Error code
Whirlpool-built Kenmore washer error code F5 E3
Whirlpool wrote this code, not Kenmore. On a washer wearing this badge, F5 E3 means: The door or lid is not locking properly. Which model prefixes can raise it, and what to do next.
- 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
What we can confirm
Code F5 E3, from the manufacturer's own documentation
A code is only meaningful together with the machine showing it — the same digits mean different things on different equipment.
What it narrows down to
The door or lid is not locking properly
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
On the same appliance
What else belongs to the washers
On this make a code belongs to the appliance rather than to a product line. These are the other conditions this machine can display, and the models that can show this one — a display often has more than one thing to say, and the model number decides what any of it costs to put right.
Other codes this appliance can display
Too many suds in the drum
The load is too large for the machine to handle
The load is out of balance and the machine
The washer is taking too long to fill, or
The washer is taking too long to drain —
The lid lock will not lock
The lid cannot unlock — the machine has detected
The cycle was interrupted by a power failure
The hot and cold inlet hoses have been connected
A reminder that the Clean Washer cycle is due
The lid was left open
The cycle was paused or canceled
The same digits mean different things on different equipment. Search the full code list
In more detail
About Whirlpool-built Kenmore washer error code F5 E3
Whose code this actually is
Kenmore did not write F5 E3, because Kenmore has never built an appliance. This one is Whirlpool's, and it appears on the washer that Whirlpool built and Sears sold under the Kenmore badge. Whirlpool-built and LG-built washers wear one badge and share almost none of their code scheme, so the wrong table here sends you to a pump when the machine is reporting a lid.
What it means
The door or lid is not locking properly.
Which Kenmore models can raise it
The Kenmore washer whose model number begins 110 — the three digits before the period on the rating plate. Those digits are Whirlpool's, which is why Whirlpool's table is the one that applies to F5 E3 and no other manufacturer's does.
What happens next
- Check the door closes square and the hinge has not dropped.
- The lock assembly is inexpensive; the diagnosis is worth doing properly first.
Where this usually goes
The job this most often becomes is washer lock and lid switch repair, and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. A Kenmore washer in this county works in hard water and a warm laundry room, so a code that arrives with slow draining or long cycles is very often the supply or the drain rather than the machine. Photograph the display before you cut the power: a reset clears F5 E3, and on a Kenmore the characters plus three digits off the plate are most of the diagnosis.
Where this meaning came from
Whirlpool's own documentation: Top Load HE Washer error codes — Whirlpool Product Help. Kenmore publishes none of its own, which is why every entry on this site names the manufacturer's document instead.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards