--- title: "Washer will not start" description: "Kenmore washer will not start — almost always an interlock or a setting rather than a failure." url: "https://kenmoremiami.support/symptoms/washer-will-not-start/" date_modified: "2026-09-01" Appliance type: "Washers" --- # Kenmore washer will not start ### Hold the child lock button for three seconds Both manufacturers put the control lock on a button you can press by accident while cleaning the panel, and both make the machine completely unresponsive while it is on. Holding that button down for a few seconds clears it. It costs nothing, it takes three seconds, and it is a real share of these calls. ### 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. - **110 Whirlpool** — LOC or LC is the control lock. LdL is the lid lock failing to engage. Err appears when you try to change a cycle mid-run, which is not a problem. - **796 LG** — CL is the child lock — LG's own manual prints it as `[L` on a segment display and the help library writes CL, which is the same thing looking different. dE is DOOR OPEN on a front-loader and LID ERROR on a top-loader. ### Interlocks are not defects A washer that will not start because it cannot confirm the lid is shut is behaving exactly as designed. What has failed is usually the small switch that reports the lid position, not the machine’s judgment. That is a cheap part and a quick job, and it is worth knowing before anybody quotes a control board. ### After a storm In storm season we see washers that will not start where the real event was a brownout. Both manufacturers publish a power failure code, and clearing it is all that is needed. A machine that keeps reporting one without any interruption you noticed is worth having the supply looked at. The control lock is on Free to clear, and easy to switch on without noticing. The lid or door will not confirm closed The machine will not start until it can. Usually the switch rather than the lock body. Something is caught in the door On a front-loader, a sleeve in the seal is enough. No power arriving A tripped breaker, or an outlet on a circuit shared with something that tripped it. The control or the interface Last. A panel that responds to some buttons and not others is the interface rather than the main board, and they are different parts. Does the panel respond at all Lights and no action is a lock or an interlock. Nothing at all is power. Hold the lock button for three seconds Before anything else. Close the door firmly and listen A click means the lock is engaging. Silence means it is not. Check the breaker A double breaker can trip on one leg and look normal. It is plugged in, the panel responds, and nothing happens What it usually means The lid or door lock is the usual answer Control lock looks exactly like a failure Both builders publish a code for it Hold the child lock button for three seconds Both manufacturers put the control lock on a button you can press by accident while cleaning the panel, and both make the machine completely unresponsive while it is on. Holding that button down for a few seconds clears it. It costs nothing, it takes three seconds, and it is a real share of these calls. 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. 110 Whirlpool — LOC or LC is the control lock. LdL is the lid lock failing to engage. Err appears when you try to change a cycle mid-run, which is not a problem. 796 LG — CL is the child lock — LG's own manual prints it as `[L` on a segment display and the help library writes CL, which is the same thing looking different. dE is DOOR OPEN on a front-loader and LID ERROR on a top-loader. Interlocks are not defects A washer that will not start because it cannot confirm the lid is shut is behaving exactly as designed. What has failed is usually the small switch that reports the lid position, not the machine’s judgment. That is a cheap part and a quick job, and it is worth knowing before anybody quotes a control board. After a storm In storm season we see washers that will not start where the real event was a brownout. Both manufacturers publish a power failure code, and clearing it is all that is needed. A machine that keeps reporting one without any interruption you noticed is worth having the supply looked at. ### The panel lights up but nothing happens when I press start. Control lock first, then the lid or door switch. In that order they cost nothing and very little. ### It started and then stopped a minute later. That is not a start problem. Something is being confirmed and failing — most often the lock or the water supply. --- **[Read full article: Washer will not start](https://kenmoremiami.support/symptoms/washer-will-not-start/)**