Is there some way to get a dishwasher to work and clean the dishes?

So, you've used it maybe 3 times a month for the last 5 years, that would be at least 180 times the unit has fired up and ran through the cycle, pumped water in and out and pushed it around the insides for several minutes. In all actuality you're probably lucky it still works period. I work on them all the time and many of them go bad in a much shorter time frame than that. However, the model number should be on a small plate like area, maybe a sticker applied to the edge of the washer tub frame or possibly on the frame behind the lower panel. You may have to remove a few screws to get it off. The thing someone told you to take out of the bottom and clean is a screen type of a thing, which is called a filter. There are several different configurations of these things so without a model number I can't really tell you exactly what it will look like, but it should cover most of the center portion of the bottom of the inside, and probably be all the way around the center tower arrangement. It may snap out via several small clips or may have to have some screws removed before it will come out. They are there to stop the majority of the food you DON'T sc off the dishes and keep it from getting into the pump area. If you can email a model number to me I will try to help further, if you can't find one then we're about at the end of my rope.