I have an Elite He 4T frontloading washing machine, it is almost 3 years old - no more warranty! It has been giving me the F 02 error code, which is "Drain Problem". There are no items in the drain on the inside of the machine, I tookoff the hose it is clear. I stuck a wire hanger down the opening in the wall where the hose goes it is clear. It is also between 30" and 96" from the bottom of the washer as manufacturer suggested. I use HE detergent. The machine stops every minute F 02 and I have to push the cancel and start button then it stops 1 or 2 minutes later and I do the same, Here and there it willl throw a "suds" error, and add even more water. Eventually the clothes are still soaking wet, there is water in the bottom of the wash basket. If I push "drain and spin", the "F 02" and "suds" night mare starts all over. I have even run a couple cycles with no detergent, in case there was some kind of build up, and it does the same. I have spent hours trying to get through a cycle. Any suggestions before I hand over mega money to SEARS!!

What is the model #?

I tried a soulution I found on the website from someone thath had a similar problem and it worked!! I took the front bottom panel off and opend the drain trap, there were 2 socks and half of a pencil in there... now it works fine. Thank you for taking the time to help me.

I did what map1125 said to do. It worked perfectly. I found a sock in the drain trap also. Now my machine works perfectly. Don't forget you will need a 7mm hex screw driver to take the front panel off. Thanks map1125

Thank you everyone! Thought we were going to spend a lot of money to get the washer fixed but taking off the front cover and emptying the drain worked. We had a lot of lint built up in there along with coins. I would recommed cleaning it out every so often. We had an F02 code that kept flashing.
Thanks again!

THANK YOU! I had change, keys and socks in that trap! The washer is now working great again! Additional family members with different brand front loaders have also cleared their drain and found missing jewlery!I've also contacted Kenmore in regards to this step "mysteriously" being omitted from the Troubleshooting section. I'm curious to their response...

Cleaning the trap works, but be careful and have a lot of towels ready. They don't make it easy to control the water that comes out when you unscrew the cap.

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Originally Posted by Silverback72

Cleaning the trap works, but be careful and have a lot of towels ready. They don't make it easy to control the water that comes out when you unscrew the cap.

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First a comment on the need for towels. I used towels the first two times I had it apart. Then I found that if I took out the one screw that holds the drain in place, the drain can be moved towards the front and a little up (even with the two rubber hoses attached). This allows you to create a small half funnel from what ever you have (I used cardboard) from the drain to a bucket. If you're just opening the drain to do routine cleaning, you can open the drain all the way and everything will fit in one bucket. If you are opening the drain because the tub is full and you can't get it to "Drain", then just open the drain a little bit and fill bucket by bucket. Takes a while but no water spills. To put the drain back in place, the drain slides into two rubber grommets in the back and then replace the screw.
Second on the F02 and Suds: When I first opened my drain, I didn't find any socks but I did find a hunk of smelly gunk. I removed that and hoped my problem was solved. Second try, I removed and cleaned all the hoses leading from the pump to the basement sink. Again, everything was full of smelly gunk. Make sure you clean the connector from the inside to the outside of the washer (I snaked a paper towel through). My problem turned out to be a pump that worked intermittently but in a way I'm thankful; everything smells so much better since I eliminated the gunk. The way I finally determined that the pump was the issue was that I started just a Drain and Spin cycle and I heard and saw nothing happening until the F02 would show up. Tried again and a very low hum was coming from the drain motor. It was trying but not moving. The difficulty was the intermittent nature of it. I replaced the pump and everything is working fine.

Just did what map1125 suggested and it fixed the problem. No joke... pulled off the font panel, opened the trap and I found a sock, some coins, chapstick container, lint and who knows what else. THE ONLY surprise here is that I didn't have the suds F02 error sooner. Thanks for the fix. Oh yeah, lots of water will come out when you pull that drain trap off; power drill with hex attachment will save you lots of time pulling the panel off as well.

AWESOME advice this worked by taking bottom panel off (can also use t-20 torx) and clean and unplug! Thank you for your help.!

Wow I am so excited. I think it worked. I had about five dollars worth of change clogging drain. Took a picture to paste on washing machine to remind all to empty their pockets before washing!!

I taught my four children to wash their own clothes starting at 13 but I must say I have to remind them constantly about the necessary "requirements" of preparing clothes to wash.

I started getting this same error and did the same thing, I opened the bottom panel and cleaned out the drain. It had one of those "shout" sheets that are out now that help keep colors from running. I removed it and was thrilled when I thought I actually was able to fix it myself. Unfortunately for me, I continue to get the F02 error. I checked behind the machine and the drain line is not kinked. Not sure what else to do with it. I tried to snake a small agar through the line behind the machine but it would only go to the "U" section then stop... I am assuming the curve is too tight for it to penetrate it.

Any other suggestions?