Hello Folks, this is Rich from Western Appliance Repair Service in Boise and Meridian Idaho.
Here is a picture of a burned up control board on a major-brand dishwasher. This is one of the worst ones I have ever seen and this damage to the dishwasher was extensive. When I entered my Boise customers house the smell was STRONG and there was no mistaking the smell of burning circuitry.
This burning is caused by loose fitting AC Supply connections at the control board. This was most-likely caused at the factory. The “making” and “breaking” of contact on the connector pins causes heat to be generated. This heat oxidizes and burns the contacts over time -little by little. As burning and oxidizing gets worse and worse more and more heat are generated the connector eventually melts and flames up. The dishwasher’s internal safety thermostat should have been triggered. In this case the safety thermostat was burned and did not stop the AC Current like it was suppose to do. What saved this from being a house fire was the service panel circuit breaker doing what it was suppose to do – stop current quickly.
This dishwasher was a complete loss. Even if we had replaced the burned wiring and control board the smell would have continued to permeate the house for months if not years. In this instance it was best to replace the dishwasher with a new one.