Soap Dispenser Problem with Kenmore Elite Dishwasher

Hi,
There are three common problems that cause the Soap Dispenser or Cup not toopen. I have a tip that will explain these problems in detail....

Dishwasher Repair Problem Detergent Cup does not Open

heatman101

What you have is a faulty cycle timer. Replace this and your dispenser will dispense the soap when prompted.

Hi,

There are three common problems that cause the Soap Dispenser or Cup not to open. I have a tip that will explain these problems in detail....

Dishwasher Repair Problem Detergent Cup does not Open

heatman101

Often times the latch needs cleaning from the accumulated calcium and soap caked around the latch. Use an old toothbrush or sometimes something a little stiffer to scrub around the latch, the dispenser cups and in the general area. If there is still accumulation a small amount of CLR [calcium-lime-rust] remover will break down the accumulation. We had a Kenmore running in very hard water situation that wouldn't open and we just left it open and didn't worry about the dispenser door releasing. We did this because we always scraped off all the food in the sink before putting dishes in the dishwasher and then ran on the water miser setting which requires only one of the soap dispenser wells to be filled.

Run it a few times with a soap tablet in the cutlery basket. The door is just sticking and doing this normally cleans them up.

From your description even when the soap dispenser opens it is opening late which is why all the soap does not dissolve.

Try adding only half as much soap and see if it opens then - even a little spilled soap catching on that little latch mechanism can cause it to be difficult to close and stick opening.

Also make sure that the spring that controls the door is not broken.

is your soap door open when this happens if it is then make sure there's no water or other liquids in the dispenser from loading the washer one tablespoon of water in there will clump up the soap and it won't drop when it pops open

Dispenser may be bad. Push the hi-temp button , air -dry, hi-temp, air-dry in that order. All lights will lite up and this will do test cycle of all components. If soap disp opens then soap tab may be the issue. I have had intermittent dispenser issues and they are often hard to solve as other components may be at fault.

Use gel run a few cycles and help clear and then don't overfill w gel soap

Bad dispenser, This is replaced as a whole assembly.