Kenmore ultra washer II 1993 two months ago white chalky film on all dishes. cleaned out used vinegar running hot water first, gel pacs, what's wrong

This due in part with the government mandate to remove phosphates from detergent.
Several things can be done to improve the clean appearance of your dishes.
1. Start a wash cycle with no dishes and no soap. Once the wash cycle has stated and water is circulating,open the door and pour in one quart of white vinegar and resume the wash cycle.
2. Use a detergent named FINISH.
3. Use only the recommended amount of detergent.
4. Periodically use a product named LemiShine.
Taking these steps will improve the quality and appearance of the dishes.
On a final note: too hot water temperature can cause etching in glasses and only a lower water temp will prevent new glasses from etching.

hello,

If your dishes are coming out of the dishwasher covered by a removable dirty film, your water may not be hot enough, or you could be using an inferior brand of automatic dishwashing detergent. If you have tested your hot water and find it is between 140 degrees and 160 degrees Fahrenheit, consider how long it takes for the hot water to reach the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. If the hot water has to travel a long distance to reach the dishwasher, chances are the water filling the dishwasher starts out cold. To alleviate this problem, run the hot water nearest to your dishwasher until the water coming out is hot. This will guarantee the water filling the dishwasher is as hot as it should be to properly clean dirty dishes.

To remove this type of film from dirty dishes, after running the dishes through a basic rinse cycle, set a bowl filled with a cup or two of white vinegar on the lowest rack of the dishwasher. Remove any metal pans or utensils, and with the vinegar on the bottom rack, wash the dishes as usual. Dirty dishes that were once covered in film should come out squeaky clean
hope this help?
thanks.

Yes. pour two cups of white vinegar into the empty machine. Run your hottest and longest cycle. Always turn on the hot water in the sink and let it run as hot as it will get before you start your machine.

This will clean your machine. Repeat this cleaning as often as necessary. J.

Run a hot wash without the dishes and a quart of white vinegar plus detergent which should wash out any oily film left by the water folks when they were 'fixing' whatever. You may have to do this several times until the water runs clean as before. Hope this helps!

are you using palmolive eco liquid detergent? if so - google "palmolive eco white residue" and you will find out that your detergent is the culprit. the solution is to use 1/2 cup of vinegar in your rinse cycle and soap dish and STOP USING PALMOLIVE ECO!

I think I can help. We have the same dishwasher and we have very hard water. The dry powder detergents don't work well. We have found Cascade All in One Gel detergent works best and we use only a little; don't go beyond the first mark in the detergent dispenser, regardless what the instructions say. We have found using more of any detergent makes white film. Don't fill up the pre-wash side either. The Cascade All in One Gel does both at one time, so no need to put some in the pre-wash side. Also keep Jet Dry in the rinse dispenser and make sure it is set up higher, turn the arrow to 4. Try that and move up if needed. Next, we put half a cup of white vinegar in the dishwasher, just pour it in the bottom each time, right before we wash the dishes. This works GREAT! We used the white vinegar in on our former dishwasher of 9 years and never had any trouble with any film buildup. The vinegar cuts all the film and makes glasses look terrific.

If you are still are having trouble, cut out the Heated Dry at then end. The heat can cake hard water on your dishes. It may not dry the dishes as well, but it seems to stop any buildup. Using the vinegar though, we use the Heated Dry and still have no film buildup. So for us, we use a small amount of Cascade All in One Gel detergent (buy this basic gel, no added anything), 1/2 cup white vinegar poured in the bottom and Jet Dry in the rinse dispenser. We always have sparkling clean dishes with no hard water buildup. If you don't have real hard water, but just a little hard water, you might try decreasing the white vinegar to 1/4 cup and increase it if you start seeing the white film build back up. Also don't overload the dishwasher. Make sure there is space in-between each dish and have all plates face toward the center.

Make sure you turn your sink faucet on to as hot as you can get it and run the water until it is hot, then turn off the faucet and turn on the dishwasher. This helps to keep the dishwasher from running longer, which would mean more hard water swishing around longer if you don't heat the water, and you know what that means, plus the heating element has to work harder to get the temp up and that makes it burn out quicker. Once a month check your jet sprays, that turn around in your dishwasher, because the little holes can stop up with hard water gunk and this will cause film on your dishes to build up. Take a toothpick and crush the gunk in any holes and make it go out of the holes. Hope this helps you!

Filter and rotor jets prob clogged.

In wash, the water is heated, supposed to dissolve the soap and then sucked thru a filter and pumped up the back and out the top to spray water everywhere.

Soap doesn't always fully dissolve and clogs the filter and some slimy gets thru and clogs the rotor jets.

To fix:
1. Remove Upper and lower dish drawers

2. Take off the Upper. Middle and lotwe rotors and clean their jets out with toothpick and frequent flushing (Plug a clean hole with toothpick to make water come out elsewhere) Use the sink on full blast to see if water comes out all holes.

3. Reassemble rotors.

4. Remove and clean filter. The filter is in the bottom above the Motor/pump and held in with 8 shiny hex-head or Torx screws. Take out all screws, lift out filter and clean in sink with warm or hot water from backside. Use garden hose for hard to reach areas.

5. Reinstall filter. Don't overtighten or you will crack it

6. Replace drawers

Done!

After you have removed the filter and cleaned out any debris, clean the inside of the dishwasher with white vinegar by filling a bowl or large cup with white vinegar and placing it on the rack and running a short cycle with no powder inside.
Use a name brand powder (Cascade or Electrosol) rather than the ultra-cheap powder. Never use gel or tablets in any dishwasher.
If problems continue, you almost certainly have a failed heating element. Replacing the element yourself is not tremendously difficult if you are handy and promise fo disconnect the power before you begin. Otherwise, a service call is the next step.

Hi Dirty Dish gang.
After having 2 appliance repairmen here, I now have the latest scoop on our dishwasher problems, $200 later!
Los Angeles IS currently having hard water issues. Also, all the new cleaning gels etc. are actually a cause of our dishwasher problems.  
So, here is what we need to do:
1. Use Cascade POWDER detergent only.  Make sure is is just "plain" no "scented" or "complete"  or gel, etc. (I have tried a phosphate free powder and gel and this is a cause of our problem as well!) 2. Use Jet Dry in the dispenser (set it to a 2-3 opening) 3. Make sure water is at least 120 degrees 4. Only run dishwasher on "normal" setting.  All others just run it longer, hence causing more water stains. 5. Do not pre-wash dishes! You can knock of chunks with a "non" soapy brush, but don't rinse (the oils actually help to clean the dishes) 6.  Do not wash sponges in dishwasher.
Acid Wash: The repairman just gave my washer an Acid Wash today. It says it is an acid derived from lemon, I got mine from Carters appliance in Torrance, CA for about $19. I am to run a normal cycle with the above mentioned Cascade after this "acid cycle" is finished.
If you are still having problems:
Monthly maintenance: Glass Magic: Buy a box of Glass Magic (near the Cascade)  Use 1 Tbsb in main detergent compartment of dishwasher along with the Cascade, till washer starts working again. White Vinegar: You can run an empty dishwasher with white vinegar once a month.  Fill a bowl with 2 cups vinegar and place on bottom rack.  Then run as a normal cycle...this allows vinegar to disperse slowly.
So far it seems to be working.  Good luck.

white film generally shows that there is not enough salt in the dishwasher, this is not normal salt like on your meal, you buy this from the detergent section of the store, add salt through the part where it says "S" unscrew the cap and put about 2 cups of it in, while filling with salt water will overflow out of the same place, this is normal this will start to work after about a wash or so if the salt is fine then check the heater on the machine, make sure its warming up etc if i have helped please rate me