What am I doing wrong with my dishwasher

[Newmumin23]

My dishwasher and subsequent clean dishes SMELL really bad. I rinse everything before putting them in so things aren’t absolutely caked with food but everything comes out smelling really unpleasant. Smells a bit like dirty water, things also still have some food or residue on them sometimes too.
I really don’t know where I’m going wrong ? How hard can it be. I top salt up regularly and do the cleaning cycles once a month too. Dishwasher isn’t quite 4 years old, do I need a new one already?

Have you cleaned the filter and the spinning arms?

Have you tried sodium bicarbonate and white vinegar? Wash through on a hot wash. Failing that have you taken out the gubbins and made sure there's no mould growing inside it? Soak in Milton maybe?

Clean filter and rotators as PP said.

Put on a boil wash empty and then a normal wash with cleaner in.

But it is odd. Ours doesn't smell and I only clean it about once or twice a year even though we cook every night and it goes on at least once a day.

Have you taken the filter thing out at the bottom? It gets food stuck in it and it can block the water draining properly so stagnant water sits there. Take it out, degunge and rinse it and put it back in.

Stop rinsing the things before you put them in. Dishwashers work better with un-rinsed dishes.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/dec/25/how-to-properly-load-a-dishwasher-if-you-pre-rinse-it-might-actually-come-out-dirtier?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Do you wipe round the door seals? Mine get sludge stuck behind them.

It could also be that something has got stuck in the outlet pipe so the dirty water isn't getting away, - a toothpick or matchstick, or something that could slip through the outlet filter. Also check the pipe hasn't got kinked or squashed behind the machine in some way.

Check the sink/u-bend/the last few inches of the drain hose where it joins under the sink; if that's been even partially blocked, there's all matter of grot festering away down there.

You'll need a bucket, gloves and something to poke through both the DW hose and the exit from the u-bend.

Is it one where the little Place where you put the tablet opens about 20 mins into the cycle?

If so there is a second little place where the cover has holes, this is meant for prewash - so the first 20 mins are the prewash cycle which needs detergent which is then washed away prior to the second wash, when the little Place flips open and uses the main detergent.

When I had one of these the quality of the wash improved when I put a small spoonful of powdered detergent in the little place with the holes in it.

Also, check the filters, the arms etc and do a vinegar rinse.