Bosch E43 fault codewhat it means and how to fix it
The drum or the motor is blocked, and BSH put the load first: check what is in the machine and do not exceed the maximum quantity.
Take care
Does the empty drum turn freely by hand?
The right answer depends on what you can see. Pick the one that matches.
Choose the option on the left that matches what your appliance is doing, and the answer for that case appears here.
Yes, all the way round with no hard spot
Nothing is obstructing the drum, which points at the cause BSH name first — too much in the machine for the drive to turn.
Reload to two thirds and run a short programme. If it completes, that was the whole fault.
No, it stops or grinds at one point
A mechanical obstruction between drum and tub. Common, and usually a bra wire or a coin, but reaching it means opening the machine.
Do not force it. Book it and describe the hard spot, because that tells the engineer to bring a seal and expect the element out.
It will not move at all
A drum that is solid with nothing in it is the motor or the bearings rather than the laundry.
Stop using the machine and get it looked at before you run anything else through it.
What E43 means
E43 sits in the drive circuit family, but it is the only member of that family where BSH tell the owner to do something rather than to ring. Their published cause is the drum blocked by laundry or the motor blocked, and their remedy is to check the load and not to exceed the maximum load quantity. That remedy is the useful part, because it identifies a class of failure that has nothing wrong with it mechanically.
A drum packed to the door cannot tumble, and a motor being asked to turn a solid mass of wet cotton draws current without the drum moving. The board sees a drive circuit that is not responding and stops.
There is a second version of the same complaint that is not about quantity at all. Something rigid wedged between the drum and the outer tub will hold the drum against rotation just as effectively as an overload — the wire out of a bra is the classic, and a coin standing on edge will do it. That is why the check worth doing is not just taking washing out but turning the empty drum by hand. Compare the codes around it: BSH publish several drive circuit codes that are motor control electronics and carry no owner remedy at all. E43 is the one they think you can fix, and the difference is worth respecting in both directions.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| Drum overloaded | BSH name the maximum load quantity in the remedy. A drum packed solid cannot tumble, and wet cotton weighs far more than it looks. | Common |
| Item wedged between drum and tub | A bra wire, a coin on edge, an underwire or a child’s toy. Holds the drum mechanically and reads to the board as a blocked motor. | Common |
| Motor genuinely blocked or seized | Where the drum will not turn by hand with nothing in it. Bearings or the motor itself, and this is the point at which it becomes a booking. | Occasional |
What to try yourself
Switch off at the socket. Take everything out of the drum and weigh what you had in there if you are not sure — the rated capacity is a dry weight and a full drum of towels routinely exceeds it.
With the drum empty, turn it slowly by hand through several full revolutions. It should move freely with a slight resistance from the belt. A hard stop at one point in the rotation is something wedged.
Feel round the inside of the drum for anything protruding through the perforations, and shine a torch through the holes at the point where it jams. A bra wire hooked through a drum hole is the classic find.
If you find something and can reach it through the drum holes, take it out. If you cannot, stop — getting to the gap between drum and tub means removing the heating element or the front panel, and that is not an owner job.
Reload to about two thirds of the drum, leaving a hand’s width of space at the top, and run a short programme. BSH’s remedy is about load quantity as much as about obstructions.
If the empty drum will not turn freely by hand, book it and say exactly that on the phone. It is the single most useful sentence you can give an engineer on this code.
Get a qualified appliance engineer to look at your Bosch E43
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified appliance engineer, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
What it costs to fix
Typical repair cost
£0–£200
Time on site
25 minutes
Free if it is the load. Removing a wedged object means the element or the front out, which is around £70 to £120 in labour. Drum bearings are the expensive end and often the point to think about the machine as a whole.
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Own this appliance and had this code? . Nothing is published until a person has read it.
Related Bosch fault codes
- E50Get it checkedA motor control fault. BSH publish five of these codes with one shared meaning and no owner remedy at all, which is itself the answer.Related: motor and drive
- E18Get it checkedThe machine could not pump out in the time allowed. Bosch point at the filter and the drain hose, and warn that the water you are about to release may be scalding.Related: same brand
- E17Get it checkedProblems with the water connection: tap, kinked hose, blocked inlet filter or low pressure. Bosch’s AquaStop hose has a filter at the tap end most owners do not know about.Related: same brand
- E23Stop — call an engineerWater has been detected in the base of the machine and the AquaStop system has cut in. Bosch say to turn the tap off immediately and stop using it until it is repaired.Related: same brand
- E32Usually simple to fixAn unbalanced load, and Bosch headline it as the machine flashing "end" at the end of the programme. They state outright that this is not a fault.Related: same brand
- E06Get it checkedThe pump is blocked by something that got into it, or the outlet hose was kinked when the machine was last moved. Both are owner jobs.Related: same brand
Own a Bosch washing machine? Save it and its codes come first next time.
Related guides
Common questions about Bosch E43
How much laundry is too much?
BSH just say not to exceed the maximum load quantity, which is the rated capacity on the door or in the handbook and is a dry weight. The practical version is that you should be able to get a flat hand into the gap above the load in a dry drum. Towels and bedding are the loads that catch people, because they gain enormous weight when wet.
I have taken everything out and it still shows the code.
Then turn the empty drum by hand, because that is the test that separates the two published causes. Free rotation with the code still showing points at the drive circuit rather than the load. A hard spot means something is wedged in the gap between drum and tub, which needs the machine opening.
How is this different from the other drive circuit codes?
By whether BSH offer you anything. The motor control codes on this platform carry no owner remedy at all — the answer is customer service. E43 is the one where they name the load and the drum and tell you to check them, which is a fair signal that most instances of it are not a broken machine.
Could this damage the motor?
Repeatedly restarting a cycle against a blocked drum is not good for it, no. The machine stopping is the protection working. What matters is not to treat the code as something to push past — establish whether the drum turns before you try again.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.
Sources and how we verified this
We establish the facts from the sources below and then write the explanation ourselves. We do not copy manufacturer wording and we do not host their manuals.
- Manufacturer support portal
This page has not been reviewed by an engineer, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise. The severity rating follows what the manufacturer publishes: where they say isolate the appliance and call someone, so do we.