The upper and lower spinning arms in the washer do not appear to spin at all. Water comes out of the lower arm but not forcfully at all.Not cleasning dishes and leaving soap residue all over.

Both upper and lower washing arms operate on the water pressure and angle of water flowing thru them.
Pressure provided by water pump.

Just about anything that contacts the rotating arm can stop it.
Best thing to do is re-arrange items in dishwasher so that arms can spin freely.
One can always spin washing arms by hand to ensure proper clearance.

Hope this helps...

It could be a motor or a pump issue. The dishwasher has a motor that attached to a pump which forces the water up into the sprayer arms and during the drain cycle, it pushes the water out of the dishwasher.
The motor (and pump) located beneath the dishwasher.
Check if motor spins. In case it spins, the problem is with the pump ,in case it doesn't spin it could be a motor problem or a motor and pump problem.

First of all: filter plate clean? Clean any locked hole.
1) Can you remove the upper spray-arm and verify if holes inside are locked by any residus. Clean the holes , and check if pure water come out when you fill the center hole with some water.
2) Switch on the dishwasher , coldest wash cycle dish-washer empty and without the upper spraying arm. Once you hear water streaming in, open the door and look if a little water fountain comes out from the center hole where the upper spraying arm was fixed. If not, this canalisation is blocked and should be cleaned. Try to continue the wash cycle, often the water pressure will clean itself this canal. Check also lower spray arm: it should be rotating a while and ejecting water thru its holes. If not, verify this canalisation as well.

3) Put the spraying arm again on its place, verify also the sealing else water pressure is going down and spraying will not turn and spray water.

4) Again, continu a wash cycle, open the door and look; upper arm should be rotating and some rays trown out.

Hopefully, this helps .

If not, pump pressure may be low; have a repair verify, can be that only brushes in the motor must be replaced, can be the pump worn out and to be replaced at all.

Check that the arms spin freely when spun by hand, then check the outlet jets at the trailing end of the arms are not blocked with food particles and other solid matter. This often happens and the arm is unable to turn because the water jet that is supposed to drive the arm does not have the force to rotate it with the result is that the upper dishes do not get enough water and chemicals. It may also cause water to continue dripping onto dried dishes after the the drying cycle has stopped.

Hi Matt.
The lower housing underneath the lower wash arm may still have something blocking the water passages.

If the spray arm is clean and it freely rotates try lightly pressing down on the wash arm and then rotate it. Your checking to see that when water is applied to the spray arm it forces the arm down against the lower housing tower and hopefully does not lock up. If it does lock up while pressing down and rotating obviously you need to find out what the cause is.

You may have to remove the lower wash arm housing and clear the debris from the water passages. Once the passages are clear it should work fine.

Thanks for using FixYa,

Kelly

have you checked to see if the arm spins freely if you push it

If your dishes are getting clean, then your problem is a "feture" not a failure. The LG LDS5811 has a Verio motor/check valve that switches between cleaning the upper dishes and then the lower. Depending on when you open the door, one arm will not be spinning.
All the presure is routed either to the lower or upper arm, so it really does help - especially with a water conserving model like the 5811.
Good Luck!

It seems other posts were correct - The upper arm doesn't spin all the time. Once I learned that, and let the dishwasher cycle through, I saw that the upper arm does spin. So, there wasn't a problem with the upper arm afterall. That doesn't solve my crusty dishes problem, but that may have something to do with the soap we're using. We're going to try changing that next.

possible ball valve problem

running with the door open indicates another fault that could be dangerous unless you have bridged the catch for testing only, water should flow fast and forceful at all times that it circulates, through both spray arms at once, you have to look for blockages in the system, is the waste outlet pipe high enough, this allows the machine to fill adequately so it doesn't pump intermittently, i doubt very much this is an electrical problem hope i have helped a little

It could be a motor or a pump issue. The dishwasher has a motor that attached to a pump which forces the water up into the sprayer arms and during the drain cycle, it pushes the water out of the dishwasher. The motor (and pump) located beneath the dishwasher. Check if motor spins. In case it spins, the problem is with the pump ,in case it doesn't spin it could be a motor problem or a motor and pump problem. Good luck