Drawer open/close sensing is an optical detector. There's a infrared emitter and detector on the control board. Look on the right side of the drawer, at the top just behind the front panel for the emitter and detector tubes (just the ends of them are visible). When the drawer is closed, the tubes match to a prism in the cabinet frame that picks up the beam from the emitter tube, bends and feeds it into the detector tube.

There are spring latches at the back-end of the drawer support rails. The latch releases when the drawer is open, catches when closed to help hold it closed. Not uncommon that a latch somehow gets flipped closed when the drawer is open, then doesn't catch when the drawer is closed and prevents it from seating fully.

Thanks!

Unfortunately it seems those things are all in order. The machine has come a little loose in its mounting though. I blame the installer (moi). Maybe it's a little askew and the sensors are not lining up quite right?

I guess I'll use the bottom drawer until this weekend when I'll get to reinstall the machine. For the record, my horrible DIY installation has lasted longer and performed better than any of the "professional" installations I've had on previous DDs. =/

(Except the the teenager FP sent out to do warranty work after a plumber broke a previous DD--that kid was good even though he used his phone for a level.)

Most of the problems it seems are with installation. We did our own and i insisted to add extra support rails, (metal perforated in wood box surround, long L brackets) I had read about the issue and the supplied 'supports' did not seem enough. I can see it possibly working loose over time. If cabinets are not solid wood but a composite material, that might cause an issue over time. I never really though of it, but if you have kids, get appliances without any handles. Get flush mount so they do not run through the kitchen and 'monkey bar' your appliances. : )

Our install is a little unorthodox but we thought we'd have it in a remodeled kitchen by now. :)

The cabinetry is almost a inch thick plywood but the hole is too short and too wide. I don't remember what we used for cleats but apparently they weren't good enough. And we had to use substitute feet. I'd hate to attempt a warranty claim. Hehe!

That didn't do it. It's pretty square. Still won't acknowledge being closed. The grabby things in the back are positioned properly.

Any suggestions or is it time for me to call in a repair job? Living off the bottom half of the dishwasher is getting old fast (but I'm glad it works)!

Thanks!

Confirm that there isn't any food debris obstructing the sender & receiver light pipes on side of the tub, and that the prism is not missing from the cabinet frame or loose from proper position.

The tub-home sensor can be checked via diagnostics ... but can't say that'll do much good under the circumstances.

Standard model (LCD) or integrated model (front panel badge, no LCD)?

Open drawer. Turn off power. Press & hold Lock, then press Start at the same time for several seconds for a beep.
- All cycle lights turn on
- LCD turns on, shows all symbols

Press Power once for hardware test mode.
- All cycle lights still on
- LCD shows HO

Drawer closed
- LCD shows lock symbol
- integrated badge, keylock light on

Drawer open
- LCD does not show lock symbol
- integrated badge, keylock light off

Press Power repeatedly (three times?) until off to exit diagnostics.

Only other test could be done is swap the controller boards between top and bottom drawer, check if problem moves along. Replace bad board.

I can send a service manual via e-mail if you want a copy. Send a msg to me via GardenWeb.

Thanks, D.

It's the standard LED version.

It refuses to show the lock symbol under any of those tests--not even when everything is supposed to be displayed. It just blinks off immediately.

Is it difficult to swap out the boards? I'd hate to break it and have both drawers non-cooperative. :)

I'll message you for a manual. I really appreciate it! Thanks!

My prism came loose. It's on the right side just inside the rubber seal and lines up with the two optical sensors. I pulled the drawer out, placed it back in place and it was good to go.

The prism behind the rubber seal which detects door closed has fallen out. I can’t see what way it fits so that I can place it back on and have the dishwasher up and running again. Can anyone offer any pictures or assistance in terms of how to put this back? Thank you. (F&P double draw dishwasher)

The drawer (upper or lower, whichever is affected) must be removed for access to replace the prism into the frame.

First photo shows the location of the light pipes on the right side of the control board inside the front of the drawer and the location of the prism in the frame.

Second photo shows the prism orientation. Taped on the outside of the frame for reference but, of course, it goes INSIDE the frame. The nubs on the side of the prism match into the little holes in the frame to anchor it.

Your prism is an updated design with a little tab extension on one end. The prism is supposed to have a slight upward tilt and my guess is yours mounts with the tab at the bottom to insure there's proper tilt. You have a double-drawer unit so you might have a look at the other prism that's in place to check the orientation of the tab.

Be careful when refitting the prism so as to not break off the tab or anchor nubs.

Great advice - the dishwasher works again.

I found the service manual here:

http://pdfstream.manualsonline.com/0/055b4614-2087-4be8-ae79-5d26b5a712b3.pdf

I knew that the LED for one of my drawers was not working. My cell phone camera could see one light up but not the other (cell phones can detect infrared better than your eye.) Rather than spend $200 on a new controller, I opened it up and re-soldered the connection to the LED and sensor. Started working again!

Any tips on how best to resolder this?

I just used a soldering iron to heat up and melt the solder joints that were already there, maybe added a touch more solder but barely. If that doesn't do the trick, there's probably some kind of LED that could be used as a substitute but I was lucky I didn't have to persue that, or buy a whole new controller.

Thanks for all this info. Two minor corrections:

1. After the LCD screen says HO, you have to press Play to get the door switch to toggle the lock icon.
2. The service manual link is dead, but is in the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023231/http://pdfstream.manualsonline.com/0/055b4614-2087-4be8-ae79-5d26b5a712b3.pdf

My own prism was just slightly out of alignment with the sensor, so the drawer only thought it was closed if you pulled it open by a millimeter. I just added some duct-tape padding and now it seems to work.

Awesome thread, thanks for the info, and for the updated service manual link.

Mine just needed the solder joints refreshed. They didn't look bad, but touching them up with the soldering iron did the trick all the same :-)

An update: I think the slight misalignment of my prism was only a problem because my IR emitter was much dimmer than it was supposed to be. My padding worked for a few weeks but then the alignment got touchier and touchier (as, I think, the emitter continued to dim) until I couldn't get it to register as "closed" at all.

I did as others suggested, and reflowed the solder joints on the emitter. Now it's much brighter, and I don't have to mess with the alignment at all. (Like David Oborn, I thought the joint looked fine to my naked eye. I couldn't manage to get it under my microscope because I was afraid of damaging the flex cable on the side.)

J'ai eu le même problème et votre solution à bien fonctionnée. Il faut juste être très délicat quand on refait la soudure... J'ai rajouter un petit peu de flux à soudure pour aider!

Merci beaucoup pour votre aide.

My Dishdrawer DD603 is approaching 20 years old. The lower drawer has within the past year exhibited a problem of pausing a running cycle every 4 to 7 mins. No fault code. It typically woudn't resume until after a few to several mins wait. The problem caused the lower drawer to essentially be unusable so I've been running only the top drawer. I assumed the issue is related to loosening of the solder on the IR emitter or receiver on the control board as discussed above. [Note: It'd run for as long as I left it going manually via diagnostic mode (fill in some water, close the lid, run the pump in recirculate mode) because apparently the drawer-closed sensor is ignored in diagnostic operation, except for the specific test on the drawer-closed/open sensor.]

The upper drawer had continued to run OK, until recently I found a running cycle/load had apparently aborted at some point before the main wash period. I restarted it, it ran through OK. Then a couple days ago I caught it again at the moment a pause occurred. Hmmm. Restarted, it finished.

I decided to investigate the problem on the lower drawer, after having put it off for probably a year. I found that the shell/housing that encloses the control board has become brittle, deteriorated with age and the mounting/anchor clips were broken, resulting in the module dropping down out of proper position, which 1) causes misalignment of the IR emitter and receiver with respect to the light pipes that interface to the prism and 2) non-function of the cycle selection capacitive touchbuttons. I improvised a way to prop the module up and anchor it in proper position. Investigation of the upper drawer found the same problem, a couple of the anchor clips on the control module/housing had broken and it was misaligned. Both drawers are now back to normal operation. Perhaps this information will be useful for others folks who find this thread.

Tony, dadoes, and others, thank you for the diagnosis and method for the open/close drawer (tub) problem. A cold/failed solder joint on the optical sensor emitter was exactly the cause of the problem on my DD24. You and others here who contributed to this thread saved me (and probably several others!) hundreds of dollars in parts and service charges. You guys are great :)

Cheers,

-Joe