--- title: "Dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes" description: "Whirlpool dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes — this is rarely one thing. A Whirlpool dishwasher cleans with hot water, pressure and detergent that has to…" url: "https://whirlpoolmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-cleaning/" date_modified: "2026-09-06" Appliance type: "Dishwashers" --- # Whirlpool dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes ### Spin the arms and look at the holes Open the door and turn the lower spray arm by hand; it should move freely all the way around. Then hold it up to the light and look at the jets. Grit and hard-water scale block them one at a time, and a blocked arm leaves a clean pattern on some dishes and a dirty one on others. Pull the filter out and rinse it. Check that nothing tall in the lower rack is stopping the middle arm from turning — a cutting board or a baking sheet in the wrong slot blocks the spray for the whole upper rack, and that alone explains a lot of these calls. ### What it usually means, by the kind of machine Whirlpool sells one appliance in several forms — a top-loader with an agitator and one without, a front-loader, a stacked pair, a laundry tower and an all-in-one; a vented dryer, a ventless one and a heat pump — and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A top-load washer has no drain pump filter to open and a front-loader does, which is the whole first hour of the same complaint on two machines. - **With a display** — Will tell you about the heat and the diverter directly. FA E4 is the diverter valve, which is what sends water to one spray arm or the other. - **No display** — Reports through the Clean light in two bursts. A flashing Sanitize light is its own message — Whirlpool's wording is that the temperature needed for sanitizing was not reached. - **Portable** — Takes water from the sink faucet, so the temperature at the tap is the temperature the machine gets. Run the tap hot before starting one of these. ### Two problems that look identical from the front Dishes that come out dirty and dishes that come out cloudy are almost never the same story. Food debris left behind means water is not reaching or not moving: an arm, the diverter, the pump, a filter. A white or gray film means the water is reaching everything and leaving something behind: mineral content, detergent, no rinse aid. In much of South Florida the water is hard enough that film shows up on a perfectly healthy machine within a few months of somebody stopping the rinse aid, and we would rather tell you that than sell a pump. ### Heat, and what the Sanitize light is really saying Whirlpool’s own wording is that the sanitize indicator flashes when the machine detects that the temperature needed for sanitizing was not reached. That is a measurement, and it is a useful one even when nobody cares about sanitizing: if the water never gets hot enough for that, it is not hot enough to lift grease either. On a machine that flashes it every cycle, the heating circuit is worth reading before anything about the spray is touched. Blocked or obstructed spray arms The first check, and it is free. A blocked jet or an arm that a pan is stopping means whole areas of the load get no water. Water that is not hot enough F4 E2 is Whirlpool's heating error, and a flashing Sanitize light says the sanitizing temperature was not reached. Grease needs heat. The wrong detergent, or too much of it Hand dish soap makes foam the machine reports as F6 E3, and foam cushions the spray instead of carrying it. The diverter or the wash motor FA E4 is the diverter valve; F7 E2 is a wash motor error. Both leave one rack washed and the other not. A clogged filter Whirlpool's own maintenance instruction, skipped for years. Dirty water recirculated through the load leaves grit on everything. Look at which rack is worse Upper rack only, lower rack only, or both — that split points straight at the diverter, an arm, or the water supply. Run the hot tap at the sink first The dishwasher takes what arrives. If it starts with a tub of cold water it spends the first part of the cycle catching up. Check the rinse aid dispenser In hard water, spotting and film are usually rinse aid rather than a repair, and that is worth ruling out before anything is opened. Watch for a white film rather than food debris Film is water chemistry and detergent. Food debris left on the dishes is water not reaching them. They are different problems. Film on the glasses, grit on the plates, the load coming out no better than it went in What it usually means Spray arms that will not turn freely are the first check and cost nothing F4 E2 is Whirlpool's heating error, and a dishwasher without heat cannot clean grease Dish soap instead of dishwasher detergent produces foam the machine reports as F6 E3 Spin the arms and look at the holes Open the door and turn the lower spray arm by hand; it should move freely all the way around. Then hold it up to the light and look at the jets. Grit and hard-water scale block them one at a time, and a blocked arm leaves a clean pattern on some dishes and a dirty one on others. Pull the filter out and rinse it. Check that nothing tall in the lower rack is stopping the middle arm from turning — a cutting board or a baking sheet in the wrong slot blocks the spray for the whole upper rack, and that alone explains a lot of these calls. What it usually means, by the kind of machine Whirlpool sells one appliance in several forms — a top-loader with an agitator and one without, a front-loader, a stacked pair, a laundry tower and an all-in-one; a vented dryer, a ventless one and a heat pump — and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A top-load washer has no drain pump filter to open and a front-loader does, which is the whole first hour of the same complaint on two machines. With a display — Will tell you about the heat and the diverter directly. FA E4 is the diverter valve, which is what sends water to one spray arm or the other. No display — Reports through the Clean light in two bursts. A flashing Sanitize light is its own message — Whirlpool's wording is that the temperature needed for sanitizing was not reached. Portable — Takes water from the sink faucet, so the temperature at the tap is the temperature the machine gets. Run the tap hot before starting one of these. Two problems that look identical from the front Dishes that come out dirty and dishes that come out cloudy are almost never the same story. Food debris left behind means water is not reaching or not moving: an arm, the diverter, the pump, a filter. A white or gray film means the water is reaching everything and leaving something behind: mineral content, detergent, no rinse aid. In much of South Florida the water is hard enough that film shows up on a perfectly healthy machine within a few months of somebody stopping the rinse aid, and we would rather tell you that than sell a pump. Heat, and what the Sanitize light is really saying Whirlpool’s own wording is that the sanitize indicator flashes when the machine detects that the temperature needed for sanitizing was not reached. That is a measurement, and it is a useful one even when nobody cares about sanitizing: if the water never gets hot enough for that, it is not hot enough to lift grease either. On a machine that flashes it every cycle, the heating circuit is worth reading before anything about the spray is touched. ### Should I rinse the dishes first? Scrape them, do not rinse them. These machines sense how dirty the water is and adjust the cycle; a load of pre-rinsed dishes gets a shorter, gentler wash. Large debris should still go in the trash rather than the filter. ### It cleans the bottom rack and not the top. That is a genuinely useful observation. It points at the upper spray arm, the feed tube that supplies it, or the diverter that alternates between them, and it saves us time on the visit. --- **[Read full article: Dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes](https://whirlpoolmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-cleaning/)**