- “A little water in the sump is normal”
- “The disposer plug is free to check and often the answer”
- “Three builders, three different codes for one condition”
Symptom
Kenmore dishwasher not draining
Three manufacturers built the Kenmore dishwashers in South Florida kitchens and all three publish a code for this, in three different alphabets. Which one you are reading decides which table it means something in — and a code read against the wrong maker points confidently at the wrong part.
- From $95 diagnostic, credited to the repair
- 59 cities and neighborhoods covered
- OEM parts available on order
- In writing the price, before anything is opened
Five ordinary causes
What this usually turns out to be
Cheapest and commonest first, which is also the order we check them in. They sit hundreds of dollars apart, and only the unit settles which one is yours.
-
The filter and sump
Where the water goes down slowly rather than not at all, this is usually the beginning and the end of it.
Dishwasher drain repair from $145 -
The disposer knockout plug
Free to check and a complete answer when it is the cause.
Dishwasher drain repair from $145 -
The drain hose and its high loop
A hose that never rises above the door lets the sink drain back into the machine.
Dishwasher drain repair from $145 -
The check valve
Holds water back between cycles. When it sticks, water returns.
Dishwasher drain repair from $145 -
The drain pump
Last, and tested rather than replaced on suspicion — a pump stopped by a fruit stone reads the same as a failed one.
Dishwasher pump replacement from $225
In five minutes
Before you call anybody
None of it needs tools, and all of it makes the visit shorter.
-
01
How much water is left
A film in the sump is normal and keeps the seal wet. Water above the filter is not.
-
02
Pull the filter and look
On most of these it lifts out in one piece and washes under a tap.
-
03
Look inside the disposer inlet
With a flashlight. A plug that is still in place is easy to see once you know to look.
-
04
Note the code or the blink pattern
On a Whirlpool-built machine with no display, count the flashes and the pauses. That pattern is the code.
How it shows up
What people describe when they call
A shortcut
Narrow it down before anybody arrives
A description of the behaviour leaves a few possible causes. A code names the subsystem before anybody opens anything, which is why it is worth photographing before it clears.
If there is no code at all
58715182400
58715193401
58715272200A
58715412100A
58716072201
63012303312
63013902010
63016303401
66515812990
66516609301
66517808891
On a dishwasher, the data plate is on the edge of the door — open it and look along the top or the side. All models
In more detail
About Kenmore dishwasher not draining
The knockout plug, and it costs nothing
If a garbage disposer was ever fitted or replaced while the dishwasher was connected to it, there is a knockout plug inside the disposer inlet that has to be removed. Left in, the dishwasher cannot drain at all. It is a five-minute check, it needs no tools beyond a flashlight, and it is a surprisingly common cause of a dishwasher that has never drained properly since the kitchen was worked on.
What it usually means, by the company that built it
Kenmore manufactures nothing, so the same behavior points at different things depending on who made the appliance. The three digits before the period on the rating plate are what tells them apart.
- 665 Whirlpool — Whirlpool calls it a Long Drain and shows F9 E1, or the same thing as a flashing-light pattern on machines without a display. F9 E2 is the drain motor itself.
- 587 Frigidaire — Frigidaire shows i20 for a machine that did not drain in the expected time, and i40 for a clogged filter or sump. Those are the only two iXX codes Frigidaire actually publishes — a full iXX table is not the maker's.
- 630 Bosch — A Bosch-built 630 is the unit most often looked up against the wrong manufacturer's material, because 630 is missing from most published Kenmore decode tables.
Why every code page here names its manufacturer
Because the code belongs to the manufacturer and not to the badge. The characters overlap enough between makers to be convincing — several of them use F-and-number pairs for unrelated conditions — and a confident answer pointing at the wrong component is worse than no answer. Every code page on this site says which maker's table it came from and where that table is published.
What we do before we name a part
Clear the filter, check the disposer, check the hose and the loop, test the check valve, then test the pump electrically. A real share of these calls end before the last step, and that is by design rather than by luck.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards
Before you book
Questions about Kenmore dishwasher not draining
There is always a little water in the bottom.
A small amount in the sump is normal on most machines and is there to keep the seal from drying out. Water above the filter after a completed cycle is the problem.
Should I run the disposer first?
It does no harm and it occasionally is the answer, especially if the machine drains into a disposer that is full.
My machine has no display, just lights.
Then the lights are the code. Count the flashes, note the pauses, and tell us the pattern when you call.
Where we do it
Across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
Same terms everywhere we go: an on-site diagnostic first, the price agreed in writing, and the exact figure confirmed once we have seen the unit.
Neighborhoods people ask for by name