Reading an LG Washer or Dryer by Its Blinking Lights

How to reset LG dishwasher, and the machines that have no code

Two levels, in order.

Hold the Start or Start/Pause key for about three seconds. On most LG dishwashers that cancels the running cycle, and the machine will drain before it stops rather than leaving water in the tub.

If the condition comes back, or the machine will not respond at all, cut the power at the breaker for a full minute. A minute rather than a few seconds — the board holds charge and a quick flick often changes nothing.

One thing to rule out first, because it costs nothing and it is the commonest non-failure on this appliance: CL on the display is the control lock, not an error. Hold the two keys marked for it for three seconds and listen for the chime. It survives the power being switched off and on, which is exactly what convinces people the machine is broken.

The machines that have no code to reset

Not every LG appliance has a numeric display. Several top load washers and dryers report by blinking their cycle indicator lamps instead, and LG publishes what those patterns mean for both.

That makes them codes in every way that matters — documented by the manufacturer, specific, and worth writing down. The practical difficulty is different from every other diagnostic on this site: there is nothing to type into a search box.

Four steps that make it usable

Watch a complete sequence first. The pattern repeats, and the first flash you happen to notice is rarely the first flash of the cycle. Stand there for three or four repetitions before you touch anything. It feels like doing nothing and it is the most useful thirty seconds of the whole job.

Count which lights are lit, not how fast. The identity of the lit lamps is the code. The speed carries nothing and varies between panel generations, so a description built around "it flashes quickly" is a description of nothing.

Photograph the panel mid-blink. Far easier than describing it on the phone later, and it is what a technician actually works from. Video is better still if the sequence is long.

Only then cut the power. The pattern goes with it. A machine that has been reset is a machine with nothing left to say, and every diagnosis after that starts from scratch.

The caution the maker gives, and it saves calls

The same indicator lamps show ordinary cycle status. A machine that is washing normally and blinking a stage indicator is a machine that is washing normally.

So the pattern is only an error when the machine is misbehaving as well — stopped mid-cycle, refusing to start, sitting full of water, running far longer than it should. If everything is working and something is blinking, that is almost certainly the appliance telling you what it is doing rather than what is wrong.

What to say when you call

Three things, and they are worth having ready:

1. The model number. Inside the door opening on a washer or dryer. It decides which published pattern list applies, and the lists are not identical across machines.
2. The pattern, described by which lamps are lit — or better, the photograph.
3. What the machine was doing when it stopped. Filling, washing, spinning, drying, or refusing to start at all.

Those three together are usually enough to name a likely part before anybody sets off, which is the difference between one visit and two.