Deep Cleaning a Whirlpool Dishwasher: Causes

You need a Torx T20 driver, a soft brush, white vinegar, baking soda, a toothpick, a microfibre cloth and a small bowl. Kill the breaker before you go near the sump, because the chopper blade is genuinely sharp.

The filters#

Pull the lower rack right out. On the tub floor sits a cylindrical upper filter about 4 inches tall with a grip on top, surrounded by a flat mesh plate sitting flush in a groove. Twist the cylinder a quarter turn counterclockwise and lift it straight out, then lift the flat filter out — it is only seated, not threaded.

Rinse the cylinder under warm water while brushing the fine mesh walls where grease embeds. Stubborn film gives way after 15 minutes in warm water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Hold it to a light afterwards: clean mesh passes light evenly. The flat filter catches what the cylinder misses, so brush both sides and check for tears — a holed lower filter recirculates food onto your dishes.

The sump, the blade and the lens#

With both filters out, the chopper blade is visible below. Do not reach in. Use a torch to look for bone fragments, fruit pits and glass, and lift them out with needle-nose pliers. Nudged with a wooden chopstick, the blade should turn freely.

Then find the optical soil sensor, a small clear lens near the front left of the tub floor. It reads water turbidity to set cycle length, so a greasy lens convinces the machine the water is filthier than it is and you get long cycles and extra rinses. Wipe it with a microfibre cloth dampened in vinegar until it is clear.

Three spray arms, not two#

White crusty deposits in the nozzle holes throttle water pressure, and clearing them one by one restores the spray pattern.

While the door is open, fold back the gasket lip and clean out mould and residue, especially in the bottom corners where water pools, then wipe around the detergent dispenser.

Putting it back and flushing through#

Reverse the order: upper arm clipped in, middle pushed up and twisted clockwise, lower set on its hub with the nut snugged but not overtightened. Flat filter into its groove, cylinder in with a quarter turn clockwise until it locks — that lock matters, because an unlocked filter lets food bypass the chopper.

Finish with a cup of vinegar in a dishwasher-safe bowl on the top rack and the hottest empty cycle you have. That carries it through the internal hoses and drain pump as well as the tub. An Affresh tablet in the tub bottom does the same job.

How often#

If cleaning did not fix it#

• F6E1 or F6E4 afterwards. Water supply, not cleaning. Listen for the inlet valve (W10872255) clicking as the fill starts.
• Grit still on the dishes. The upper filter is not locked down with its quarter turn.
• Cycles still enormously long. A scratched or internally fogged soil sensor cannot be cleaned back to clarity and needs replacing.
• Water standing in the sump. The drain pump (W10876537), or a drain hose that is kinked or never loops high before descending to the disposal.
• An arm that will not spin. A cross-threaded nut, or debris caught at its mount.

A chopper blade (W10083957) jammed with bone or glass, grinding from the circulation pump, F2E1 or F2E2 button faults, or a door leaking after cleaning — often the latch (W10862259), not the gasket — are past a toothbrush. Book a repair.