[neal rhea]

My Maytag dishwasher was full of calcium and other debris. I took it apart and cleaned it out, thinking that it might resolve my problem. It did not. The water inlet is working fine as well as the drain pump. However the motor is not coming on to distribute the water throughout the machine. The fill control switch (float) on the bottom seems to work and the motor looks good (no burnt spots with all wires attached). There is another eletronic part on the bottom of the washer that appears to have some gunk in it? I can't find a parts breakdown to find out what that part does or is called. Any ideas on what the problem might be?
Thanks

[PS Staff - Sheila]

The other device on the bottom is a thermostat that senses temperature.

If the motor is not starting check it with an ohm meter.

You should 3 to 4 ohms of resistance.

To check this go between the blue wire and the yellow wire.

If the resistance is high replace the motor.

Here is a link to your dishwasher model mdb5600awb.

[neal rhea]

I found the problem with the motor not pushing water around. The threaded plastic sleeve that is screwed onto the motor shaft was stripped. I believe the threads were stripped as a result of gunk build up in the bottom of the dishwasher. However, I don't understand why Maytag would make such an important vital part out of plastic, when it obviously needed to be made out of something stronger (metal).