Water purging out of detergant dispensar area

Chech the last reply thank you

if you have a cold wash, you can try that, don't use oil, you'll have a huge mess. cold water tends to break up the detergent, not expand it as hot or warm water will. Run several cycles to ensure a well cleared system. Turn the heat off as well. you could also try to use a sprayer if it will reach into the machine with cold water to diffuse the suds. then run the rinse cycle, which will drain the machine
Hope this helps
Joe

Water solenoid suspected bad.

We mistakenly switched liquid detergents and mixed enzyme based and bleach based. They gelled in the dispenser. I took the outer door cover off and could not figure out how to take the white plastic despenser off of the main door without breaking it. I disconected the electrical harness and took the main door off the hinges so I could take it outside, turn it upside down and use the garden hose pressure nozzle to blast the gellout of the white plastic dispenser. I use a piece of plastic coat hanger to poke around inside to break up the gell several times. It all came out in marble size pieces.

I had the same problem as you also using Cascade Complete. It turned to a wet solid and completely cloged up. I have spent 3 days cleaning it and now have it working again. I had to spoon out what I could, but the purge method still would not wash through. I started putting in water, running a thick plastic coated wire in and moving it around. Then opened and closed the door to slosh thinks around, then took a small scoop to clear out the water and gel clumps. I kept repeating until tired. Added more water and let it set over night and started again the next day. Once the water started looking clear after soaking and digging with the wire. I ran the purge technique listed in an earlier post, and the blockage finally cleared. It now is working again. I plan to keep a close eye in the future and run the purge as a regular maintence on ocassion when the add detergent light comes on. (I wonder if Cascade changed the formula that caused this gelling, or if they have a product issue).

Part of the solution is on the GE website: http://www.geappliances.com/search/fast/infobase/10010832.htm

But first you must remove or mash the gelled detergent into very small pieces so it can pass through the pump and outlet. You must clean out most of the gelled detergent down in the door going towards the pump and the outlet at the base of the door. You can disassemble the door, or I used a length of 3/8" soft plastic tubing pushed down into the detergent cavity repeatedly to break up and pull the chunks up to the fill door where I could remove or mash them. You may also need to this between the first run of the procedure and the second. You may need to do the purge filling the dispenser with water (I used hot - 120F) more than the once in the procedure.

It is probably because your Smart Dispenser is full of water and there may be a clog of some type in the pump. Try purging your Smart Dispenser and see if it fixes the problem!! It fixed ours!!

How to Purge Smart Dispenser

The purge routine operates the bulk dispenser pump continuously to drain the bulk dispenser tank when an incorrect liquid was poured in the tank. The process consists of setting up the dishwasher to run the purge mode, running the purge mode and then cleaning up the purged detergent.

Follow these steps carefully to have a successful purge run.

For Top Control Models:

1. Make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
2. Press Heated Dry and Down Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. All LEDs will illuminate.
3. Press Added Heat and Up Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacteria LED will illuminate
4. Press Start button one time
5. Select Normal and make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
6. Press Start button one more time and dishwasher will run a complete cycle without the main motor running. Cycle is complete when the Clean light illuminates. This should take approximately 60 minutes.
7. Open door and wipe up excess detergent from the door and tub
8. Flush remaining detergent off by pouring water on the door and tub where there is detergent residue.
9. Remove SmartDispenser cap and fill tank with water and then replace cap.
10. Repeat Steps 1 through 9 one time.
11. Then, repeat Steps 1 through 6. When the Clean LED illuminates, the system is purged and ready to be refilled with the correct detergent.

Front Mount Controls (same as above except for the changes in the two below steps):

2. Press Heated Dry and Cookware together for 3 seconds. All LEDs illuminate.

3. Press Added Heat and Cookware together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacterial LED illuminates.

How to Purge Incorrect Liquid Detergent from the Bulk Dispenser

The purge routine operates the bulk dispenser pump continuously to drain the bulk dispenser tank when an incorrect liquid was poured in the tank. The process consists of setting up the dishwasher to run the purge mode, running the purge mode and then cleaning up the purged detergent.

Follow these steps carefully to have a successful purge run.

For Top Control Models:

1. Make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
2. Press Heated Dry and Down Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. All LEDs will illuminate.
3. Press Added Heat and Up Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacteria LED will illuminate
4. Press Start button one time
5. Select Normal and make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
6. Press Start button one more time and dishwasher will run a complete cycle without the main motor running. Cycle is complete when the Clean light illuminates. This should take approximately 60 minutes.
7. Open door and wipe up excess detergent from the door and tub
8. Flush remaining detergent off by pouring water on the door and tub where there is detergent residue.
9. Remove SmartDispenser cap and fill tank with water and then replace cap.
10. Repeat Steps 1 through 9 one time.
11. Then, repeat Steps 1 through 6. When the Clean LED illuminates, the system is purged and ready to be refilled with the correct detergent.

Front Mount Controls (same as above except for the changes in the two below steps):

2. Press Heated Dry and Cookware together for 3 seconds. All LEDs illuminate.

3. Press Added Heat and Cookware together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacterial LED illuminates.

I had this problem myself and the purge solution listed above did not work for me. There was just so much gelled and hardened junk in the dispenser container, it would have forever to clean out. Additionally, I think it could have had the chance of damaging the pump. Here is what I did instead:
* Remove power to the dishwasher (via circuit breaker or pull plug under sink).
* Take all dishes and bottom rack out of the dishwasher.
* Close dishwasher door.
* Remove bottom 2 screwbolts with a rachet.
* Open dishwasher door.
* Put a small box that is big enough to hold the panel while the door is opened.
* Remove screws holding inner door to outside panel. Don't remove the screws heading into side of door itself. Also, there are 2 screws near the latch that you don't want to take out...just loosen them and you'll see they don't behave like the other screws.
* The panel will separate from the door, BUT there are 2 ribbon cables connecting them. Have someone hold onto the door...so it won't pull up hard on the ribbon cables.
* GENTLY pull back and forth (side to side) on the white ribbon cable on the door. It will come off with a connector.
* Use a small flathead screwdriver to gently press the tab in on the blue connector and gently pull the blue ribbon cable straight out.
* Remove panel completely and put aside.
* Gently close dishwasher door. It will want to fly up since it doesn't weigh as much.
* Look for a red/green cable from the detergent container (detergent level sensor) and disconnect it.
* Open dishwasher door and take off detergent cap.
* Have someone hold onto the detergent container from the other side and un-twist the detergent locking ring (the item you normally screw the cap into). You can use your hands or put a cloth over it and gently remove with channellock pliers. The detergent container will now be free, but connected to a rubber tube that leads to the detergent dispenser pump. It will easily disconnect by pulling the container away from the tube/pump. The container is now free!
* Shake the living hell out of the detergent container over a trashcan. Mine had tons of white and blue gel in it. Once you remove most of the gunk, bring it under the faucet in the sink and rinse with warm/hot water. Shake, rinse, empty, shake, rinse, empty. The hole where the detergent comes out should be 100% cleaned out. Use the handle of a small paintbrush (or something) to push the hardened gunk out of the hole. Be sure the container is totally cleaned. Take your time on this.
* Put everything back in reverse order. The only thing I did differently is putting the door panel back on the door: Close door, reattach container & cable, bring over panel and re-attach ribbon cables, hang panel on the top two white plastic blocks that you loosened the 2 screws by the latch with earlier. Then screw on the bottom 2 door screws (do not tighten until all screws are put back in place). Put all screws back...don't overtighten.
* Re-apply power and you should see the 'Add detergent' light come on. That's a good sign!!!
* Put in fresh detergent and you should be good to go.
* Lesson learned: DON'T mix enzyme and bleach based detergent ever again!

This was easier than I thought it was going to be...and didn't waste electricity, water, or time based on the purging method. After all, if it is clogged, you can't purge it. Enjoy!

I have the same problem and found the below on the GE website. It says to purge the detergent from the Smart Dispense. I am in the process of doing it now...we'll see if it works:

How to Purge Incorrect Liquid Detergent from the Bulk Dispenser

The purge routine operates the bulk dispenser pump continuously to drain the bulk dispenser tank when an incorrect liquid was poured in the tank. The process consists of setting up the dishwasher to run the purge mode, running the purge mode and then cleaning up the purged detergent.

Follow these steps carefully to have a successful purge run.

For Top Control Models:

1. Make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
2. Press Heated Dry and Down Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. All LEDs will illuminate.
3. Press Added Heat and Up Arrow buttons together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacteria LED will illuminate
4. Press Start button one time
5. Select Normal and make sure Pre-wash, Added Heat and Heated Dry LEDs are off.
6. Press Start button one more time and dishwasher will run a complete cycle without the main motor running. Cycle is complete when the Clean light illuminates. This should take approximately 60 minutes.
7. Open door and wipe up excess detergent from the door and tub
8. Flush remaining detergent off by pouring water on the door and tub where there is detergent residue.
9. Remove SmartDispenser cap and fill tank with water and then replace cap.
10. Repeat Steps 1 through 9 one time.
11. Then, repeat Steps 1 through 6. When the Clean LED illuminates, the system is purged and ready to be refilled with the correct detergent.

Front Mount Controls (same as above except for the changes in the two below steps):

2. Press Heated Dry and Cookware together for 3 seconds. All LEDs illuminate.

3. Press Added Heat and Cookware together for 3 seconds. The Anti-bacterial LED illuminates.