What to check yourself
Step 1. Reset the machine
Breaker off for five minutes, then a short cycle. As with the other motor codes on this machine, a single failed handshake can latch the fault, and a reset tells you whether that was all it was.
Step 2. Look for something jamming the diverter
The Vario motor turns a disc in the sump that points the water at one spray arm or the other. A shard of glass or a fruit stone wedged in that disc stops it turning, and the board reads a stuck motor. Pull the filter, look into the sump with a torch and clear anything solid.
Power off first, and look before you put a hand in.
Step 3. Check that both spray arms actually spin
Turn each by hand. A blocked arm is not the cause of this code, but it is worth ruling out at the same time, because you are already in there and the symptoms overlap: dishes clean on one rack and dirty on the other.
What a technician will look at
Described so you know what you are paying for, not as steps to repeat.
Test the Vario motor and its microswitch
Diagnosis is voltage at the motor and continuity through the microswitch that tells the board where the diverter is pointing. Both independent sources give the same winding range for the motor, so a meter settles it quickly. Getting there means pulling the machine out and working under the sump.
When to call a technician
Once a reset and a clear sump have not helped. This one has little middle ground: the diagnosis needs a meter under the machine, and reassembling the sump wrong causes a leak, which turns a moderate repair into a bad one.
What the repair costs
| Repair | Part only | Fitted by a technician |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing a jammed diverter disc | - | Free |
| Diagnosis, if you stop there | - | $75 to $130 |
| Vario motor replacement | $60 to $160 | $200 to $400 |
A new machine of the same class runs $500 to $1,500. Once a quote passes about a third of that on an older appliance, the repair stops making sense.
Codes people confuse this with
Questions people ask
- What does the Vario motor actually do?
- It turns a small diverter in the sump so that water goes to the top arm, the bottom arm, or both. That is how the machine gives more pressure to one rack at a time instead of splitting it weakly across both.
- Dishes on the top rack come out dirty and there is no code. Same part?
- It can be. A diverter that is stiff rather than stuck may still satisfy the board while sending most of the water to one side. Check the arms spin freely and the holes in them are clear first, since those are free.
Which machines this applies to
Applies to
LG dishwashers fitted with the Vario spray system, which covers most of the LDF, LDT and LDP ranges from the last decade.
Last checked
2026-08-10