---
title: "Dishwasher not cleaning properly"
description: "Bosch dishwasher not cleaning properly: dishes coming out gritty, cloudy or with food still on them."
url: "https://boschmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-cleaning/"
date_modified: "2026-08-18"
Appliance type: "Dishwashers"
---


# Bosch dishwasher not cleaning properly

### The fastest diagnosis is the code

If the machine has shown a code about scale in the heat pump, start there — descaling is a maintenance job and it is the cheapest thing on this page. Left long enough it becomes the most expensive.

### Grit and film are two different problems

**Grit** — sand-like debris in cups and glasses — is food that could not leave the machine. Filter, spray arms, drainage. **Film** — a dull white haze on glass — is minerals from the water. Descaling and rinse aid. They arrive together often enough to be confused, and they are fixed by completely different things.

### The code worth acting on

These machines publish a code specifically for scale building up in the heat pump. Very few appliances tell you this. Acting on it is a maintenance visit; ignoring it for a year means replacing the heat pump, which is the most expensive part in the machine.

A blocked filter

Food that cannot leave gets redistributed over the load. Twists out by hand and is the first thing to look at.

Spray arms not turning

Blocked jets, or a tall item on the lower rack stopping the arm. Spin each one by hand with the racks in — they should move freely.

Scale in the machine

A white film on glass and a machine that does not rinse well. South Florida water is hard and these machines publish a code for it, which is unusually honest.

Not hot enough

If the water is not reaching temperature, nothing else on the list matters. That points at the heat pump and it is the real repair here.

Detergent and loading

Tablets that do not dissolve in a short cycle, a blocked dispenser flap, or a load packed tight enough to shield the lower rack.

Spin both spray arms by hand

With the racks loaded as you normally load them. If a handle or a baking sheet stops one, that is your answer.

Hold an arm up to the light

Blocked jets show immediately. A toothpick clears them, and the arms usually unclip without tools.

Look for a white film

On glass in particular. Film is scale; grit is the filter. They are different problems and they look nothing alike once you know.

Run a hot cycle with a descaler

Empty. If everything improves noticeably, you had scale, and it is worth doing on a schedule from now on.

Film, grit or dishes still dirty

What it usually means

Grit left in glasses and cups

A white film on everything

Food still on the lower rack

The fastest diagnosis is the code

If the machine has shown a code about scale in the heat pump, start there — descaling is a maintenance job and it is the cheapest thing on this page. Left long enough it becomes the most expensive.

Grit and film are two different problems

Grit — sand-like debris in cups and glasses — is food that could not leave the machine. Filter, spray arms, drainage. Film — a dull white haze on glass — is minerals from the water. Descaling and rinse aid. They arrive together often enough to be confused, and they are fixed by completely different things.

The code worth acting on

These machines publish a code specifically for scale building up in the heat pump. Very few appliances tell you this. Acting on it is a maintenance visit; ignoring it for a year means replacing the heat pump, which is the most expensive part in the machine.

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