Error code
LG-built Kenmore washer error code dL
LG wrote this code, not Kenmore. On a washer wearing this badge, dL means: LG's own label is LID LOCK ERROR on a top-loader. Which model prefixes can raise it, and what to do next.
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What we can confirm
Code dL, 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
LG's own label is LID LOCK ERROR on a top-loader
What you are probably seeing
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
What it looks like from the kitchen
The symptom this code usually arrives with
A code names the subsystem; the symptom is what sent you to look at the display in the first place. That page says what it usually turns out to be, cheapest cause first.
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The load comes out soaking Washer will not spin
The cheap answers come first here and they are right most of the time. Every washer refuses to spin rather than risk it, so the things that stop a spin are mostly safety interlocks and load balance rather than the drive.
- Balance and the lock before the drive
- Two builders, two drive systems
- The motor is rarely the answer
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 LG-built Kenmore washer error code dL
Whose code this actually is
Kenmore did not write dL, because Kenmore has never built an appliance. This one is LG's, and it appears on the washer that LG 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
LG's own label is LID LOCK ERROR on a top-loader.
Which Kenmore models can raise it
The Kenmore washer whose model number begins 796 — the three digits before the period on the rating plate. Those digits are LG's, which is why LG's table is the one that applies to dL and no other manufacturer's does.
What happens next
- Check nothing is on top of the lid and nothing is caught under it.
- Power cycle, then call if it persists.
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 dL, and on a Kenmore the characters plus three digits off the plate are most of the diagnosis.
Where this meaning came from
LG's own documentation: LG Owner's Manual — Washing Machine, Top Loader, USA/Canada, P/No. MFL68267085. 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