What could be wrong with my dishwasher?

Check you settings, is it going all the way through the cycles? Is it being loaded so that the water is not obstructed or blocked?

And a big one, are you able to see if the rotating sprayers, top and bottom, are rotating? If they don’t move they’ll spray water all over inside but not in a way that hits the dishes or rinses the dishes directly.

I’ve heard that this is a problem with the new phosphate free detergents. See if your dishwasher has a place to add a rinse agent. That may help.

If the dishes are getting thick streaks of undissolved soap, then I’m guessing you have a problem with the pump. That would also explain why the thing sounds like a cement mixer. No amount of rinse aid is going to substitute for a lack of water in the first place.

Is this a newly connected dishawasher?

If you turn it on and wait about a minute and then open it is there water that has actually flowed in? It sounds like possibly the water is not connected correctly.

The dishwasher is old as the hills. Steam coming out of it would tell me there is water, but the dishes seem dryer than you would expect when the cycle is done. Maybe @snowberry is right, could be the pump.

Hard water? Could be causing clogs and affecting how it runs. It happens to mine, and also leaves my dishes cloudy looking. I run vinegar through it almost every cycle in the “rinse aid” compartment. You can also run CLR through (and do a few rinse cycles.)

May be your dishwasher isn’t draining properly before the rinse cycle and needs to be cleaned out. Another reason could be the quality of water,if you have very soft/hard water, that can leave cloudy deposits.You can try Lemi-Shine with your normal dish detergent. It works well.

The first thing that I would check is the drain. Make sure that it’s not blocked, preventing the wash water from draining prior to the rinse cycle. If there’s too much wash water left, then the sprayer bar may be trying to turn through undrained water instead of spinning freely in air. That would prevent a proper rinse, which seems to be what you’ve described. (It sounds like the wash is working more or less okay.)

There should be a drain plate in the machine, with either a basket trap or a drilled plate. Make sure that there’s nothing blocking that. If that’s not the problem, then there could still be a problem with the drain hose, which generally runs upward and then downward into your sink’s P-trap. (Since you haven’t mentioned a problem with the P-trap or the sink drain, then I’d expect any drain problems to be in the hose itself.)

One additional part of the drain system to check would be the siphon break, which is generally a fixture on the sink upper surface. The dishwasher needs to have an air gap in the drain hose, or it’s possible that a siphon can be set up that would suck all of the water out of the dishwasher when a drain gets started. The air gap prevents that from happening (as it is intended to), but if it gets blocked (since it’s exposed to the air at the sink, after all), then it can interfere with the drain system for the appliance.

Wow, you guys are so smart! Thanks for all the advice. I was just going to replace the dang thing until I checked on prices, which aren’t bad until you add installation. It could very well be hard water buildup in the jets. I will try the CLR thing. Also, will check to make sure there is water. Second, I will go through the steps that @CWOTUS gave above. Thanks so much for taking the time to type those up for me @CWOTUS ! I appreciate it.

If it makes a lot of noise it could be that the spray bar, that sprays the water on all the dishes, is broken and banging around instead of spraying the water on the dishes. That would leave soap on the dishes because it is not spraying the wash or rinse water on the dishes.

Thanks, I will check that, too.

Is it draining correctly?

Yes, when it is done it has no water in it. The dishes seem dryer than what you would expect, but you can tell there has been water in there.

Maybe the SUPPLY line is clogged or crimped? How old us the dishwasher? Do you have hard water? Have you looked under your sink to see if any supply lines have a crease in them?

I am going to look tonight when I get home.

Sometimes a dishwasher does not drain completely after each cycle. There is usually a soft food disposer that can get so clogged with excess food and soap particles that it slows the draining process. If you are mechanically inclines or know someone who is, you can clean this out and put it back together and the dishwasher will run like new again. If you have hard water, you will need to install a water softener so that your laundry washing machine will work properly as well.

Electric appliances have a general life expectancy. It isn’t as long as you might wish. I’m having to have mine replaced at about 20 years. Check yours on Google.

Um, my dishwasher is 18 years old. It is about at the end of it’s life.

No phospate mandate has many people stumped. Also these silly HE dishwashers only have 1 or 2 finishing rinses. You may need to give your dishes more finishing rinses manually. We do. Our dishes don’t come out streaked, but left to the dishwasher’s own programming, the dishes are never thoroughly rinsed. I don’t want to eat and drink traces of rinse-aid, and detergent, thank you.

TSP is still sold in stores. You might want to buy some and add it to your detergent. Make sure you are not using too much detergent as well. Play with other additives to, until you find one that works. (e.g.—in small amounts—> borax, baking soda, citric acid, vinegar, lemon juice)