That is a GSD1200,  the same one I had.  It cleans rust off a trailer hitch.  Multi-Orbit wash arm (changes water pattern over time as it continues to revolve).  I got mine May 1987 and mine had red lettering.  My mom got hers about a year or year and a half later and hers had the white lettering like this one.  I'd get it.  I think Kenmoreguy64 has one too.  He's one that's collected several so he will have parts to keep his going. I still miss mine.

Based upon the buttons pushed, the last cycle used was Energy Saver wash and heated dry. 

No, this doesn't have the little whirlybird wash arms at the end of the two arms.  That design came out mid-1990s. 

Eddie, that was only part of the PotScrubber II series and only the two TOL models--GSD1050 and GSD950.  And from the early to mid-1970s.  The first version of this GSD1200 had PotScrubber III emblazzened on the control panel and is immortalized with Debbbie Reynolds' magazine print ad campaign.  That was like 1980 or 1981.  The 1200 was the TOL until GE introduced the electronic control 2000 series. 

With food filter and Multi-Orbit wash arm, these were by far the best performing DWs GE had ever built up to this point.

They still had a few serious flaws however, they did not have a spray arm under the top rack so the lower rack so the lower rack had to be loaded with some care if you wanted every thing to get clean in the top rack.

These DWs also had a very restricted lower rack which really limited capacity, and they used their crappy 1/6HP shaded pole motor that was also used in the cheap builder DWs that GE was famous for. These motors not only had a noisy fan and you could also hear the annoying sound of the motor speed varying as the pump was washing.

All that said these were pretty good DWs, and about every part you might need is still available except the timer and the program switch, but luckily these did not fail often.

John L.

Mike, I loaded exactly as you.  Dinner plates on left and pots/pans on the right lol. 

These things can whoosh and move their arms when there is still a malfunction, so don't be discouraged.

First off, even Consumer Reports was forced to admit that these cleaned better than KitchenAid. We've had a few (and currently have one) and, quite honestly - they are the best dishwashers for cleaning dirty dishes on the American market.

Hands down. The Best.

Clean much better than any of our KitchenAids ever have.

Now, if you're interested, there's quite a bit of easy stuff you can do to make her work great again.

But - a warning: These are notorious for holding on to invisible slivers of broken glass in the sump and in the various filters. I suggest caution. If you like, I can post the most common things to clean out and check - none hard, none arduous, even if something were to be broken, it's all still available and cheap.

Let me know - this machine may be in a bad mood at the moment, but she's one of the best ever built and is the best at cleaning dirty dishes, period. The multi-orbital arm is so good, GE has 're-invented' it for their current top of the line series.

What type of soil is being left on the dishes ?

A good test of any DWs water distribution and mechanical cleaning ability is to put in along with a load of dishes several glasses with peanut butter smeared inside the glasses in various parts of the top rack including the corners, and see if it is all removed.

The most common problems with these DWs as they age are.

1 Under filling, usually a bad inlet valve [ water should cover the floor and be up to the main wash arm hub when fully filled for main wash. ]

2 Broken food chopper [ this was a very cheesy affair ] if this is not functioning water circulation will be very poor.

3 Drain valve in pump letting water leak past and then the DW looses water to soon, [ replace complete motor and pump, not a bad idea in any case to update pump and motor to newer style ]

4 Bad drain valve under filter screen in back of tank, remove and inspect, replace if deteriorated.

Overall these DWs can clean very well if loaded correctly, but they are nowhere as good as standard tub WP Power-Clean and KM Ultra-wash DWs from 1985-2007, see my post on my WP PC DW, and a typical load that is run several times a week for almost 30 years with hardly ever a problem.

John L.

Actually, this dishwasher, with it's muti-orbital arm does a better job cleaning that anything else, but, heh - some of this is religion, so let's focus on what needs doing. I know it takes a big man to admit GE could do anything right compared to KA (and I'm the only person here who isn't in love with KA), so kudos to John.

So, John hit the high points. Here's what I'd do:

1) Check for the rather large sheet of paper tucked away (usually under the kick panel) with schematic, timer settings and instructions on how to remove and replace the sump, motor, filters, etc. If you have it, that's all you need to clean and check those areas. If you don't, the literature is in the library here. Without it, it's way too complicated.

2) Lots of little holes in the multi-orbital get filled with junk, and on some (not all!, dratted GE), you have to turn one tower of power mount the 'other' way to loosen it.

3) If the soft-food disposer is missing or thoroughly bound up with plastic or wire, it is a good idea to change it out. If the motor is long and black and there's no capacitor in sight, John's advice is good if you want to make this a daily driver. If it's kind of square and grey with a capacitor (especially if it says "SIEMENS" on it, just the rebuild kit will do fine.

4) There's a little valve at the back, under that large filter which can get gunked up. Cleaning it will make an enormous difference in performance as it lets the dirty water out. Or, if it fails, keeps it recirculating.

5) Super caution is called for when fishing through that sump. The filter is big enough to keep a VW Microbus out as one aficionado here has mentioned, but not much else - and slivers of glass are a serious danger.

6) The inner door comes off easily and make cleaning fast and easy. The two black (sometimes grey) pieces of more or less pliable rubber at the bottom corners of the door lift out for cleaning, too.\

7) Two sounds to listen for:

a) Close the soap door and run the machine. Does it open (you'll hear it)?

b) When it drains, is there a solid 'thump' and water drains out with a lot of force? If it's only a weak stream, then you've got blockage or the pump needs replacing. If there's no thump, then either a spring has come off the solenoid package for the drain or the solenoid has failed.

The door springs were used on models both before and after this one, you can grab them at any repair shop or clean them up a bit. Exterior insulation can wait until the rest works great. It must not block airflow, but was pretty extensive, you can see photos of it in our archives. Virtually all parts are available either at online appliance shops or can be had from other GE Dishwashers, including the ones of this series still on sale, new.

If you do have to replace the water inlet valve, make sure you don't disturb the overflow protection system. It's easy to pull out of position (kind of the point). Cleaning that whole assembly can't hurt, either, but pay attention to how the heating element is held by that stainless steel strap first, it's non-intuitive (or, I'm too D-U-M to get it right without pictures).

Hope this helps. Best dishwasher there is.

I wish I could be there with you and the dishwasher.  I could stand next to it while it's running and know pretty quickly what it's not doing correctly and why. 

I hadn't noticed the woodgrain look on a portion of the panel.  That might mean it's older than my 1987.  On mine, where your cycle button says Heavy Soil and Normal Soil, mine was designated Normal Soil and Light Soil. 

Oh yeah, that will definitely effect cleaning performance.  I never had anything like that show up in my wash arms.  Hopefully someone here can give you suggestions to get that debris cleared out. 

Yes, it went through the pump. Probably didn't hurt the pump, though.

That black stuff is icky. Chlorine bleach is your friend.

Oh, side note - you have the 900 Watt heating element. If it fails, the 500 Watt is the standard replacement and it does fit, regardless of what the local yokal dealers will tell you. GE was already using both at that time, I've done two replacements with the 500 Watt so, yup - it will work.

There is a fuse in a little black box not too far from the heating element contacts. That blows sometimes for no reason, stopping the element from working. You might check that if it's out. In the potscrubber cycle, if the input water for the wash is coming in at 125F, you can expect it to rise above 135F by the end of the cycle and roughly the same for any input temperature - about 10F. The 500 Watt element will keep the temperature of the water and raise it a little bit.

I'm so glad you got the beast loose. When you put it back on, be sure not to damage the thin brownish/reddish ring at the bottom of the spray arm - it's a gasket and paper thin. Don't bother tightening the arm more than just barely finger tight - it tightens (as you have seen) over time all by itself.

I suggest you clean the sump first, no point loosening more debris after all your hard work on the valve.

It's about $11.00 plus shipping new at the site in the link. Just remember - plastic, so no force or it will, of course snap off on you.

Super easy.

Oh - since there's no electro-mechanical actuator, technically it's not a solenoid. As to 'self-cleaning', well, yeah, back when detergents had chlorine bleach, phosphates and enzymes and we washed with really hot water, they were......

1) CR rated this system BEST - even better than KA for cleaning.

2) No filters? Seriously, dude?

Maybe you got stuck with one of the BOL pieces of 'builder grade' rubbish GE/Hotpoint (still) sells. They're as comparable to this as a rusted out YUGO is to a 1956 Belaire.

Sheesh.

Because my interest in GE dishwashers pretty much ends in the era when they were better than KA (I can *feel* the frisson of frustrated anger that raises in the knee-jerk 'KA is BEST!' crowd everytime Consumer Reports said that or one of us echoes it...) I forget just how awful their performance in the 6σ era was/is. Dear Jack Welch - has anyone ever done so much harm to a once high-quality company?

So, yeah - I can believe someone hit with the low water version of that era would be unhappy. The GE Potscrubber cleans so well, in so little time, because it uses water. To pre-wash. To wash. To rinse. Yes, to rinse. To expect a GE dishwasher which had been designed to clean with lots of water to then clean with little water is just plain hopeless. Add to this the continuous reductions in phosphates in detergents of that era and the lack of good enzymes/other surfactants, well - too many factors are against clean dishes.

Back, however, to this beautiful machine - it does clean best of all dishwashers of its era, which, of course, means it cleans rings around the current two drops of water and four hours later - you can take out the dirty dishes.

I love that display - reminds me of late 1970's MIELE Dishwashers and laundry equipment.

The electrical section and top panel as well as the soap dispenser/rinse-aid dispenser system are all independent of the sheet metal door/frame.

To my eyes, based on the photos, it's still within the range of clean-up able - however, a new door would be faster.

How do the two corner pieces and the door seal look?