Hi, I have a Kenmore ultra wash dishwasher 665.16705891. I ran it last night and it overflowed, today I tinkered with it and ran it through about 20 cycles. Sometimes it fills about 1 inch below the heat element where I believe it should be and the next cycle it fills well above the heat element shutting of once the float switch is is opened. Other times it fills too low and the pump can't circulate. I also noticed occasionally after it fills and the inlet valve closes and the wash cycle starts, the inlet valve will open for about 1 second and close for about 1 second and repeat that 15 or 20 times. I have checked the float and it moves freely. I have checked the float switch for continuity and it is good. I checked water inlet screen, it's clear. I checked voltage to the inlet and I've got 120v. When I checked continuity of the solenoid it read 1.23 not 0.00. I checked my Grandmother's solenoid as a reference and hers read 1.12 so I assume that is what it should read. My best guess is to replace the inlet valve but I would appreciate any other words of wisdom before I spend money I don't have. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for such a quick response Denman, I appreciate it. I couldn't think of anything else to check and rule out before I replaced the valve, so thanks for the second opinion.

Damn, I would have put money on it being the valve.

Yes it could be the timer but at about $120.00 it is getting close to the point where it may not be worth fixing.

It may just be normal wear and tear on the contact. All it takes is a little bit of dirt on the contact, this causes a spark which the pits the contact next time another spark a little more pitting and so on and so on till the contact fails.