LG Dishwasher with LE error code

[bob58]

I have an LE LDF6810ST - about 4 years old.
I have had the dishwasher go bad 2x with the LE code.

Both times it was an easy fix. I took the dishes out, and undid all the plastic at the bottom where the drain is and the thing that spins and washes the dishes - all the way down to the chopping blade. all you need is a screwdriver. I cleaned everything up. ends out, both times, some sort of string got hung up around the bottom of the turbine - and it collected garbage so it was pushing against the screen below it that protects the chopper. so the motor was being restricted from moving. the LE actually stopped itself from burning the motor out...
anyhow, that took about an hour. make sure you drain the water out first. hit rinse and then start and close it up. Listen for the water to stop drainaing as it always does before it washes - a minute or two. then open the washer. then work in a dry area...

note - the screw for the turbine is lefty tighty, righty loosy...opposite the norm

dont get me wrong tho, this thing is horrible. takes forever to wash the dishes and it never dried them. the water it might save by running longer it wastes in electricity to run so long. its always been loud too.

[bob58]

hold off. that did not work this time
now even with no "hardware" in the machine - just the post from the motor sticking up, the motot is making a terrible noise - a grinding noise. but there is no blade or anything attached to the motor - just the post sticking up, think my motor went bad. oh well.
how do i order one?

[AJ]

Hi,

I looked up your model number and the factory part number for that motor is 4681ED1004A

Click the part number above to order one from our affiliate, thanks.  

[AJ]

I see they are out of stock right now at AppliancePartsPros.

Click Here to order one from our friends at RepairClinic. They have them in stock and ready to ship today!

[TBriggs]

I found several wires with insulation cut and one broken. I took pix if anyone wants a copy. Location is near the bottom of the door
 

[Al Capone]

dustyface,

Thanks for posting. 

[TBriggs]

I really started inspecting the wire harness and found a larger white wire with the insulation broke also. These wires appear to have been really hot.  I think its time to pull this beast and find a different unit on craigslist  I just cant trust something like this. By the way, the motor spins freely.

[Kellerzal]

  I wanted to say thanks to everyone that posted the wire fix with the LE error code issue.  At first glance, I didn't see any broken wires - in fact I was looking more for a loose harness.  It was hard for me to believe that there would be a broken wire.  When I didn't see any broken wires, I moved to the bottom of the dishwasher and took the motor out.  I have solved this issue once before by taking that motor out and checking for obstructions - we found a piece of glass.  This time though, no obstructions and the motor looked fine.  So I was just about to order a damn motor for like 60 bucks then I found this website.  I read the thread and saw so many of the wire fixes, so I decided to look again.  This time, I looked behind the mass of wires that go into the harness at the bottom of the unit.  Sure as poop, there it was a black wire broken in half.  It was stuck to that black crap.  Fixed it and all is working now.  One other note, my 13 year old was really hard on the lower drawer of the dw when she pulled it out this morning, I am wondering if that didn't have something to do with the break of that wire?  First and last LG appliance I buy.  This thing is terrible.  Thanks again to all of those that took the time to post!!!

[Wedgeman55]

     I hate working on LG products.   Difficulty getting info,  parts,  etc,.    Have to pull out dishwasher completely to check certain parts.   Profit margin must be high for LOWES,  Home Depot,  etc to be pushing these products.    But with so many people getting them,  no choice but to learn their little quirks and repair them for most techs.  Fortunately for myself,   I have enough other work that I don't need to.    For my previous customers,  I do work on them. 
     I just wanted to mention that I had 2 similar instances.   One,  had a clean cut in the red wire upon removing the door panel.    This is what happens when you (Korea) pay the workers 1 dollar or probably less an hour to assemble your products.    Almost looked like it was done on purpose to me.      I repaired it,  dishwasher was fine.   
     2nd one was not so lucky.    A cluster of 2 wires were cut and shorted,   and this one took out the computer board.   of course,  past warranty period.   
     I've had several LG refrigerators recently that had bad main boards and only several years old.     
      LG - LOTSA GARBAGE!!!!     
     
     

[leelay34]

thank you dmont took front panel off saw wire you talked about repaired it and solved prob.
  my wife thanks you for the $$$$ saved !

[GMK]

I have the same model. It's 4 years old. It has always been whisper quiet. We love it. A few days ago, it began returning the error code: LE.

It was a broken wire inside the door at the bottom. I spliced it back together and it's running normally again.

[bradengw]

You all are right on the money... I have an LG 7810ST/POS  (I added the POS) Anyway this unit had an LE issue right after installation in 11/2005 and since it was under warranty, it was no big deal. Since that time it had been working good. A bit loud but it washed the dishes with no problem.
On 5/21/2010 my wife and I had returned from the beach and I wanted to wash the dishes and BAMM I get the "LE" error code. I was like, damn... So I started Googleling and I found this site.

I thought... attack the easy problem first... look for the broken wire. I thought I looked pretty good, but RATS no broken wire.

I ordered the $91 motor to install today. Then I thought since I am so lazy, see if there is an blockage going on... I removed the screen and the rotataing wand. No blockages... However the turbine screw was very loose. I torqued that down some... (left-hand screw) lefty tighty righty loosey.

The only issue I didn't see on this thread is that when you remove those parts at the bottom of the DW... be careful of the gaskets underneath... They pop off and I had to re-install them using a bit of liquid soap to make the gasket stick. So there were no issues there...

Then I said, lets look for the broken wire one more time... and BAMM there it was, a cut wire stuck to the black tar crap inside the door behind the cover.

This one was RED and cut pretty cleanly. I so soldered it back together... and ran the rinse cycle to rinse out the liquid soap used to make the gaskets stick and it seems to have run ok...

So currently the POS is back in business... THANK YOU ALL!!!

[silberj]

I just bought my house (built in 2007), and know this d/w was installed after the fact. I got the LE code last night and after trolling the forums here (thanks for the great tips by the way), I disassembled down to the motor. Turns out there is a "rough" spot as I turned the wheel to see if the motor was bound or not. The motor still turns, but I think the shaft is slightly bent or something else internal to the motor is resisting at that one point. I already have an appointment to have somebody come out (falls under my home warranty, I have no paperwork on the d/w itself). Turns out the warranty company is sending someone from Sears. Anyway, reassembled everything, and it appears to be working, but I can hear a noise where the motor is spinning and hitting the "rough" spot. Not a loud noise, but I am sure that is what it is. No LE code yet, but it is still not right obviously. I really like the d/w, but I would be pissed if I had paid a bunch of money for it to have all these issues that I have seen throughout the forums here. I'll keep you posted on anything else that happens with it.

[john63]

I just bought my house (built in 2007), and know this d/w was installed after the fact. I got the LE code last night and after trolling the forums here (thanks for the great tips by the way), I disassembled down to the motor. Turns out there is a "rough" spot as I turned the wheel to see if the motor was bound or not. The motor still turns, but I think the shaft is slightly bent or something else internal to the motor is resisting at that one point. I already have an appointment to have somebody come out (falls under my home warranty, I have no paperwork on the d/w itself). Turns out the warranty company is sending someone from Sears. Anyway, reassembled everything, and it appears to be working, but I can hear a noise where the motor is spinning and hitting the "rough" spot. Not a loud noise, but I am sure that is what it is. No LE code yet, but it is still not right obviously. I really like the d/w, but I would be pissed if I had paid a bunch of money for it to have all these issues that I have seen throughout the forums here. I'll keep you posted on anything else that happens with it.

The SUMP ASSEMBLY is covered under warranty for 2 years (part only/not labor).

You'll need a sales receipt (purchase date).
If not available--try contacting the previous homeowner for a faxed copy of the bill.

The *serial number* provides information about the dishwasher build date. This may be a model built before the month of May 2008.

[JimmyDB]

Cut Wires Confirmed!

The DW is about 4 years old, no issues.  Suddenly last night we started receiving the LE Error Code.  I followed the instructions found online to look for corrosion or cut wires but we didn't find that looked broken.  Inspecting the PWB(PCB) showed that there was an apparently blown 330K resistor.  Since the resistor is in a circuit it can be a little odd to test, but I showed a climbing resistance that started at 90K Ohms and reached 150K Ohms within 20 seconds.

  I thought I would go ahead and check for continuity on the wires related to the motor and sure enough both the RED and BLACK wires from the motor were not only CUT, but they had been seated well inside the 'black tar'.  I suspect the only reason this DW worked for all of this time is because the wires were being firmly held together by the black tar until one of them worked it's way loose last night.

  I definitely suspect foul play by the person who assembled the DW.  It looks to me like a box cutter type blade was used to sever the wires, they even have the bent/pinched look that wires get if you crimp them to cut them like this.  There is no moving part near the wires were they were cut and there is no evidence of an object striking the rest of the wires or the 'black tar' in the area the wires were embedded into.

  I think this might be planned failure.  I have put putty in with the wires so I will know if there was any force being applied in that area from now until the next time I open it up.  I think 3 months is a good sample time if nothing else fails by then.

  This has caused to me reconsider buying anymore LG appliances, especially after seeing how many other people have had this issue and posted about it online.  If 1% of 1% of the people who experience this issue actually go through the trouble of registering/posting about it, I would be surprised.  BTW:  That is a 10,000 to 1 ratio, and just my opinion.

Either way, thank you all for your help and support.