the fix
  • Mar 30, 2008, 02:02 PM
    whatnot
    The press 'normal wash' followed by 'heated dry' cycle five times, wait for all lights to go on and then go out worked like a charm for our dishwasher! It was inop for over 3 weeks! I finally took some time to work on it, thinking I'd need to reset a fuse or replace the heating element. Research online showed this trick, which worked like a champ! Saved me time and money! Thanks everyone!
  • Apr 2, 2008, 07:31 PM
    Guest
    Thanks so much for the reset code it worked like a charm JR
  • Apr 28, 2008, 10:07 PM
    yochanan
    The RESET sequence also fixed the touchpad problem on our Kenmore Model 665 "Limited Edition". In our case, the touchpad would only run "Quick Rinse" and "Time Saver" cycles -- no response to the "Normal Wash" button. Sears Repair gave me a choice: $75 for a service visit (plus any charges to repair) or $198 for a 1-year warranty. I googled, found the reset sequence just in time, and cancelled the appointment!

    The exact words on the touchpad vary for different models in the 665 series. In our case, the sequence is:

    "Hi Temp Scrub - Air Dry - Hi Temp Scrub - Air Dry"

    After you do that, the lights all flash on. A partial cycle may run at that point (let it). Good to go!
  • Jun 4, 2008, 08:55 AM
    blwale
    Comment on zrocket's post
    Work like a charm! Thanks for the info.
  • Jun 7, 2008, 07:23 PM
    JudgeMacDonald
    It is unethical for Kenmore or Sears not to answer questions over the phone regarding simple reset issues.

    It turns out the dishwasher is not broken and this blog was the only way we got the reset information we needed.

    Some lawyer needs to file a class action against Kenmore for the hundreds or thousands of people ripped off for a service call and probably sold un-needed parts for this reset issue.

    As I type, the dishwasher is working and this is what we did:

    Press High Temp and heated dry one after the other, about 5 times in succession. Then we hit the Start/Resume button and the cycle continued.

    This verges on fraud, if not theft from customers and has diminished the good will that we had for Sears and Kenmore.

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