Maytag dishwasher with flashing lights

[troydog]

Hello and thanks for your help. I have a Maytag dishwasher model MDB5100AWQ, with two flashing lights which occured after it's last wash cycle. The clean light and rinse only light flash together. I can not turn them off and The dishwasher will not start any cycle. I have turned the breaker off and pressed every button on the panel. Nothing has chnged anything thus far. This happened after the last wash cycle which was not interrupted or delayed. In the morning both lights were flashing together, dishes were clean and dishwasher was emptied. Lights have not turned off and dishwasher is inoperable as well. Thanks for any and all help Jim

[Dan O.]

Maytag dishwasher model MDB5100AWQ, with two flashing lights which occured after it's last wash cycle. The clean light and rinse only light flash together. I can not turn them off and The dishwasher will not start any cycle.

I don't know about on that make of dishwasher, but on other brands, 2-flashing indicators light often indicate a 'stuck' button on the control panel. In such a case the dishwasher will cease operate until the cause is corrected.

You could try looking on the appliance's 'tech sheet' which should be with its wiring diagram. On electronically controlled models there are usually diagnostic tips and explanations of error messages and codes for that specific model.

JFYI

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[troydog]

Dishwasher flashing lights

Thanks for your help Dan. That makes sense, I'll look into probably means control board is stuck, this model is all electronic. Thank you Jim

[Dan O.]

Control *Panel* (aka keyboard)

I'll look into probably means control board is stuck, this model is all electronic.

I said the control *panel* (see the following link) NOT the control 'board' (aka electronic control).

LINK > Maytag MDB5100AWQ Control Panel

The flimsy membrane switches used in them often fail. It's those keys that get 'stuck' making a shorted contact which the control tries to indicate as best it can.

I don't know for certain that is the cause in your case but as I said, check the unit's tech sheet for possible diagnostic tips.

JMO

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

.

[HayZee518]

what ever happened to the good ol hardwired appliances. at least you'd be able to follow a lead wire from a terminal to a device. can't do that with printed circuits
mechanical toggle switches worked, they occasionally locked but some wd-40 usually fixed them.

[Dan O.]

Electronic appliance controls

I've been saying for years that the electronics used in appliance's are headaches... and expensive to replace when they fail (if you can figure out if they're the cause at all). I guess manufactures can save a couple of cents during manufacturing not needing to pay someone to install individual wires but instead just plug in a single ribbon connector?

JMO

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[captain4]

Possible fix

Hello and thanks for your help. I have a Maytag dishwasher model MDB5100AWQ, with two flashing lights which occured after it's last wash cycle. The clean light and rinse only light flash together. I can not turn them off and The dishwasher will not start any cycle. I have turned the breaker off and pressed every button on the panel. Nothing has chnged anything thus far. This happened after the last wash cycle which was not interrupted or delayed. In the morning both lights were flashing together, dishes were clean and dishwasher was emptied. Lights have not turned off and dishwasher is inoperable as well. Thanks for any and all help Jim

I had a similar problem on my Maytag dishwasher (same model) and was able to fix it by turning the breaker off for a minute or so, then pressing all of the buttons on the front panel sequentially from left to right. By the time I got to the Normal Rinse button, the flashing stopped and I was able to run a normal wash cycle.

[daldrich68]

re: flashing lights

Just wanted to add that, I too, pressed the buttons sequentially from left to right and the flashing stopped, and the dishwasher ran normally afterwards.
Thanks for the info!
-dj

[ficustree34]

Maytag MDB5100AWQ with Three Flashing Lights

You know, I read this thread and thought, "No way pushing the buttons in sequential order from left to right will fix this problem." But it did.

Thank you.

(Note: I did throw the breaker for a minute first, too, but I don't think this had anything to do with it because the lights continued to flash when I turned the power back on.)

[Dan O.]

"No way pushing the buttons in sequential order from left to right will fix this problem." But it did.

If there was a 'stuck' button causing the symptom maybe that procedure unstuck it?

Glad to hear it seems to have worked for a couple of people now. Thanks for the follow up.

JMO

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[ficustree34]

If there was a 'stuck' button causing the symptom maybe that procedure unstuck it?

I know it sounds kind of ridiculous, but it was the sequence that worked. I mean, before I found this thread, I pushed the buttons. I pushed them all a number of times, I held them down for several seconds at a time, I pushed all three blinking buttons at the same time - nothing stopped the blinking. That is, nothing until I pushed the buttons in sequence from left to right. The moment I hit the last button on the right, everything went back to normal. Go figure.

[Pt9]

Flashing rinse only and clean lights

Pushing the buttons left to right fixed my stuck Maytag dishwasher. Thanks captain4. I didn't need to switch the breaker off.

[marclnh]

pressing all of the buttons on the front panel sequentially from left to right

Brilliant. Thank you SO much! I had tried holding the power button down for 30 seconds but it didn't occur to me to try pressing all the buttons. It worked as advertised and saved me the cost of a new dishwasher (It's old enough I wasn't going to invest in repairs.)

I suspect this is the "Catch 'em and extort repair or replacement money from them" feature activating.

[Cherokee1113]

Saweet!!!!!!!!

I was so bummed out this evening thinking that I would have to spend money on a repair or a replacement. THANK YOU THANK YOU captain4!!!