Depending on the diameter of the geyser, that might be enough water pressure since it's forced through many small holes. If you really want to know what's going on in there, buy a sheet of 1/8" thick plastic big enough to make a false door. I attached a drawer pull near the upper center to hold on to. With the real door open, select the rinse and hold cycle, hold the plastic door against the seal, then activate the door switch. You'll be able to check the fill level, wash action and drain cycle in about five minutes. I used this device for many service calls in which the homeowner was convinced there was something wrong with their machine, when in actuality it was just the poor water quality of the area.

or just trip the door switch and run it with the door open. the spray with the lower arm off should at least hit the top of the drum. i put the spray arm on and it will not even rotate the arm. all the holes squirt out a weak stream of water. the impeller is just a centrifugal pump. the outlet is ok. that means the "inlet" for the pump housing is restricted.

success! i took off the impeller and removed the strainer basket and there was a lot of scum/soap buildup under the basket and around the basket perimeter. i scraped off as much as possible and used my shop vac and cleaned everything up. i turned on the unit and ran it with the door open and the spray shot out to the dining room. now my wife is mad but it looks like i got it running right.

That's good - I was going to suggest you had a buildup/scale problem - you might even be able to run some CLR though it sometimes if you can force it to go direct to pump-out/rinse, since I don't think you'd want to heat a chemical like CLR.

There are also special dishwasher cleaners for periodic use that are supposed to remove buildup, they're also good for cleaning the seals and getting rid of the odours that tend to build up.

It's also worth remembering to run the thing, empty, through a whole long cycle like a pot cycle, with extra hot water to just keep things going.

i work in a new building with a small kitchen. we put in a new diswasher and i bet it has been used 5 times in the last yr. i looked at the pump housing and it has a similar design but the inlets on the lower part of the housing are more visible. mine are hidden under the pump housing but both units have a similar design. I had to take off the pump housing to see where the slots were. the buildup was so bad that i thought the rim/ridge under the housing was molded in. i did not want to chip thru that for fear i would puncture the lower portion of the tub. i bet few homeowners actually take apart their units to figure out what is wrong.