Bosch Dishwasher Fault

[RJH]

Woke up this morning to the sound of the dishwasher - a grinding plastic gears misaligned sort of sound, quite loud, coming from the impeller pump area under the lower wash arm. The dishwasher wasn't on but was plugged in, and hadn't been used for a week.

- Error code E01 06 on the display. E01 is 'probably' a 'heat pump motor circuit fault at the main control board'. Not sure what the 06 means, maybe a door sensor fault. This site suggest a sensor has failed

- cleaned around the pump, no debris, spins freely.

- switched it off for 10 minutes, then back on, ran a 15 minute rinse cycle. Grinding noise then came back about 10 minutes later, after the machine had switched itself off. No error showing this time, but another run of the rinse cycle stopped mid-way with the grinding and E01 06 error.

- tried the software reset, and probably by coincidence it automatically ran a 'critical software update' earlier today. Problem still there.

- had it about 3 months, bought used from ebay, run maybe 30 washes no problem. It's a Serie 4 SMS4HCI40G/24.

Any ideas?! The fact it's switching on randomly with this grinding sound does sound ominously like control board and not a sensor, but there's very little about this model on the internet.

In the absence of anything specific I'll try phoning Bosch for ideas, then strip it down as per the link above.

[RJH]

Update - I couldn't find any clear way to dismantle the machine and identify the fault - which was looking like it was going to need some diagnostic equipment to locate in any case. So I booked a Bosch repair (fixed c.£100 labour plus parts).

Turned out it was the main control unit - something (a triac he said) had failed and was causing the pump to run at random times. £160+VAT which would have made it a very marginal case for repair.

It was built in June 2022, so was within warranty (2 years), but that didn't apply as I was a second owner. In the event Bosch gave me the part for nothing, so I just had to pay the labour. The part comes with a year's warranty, and 3 months labour free repairs.

Not sure of the moral here, happy enough on balance.

[Tim+]

Glad you’re sorted but it doesn’t bode well for the future. Good luck!

Tim

[RJH]

Quite - I did ask him about the cause of the failure, but pretty much act of god it seems. He showed me the board and nothing obvious. Fingers crossed for the future :-)

[SteveW]

Failures in general, pretty much folow the bathtub curve. Highest failure rates are early on due to faulty components, bad soldering, assembly problems, etc. and towards end of life, as everything ages and stresses.

It may well be that you have been one of those suffering an unlucky early failure, but that doesn't mean that the replacement part or the rest of the machine is more likely to suffer another failure.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its a Bosch. It will fail every 18 months. chuck it and buy something decent

[misterroy]

I had a Hotpoint washing machine. The control board failled three times. First time at 3 months, second below a year, third at 6 years. First two and labour were free, the third board was £20 from ebay and I fixed it. Blown Mosfet on the last one.

[Jeff Layman]

Our Bosch washing machine is 4 years old. It's been used at least once a week and there's been no problem of any sort.

[Tim+]

But…. 4 years old is nothing like old for a washing machine. Once a week use isn’t heavy use isn’t heavy use either.

I don’t think we’ve ever had less than 10 years out of a washing machine with daily use.

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

A dishwasher is used *every day* so in wear terms if that was a dishwasher it would be *28 years old*.

[RJH]

Eh? Twice a week here usually.

[Fredxx]

My experience of Bosch is pretty good. When did you last buy Bosch?

What do you recommend?

[The Natural Philosopher]

5 years ago. It was broke they charged me £200 to fix it and it broke again I bought a Miele dishwasher instead

That is still going

[The Natural Philosopher]

Blimey. Do you eat off the floor the rest of the time? What's the point of a dishwasher you do NOT use daily?

[Bob Eager]

Ours is about 10 years old. Used 4-5 times a week.

I have only replaced the detergent flap.

[RJH]

Well, there's only me most of the time and it's an 8 place capacity, so it sort of works out fine.

I like it in large part because it just clear's the day's cups and plates. Marvellous things.

[charles]

it depends on how much useable crockery you have.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its juts me as well but I seem to accumulate a washers worth of cooking stuff, mugs, plates, knives and forks every day.