Bosch SGV53e13GB/90 – Not filling or draining

Hello all,

I’ve been diagnosing a problem with our home dishwasher (an inbuilt SGV53e13gb/90). I’ve made an attempt, but I’m at the point of guessing which component to replace and hope you can do better!

Apologies for the slightly rambling debug information – I’m not sure of the importance of any particular piece of information.

We originally noticed that the dishwasher wasn’t cleaning, and that the dishwasher tablet wasn’t being consumed. We cleaned the filters (including the pump inside the main cavity that requires a torx screwdriver to access). No change.

From reading about the general issues on the internet, I’ve tried the following:

Cleaning out the pressure chamber (didn’t look clogged, no difference)

Cleaning out the water distributor (again, didn’t look clogged, no difference)

Checking the outflow pipe – runs well

We have good water pressure, and the filter at the connection to the mains isn’t clogged

I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen, but if I turn on the mains supply and look for water in the pipe after the impeller jug I don’t get any coming through – I’m assuming this is because the system is turned off.. could it be a blockage here?

Water drains from the main cavity through the hose connected to the water distributor (so I’m assuming no internal blockage)

Float switch moves freely and is down normally

Here’s where I think it gets a little interesting – when running the machine I don’t see water filling the distributor in either direction (in our out), even if I pre-fill the instrument by hand. It does however recirculate the water through the dishwasher arms and heat the water. After running a rinse cycle, the main cavity doesn’t drain. I can’t be sure, but I didn’t see the float switch engage during the rinse cycle – it doesn’t seem to me like it’s just a drainage problem. Water doesn’t enter the system when the machine is empty, so if it isn’t just a drainage problem..

So I’m confused – it looks like I’m not getting water either in or out of the system. Can a single part failure cause that?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Barry