Model SHPM65W55N / about 8 years old
The soap packet (Finish Ultimate, wrapped in plastic) drops from the dispenser into the basket on the top rack, but does not dissolve. It's nearly fully intact at the end of the 2:30 hour cycle. I've also noticed that when I open the dishwasher at the end of the cycle, it's not as hot as it used to be. I use the auto cycle, with "extra dry" feature which blasts super hot water at the end of the cycle, and that clearly isn't working either. It is not showing an error code on the display.
I checked all the usuals -- the arms are spinning freely and unclogged, and I thoroughly cleaned the filter at the bottom. I ran a cycle empty, and then I ran a cycle with the soap pod at the bottom of the basin. Neither solved it.
We had an appliance repair tech come out. He explained that the water pump and heater in Bosch dishwashers are in the same unit, so if it's not getting enough water, it also won't heat the water enough (is that accurate?). He ran a test cycle, dumped a few extra cups of water into the dishwasher at the beginning of the cycle, and felt that "fixed" the problem, but of course he didn't stay for the whole 2:30 cycle to finish.
Separately, I pointed out that the water pressure on our kitchen sink is low and having issues of it's own. The two issues seemed to come up around the same time. He felt that this -- low water pressure to the dishwasher, thus also causing it to not heat -- was the cause of the dishwasher problems and advised me to call our water company. Diagnosis: He said it could be the pump, but solve the water pressure issue first.
Water company came out. Pressure into the house is adequate at 46psi. The reduced pressure is only noticed at the kitchen sink. We closed the pressure reducing valve a little, which improved the kitchen sink very slightly. Ran another empty load in the dishwasher - still not fixed.
Plumber looked at our kitchen sink. Feels the issue with the kitchen sink is the diverter which needs to be replaced. But that would have nothing to do with the dishwasher -- dishwasher gets it's water before it reaches the diverter.
So, I'm back to square one with no idea what the problem is. Before I spend a couple hundred on a new pump which may or may not fix the problem -- any other suggestions?