What to check yourself
Step 1. Reset at the breaker for five minutes
Start here. A single out of range reading, from a moment of bad contact at the sensor plug, latches the code. If it does not return on the next cycle, that was it.
Step 2. Check what temperature is feeding the machine
Worth doing before anyone opens the machine. A water heater set very high, or a machine plumbed into a hot line shared with something else, can genuinely push the incoming water past what the machine will accept. A cooking thermometer under the kitchen hot tap answers it in a minute. Above about 150°F is too hot for a dishwasher supply.
Step 3. Note when the code appears
At the start of a cycle or during the heated part? The first points at the sensor or its wiring, the second at heating that is running away because nothing is telling it to stop. Both go to the same technician, but knowing which shortens the visit.
What a technician will look at
Described so you know what you are paying for, not as steps to repeat.
Test the thermistor and its harness
The sensor sits near the element at the bottom of the tub, behind the lower spray arm and the filter. It is metered cold and warm and its readings compared against the expected curve. A corroded plug or a wire chafed against the tub is a common finding and a cheap repair, which is the reason to test rather than replace.
When to call a technician
If the code returns after a reset. There is no safe owner side test here: everything left involves the heating circuit, and a machine that misreads its own water temperature should not be persuaded to keep running.
What the repair costs
| Repair | Part only | Fitted by a technician |
|---|---|---|
| Reset, if a single bad reading latched it | - | Free |
| Diagnosis and harness or connector repair | - | $100 to $250 |
| Temperature sensor replacement | $15 to $60 | $150 to $300 |
| Control board replacement | - | $300 to $550 |
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 is the difference between tE and HE?
- HE is about heat that did not arrive: the water stayed cold. tE is about the reading itself being impossible, or the water going past the safety limit. HE usually means the element or its circuit, tE usually means the sensor.
- My LG washing machine has a tE code as well. Same part?
- Same kind of part, a temperature sensor, in a different machine. The reading, the location and the price are all different, so treat them separately.
- Can I keep resetting it and running short cycles?
- Better not to. The board has lost confidence in its temperature reading, and the heating circuit is the one part of a dishwasher where being wrong matters. Book the visit.
Which machines this applies to
Applies to
LG dishwashers across the LDF, LDT, LDP and LSDF ranges. LG documents the threshold as water above 194°F or a sensor reading outside its expected range.
Last checked
2026-08-10