What to check yourself
Step 1. Lift out the filter and rinse it
The filter sits in the floor of the tub. Twist the cylindrical part anticlockwise, lift the whole assembly out, and separate the coarse mesh from the fine one. Rinse both under a hot tap and use a soft brush on the mesh. Grease film matters as much as visible debris: a filter that looks clean but feels slippery is still blocking flow.
Step 2. Look in the recess the filter came out of
Glass fragments, olive stones, fruit stickers and bits of label collect down there. Wipe it out with kitchen paper rather than fingers if you have ever broken a glass in that machine.
Broken glass in the sump is the usual reason people cut themselves on a dishwasher.
Step 3. Refit the filter properly and check it locks
It has to seat and turn clockwise until it stops. A filter dropped back in loosely lets food past into the pump, which turns a five minute job into E23 later.
Step 4. Scrape plates, but do not rinse them
Worth saying because it prevents the repeat: scrape solids into the bin, but do not pre-rinse. Modern detergent needs some soil to work against, and a pre-rinsed load makes the machine clean worse, not better.
Step 5. Run a hot empty cycle with dishwasher cleaner
If the filter blocks again within a few weeks, there is grease built up through the whole sump and spray system. A proper machine cleaner at the highest temperature clears it. Doing this every few months stops this code coming back at all.
When to call a technician
Rarely. If the filter is genuinely clean, seated correctly, and water still stands in the sump, the fault has moved to the pump and you should read E23 instead.
What the repair costs
| Repair | Part only | Fitted by a technician |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning the filter | - | Free |
| Service call if the fault persists | - | $75 to $150 |
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
- How often should the filter be cleaned?
- Once a month for a machine used daily, and that is enough to keep this code away permanently. It takes about two minutes once you have done it once.
- The filter looked clean but the code came back.
- Feel it rather than look at it. A greasy film blocks the mesh while leaving it looking fine. Wash it in hot water with a drop of washing up liquid, then run an empty hot cycle with a machine cleaner.
Which machines this applies to
Applies to
All Bosch dishwashers. Machines with newer electronics show E9240 for the same fault.
Last checked
2026-08-03