I bought a house with a Bosch dishwasher in it and soon found that the top spinner holes are blocked with bits of old labels. I have removed the spinner and separated the concentric tubes but I do not see how to push the debris back along to the inlet. Do I need a power but very small jet to put into the holes along the arm? Would drying it then putting the suction of a vacuum over the inlet hole be useful?

You should have 3 parts. The spinner, a cone shaped insert and the snap pin. The cone shape insert is the first part to install. Look at the upper spray feed tube in the top of the dishwasher where the old part used to be. Place the cone shaped insert on top of the spray tube through the hole with the flat part on top. Now take the spinner and snap it into the cone shaped insert from the bottom of the hole. Be sure that the swirling vanes are facing upwards. It should snap in. With the snap pin, push it into the insert underneath the spinner. This is what holds the spinner to the insert. Good luck.

Getting old yes indeed, but the problem should be fixable.

There are two things to look for, firstly the cap on the fabric softener compartment.
You should remove the whole drawer, by pressing down the one part hooking it onto the outer Soap Box. Once done, you can take of the cap and clean it. These caps are usually blocked by softener build-up, and thus nothing can get through the hole to the drum - Most common problem if the compartment runs over with water but no fabric softener goes to the drum.

Or you should check the outer soap box. To do this is a bit more tricky - Remove the top panel, usually screwed tight at the back of the machine by 2 screws. After removing the panel, you should see the big detergent outer box, remove its top panel and clean the small water holes at its reverse. What happens here is these holes also get blocked (by age - you said it was old), and by unblocking these holes you will allow water to get through with no problem.

Good Luck

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the spinner arm itself may be blocked..............remove arm and check hold are clear..........

cheers

Have you tried cleaning the filter? We had a similar problem. The repair man came and removed all the spinners and the other stuff at the bottom above the motor to get to the filter. It was blocked with all kinds of old food bits and pieces, the odd bit of plastic film etc. He cleaned it, replaced it and we havn't had a problem since but he said it needs to be done about every two years. It can be done by someone who has reasonable DYI skills.

First, confirm that the holes are not blocked on these arms. (I did not want to assume you have done this.)

Then check the impeller on top of the motor stem for being loose or worn/damaged - to rule the impeller out. If it is fine, then the motor is failing and too weak to drive the spray arms.
To answer your question, I think the answer is "They don't make them like they used too!"

Clean the filter at the bottom of the tub. If it is dirty or clogged the water pressure may not be strong enough to spin the top arm. Make sure also the there is nothing blocking the holes of the spinner arm. If the filter and arm are clear then the pump may be failing.

These are the spray arms. If both are not operating - are you geting any water through them at all?
If no - then the fault is the circulating pump or control circuit. Not cheap I'm afraid.
Spray arms are usually ok.
If you are getting water throuh them, then remove them (2 clips or a large nut), and rinse them through. Oftem bits of food get past the filter, and end up blocking all the holes. Make sure they are all clear.

If your talking about removing the bottom, main spray arm for the MDB7100AWB, in the middle there's the little hole with a plastic cog, button, whatever you want to call it that you can grab in pull up and spin, but this is just a spray jet and has nothing to do with removing the arm. But, around that hole in the middle is a disc that is somewhat flat and only sticks up about an 1/8 of an inch from the arm, this is what you need to unscrew to remove the arm. It almost looks like part of the arm (especially if it's caked with detergent), but it's actually the screw fastener that holds the arm on.  Just muscle that disc, turning counterclockwise, and it should unscrew, then you can remove the main arm unit.

For the top arm, it just pulls straight down and pops out.  You feel like it's about to break, but then it just pops out.  To put it back in, it just snaps in when you push it in.
Hope this helps.

I had the same problem, the 3rd level spinner falling off. Without getting into my saga story, save yourself some $$$.
-You will need a screw & washer to replace the plastic thumbtack. The screw will have to be able to screw into the female part of the spinner; the washer will keep the screw from falling out of the hole in the flat hose on the ceiling of the dishwasher.
-If you look closely at the spinner(the part that keeps falling off), you will notice it comes apart. With a flat head screwdriver, separate the 2 parts. (there are 3 parts all together; Keep the round center piece sticking out of the top peice)
--Remove the top drawer of the dishwasher to give you some room to work
-Remove the screw on the "ceiling" of the dishwasher(it is located further back from where the spinner goes) to allow the flat pastic tube to come down low enough for you to get in behind it.(set that screw aside in a safe place; you will put it back later)
-Remove the pastic thumbtack from the hole in the flat plastic tube if it is there & replace with a washer and screw.
-Take the top 2 peices of the spinner, together as assembled & screw the screw into the female portion of the spinner.
-snap on the 3rd piece of the spinner
-replace the screw you took out earlier, securing the flat plastic tube.
-place top drawer
Voila, you are done!! You just saved yourself $20+