Wax Motor for Detergent Cup Actuation

I suspected that the wax motor had gone bad based on reviews I had read. The repair requires a TORX bit to remove seven screws holding the plastic cover on the inside of the door. I sat in a chair with the door resting on my knees and took the screws out. Once open, the two wax motors are under the cover and easily accessible. You simply pull the wax motors out and detach two wire plugs. You should note how the wires are attached. The wire plugs were a little difficult to pull off but with a little effort they came straight off. Once new wax motors were installed, the soap dispenser opened.

I was also using a gel dishwasher detergent and was told that, for some reason, it might have begun to act like glue and this might also have prevented the soap dispenser from opening. I switched to powder and that did not solve the problem leading me to replace the wax motors. The soap dispenser spring seems a little weak so I have continued using powder.

The wax motor seemed to work.
At first I thought something was broken and I tried to figure out the "theory of operation" Working the actuator of the wax motor, I COULD NOT GE THE LATCH TO MOVE THE WAY I THOUGHT IT SHOULD. I ASSUMED EITHER IT WAS BROKEN IN SOME WAY I COULD NOT DETECT OR THERE WAS A FLAW IN ITS DESIGN!

It took a long time to figure out the latch would not be worked open unless it was actually holding the lid- this positions the latch at "half mast" and allows the mechanism to "pick it up from there" and open the rest of the way. So once I figured that out, I concluded the failure was really just worn out parts that were out of tolerance for how this "half mast" position and opening was supposed to work. So I ordered all fresh pieces just to be sure, assembled it (very easy) and put it in (easy). It all works fine now.

I removed the seven screws from the back panel of the door (special tool) and seperated the back panel from the front. My wife held the back up and I removed the two wax motors (detergent cup and rinse aid), which were clipped in place. I had turned off power to the dishwasher, so I simply unplugged each wax motor from the wiring harness, plugged the wax motors in and clipped them in place, making sure that the wiring harness was put back in the same place. Then I put the back panel back on the door, turned the power on and tested the repair. The dishwasher worked perfectly. Thanks to PartSelect for helping me solve the problem. The parts arrived in two days!

I took out both wax motors - tried switching the motors on the rinse dispenser and soap dispenser but they were both dead - new motors from partselect arrived fast - simple installation if you have the torx screwdriver for the door inner panel.

Actual i missed diagnosed the leak and ordered a very expensive door gasket. The leak was coming from shrinage of the wax resevoire o rig and the tab seal for the soap dispensor. I missed the trees the forest got in the way. The leak was dripping alond the front panel well away from the main door seal.

I cleans a the plastic surfaces and noticed a lip around the opening for the reservoire and used 150 sandpaper to remove it. Replaced the O ring, tab seal and bothe selonoids and cleaned everything. Put it back together. Works find lasts along time

I used a torx driver to remove the seven screws holding the inside door panel in place. Flipping it over exposed the dispenser mechanism. There were two hex nut screws holding the whole assembly in place and two wires attached to the wax motor. As an afterthought I had ordered the sealing grommet for the latch, and as it turned out, the main problem with the sticking latch was that the grommet had worn out and allowed the hard soapy water to leak into the slider assembly and build up a hard crusty residue that had helped to ware out the old wax motor. After completely disassembling all of the parts, I scrubbed the residue out of the housing, replaced the slider, latch, spring, and grommet. Next I snapped the new wax motor into place and connected the two wires. The whole thing went back in place and the two hex screws went back to hold it all together. Finally, the seven torx screws went back to put the door back together. The whole repair went without a hitch.

First unplug the unit. Open door. Take a special tool to remove all the screws (star shaped) around the edge of the door, and remove plastic panel where motor for detergent cup sits. Remove wires (two) from the motor. Remove wax motor by unsnapping motor from its cradle--comes out by moving the fingers holding it in. Push new motor into position, being sure the round pin sticking out at the end (on the left side) so that it sits in the groove made for it. Replace panel and screws, plug power cable back into its box. Close detergent cup door, turm on dishwasher, run through cycle, open door and check to see if detergent door opened up. If it did, then fill with dishes and wash.

First, I searched the repair help on this site to see what others did to repair their diswashers, and it looked easy, so I just followed the same instructions. First, I used a hex star key wrench to remove the screws that hold in the interior door cover. I disconnected the leads to the defective wax motor, reconnected the leads to the new motor and screwed the door back together. It took 15-20 minutes and was a piece of cake! My first appliance repair, and as a single woman and first-time homeowner, I was really impressed with this site! It gave me confidence to tackle more home repairs instead of calling for service and getting raked over the coals.

Unscrewed the inside door panel. Removed the reservoir assembly. Disconnected the wax motor. Replaced it with the new motor. Replaced the new o-ring. Done. The hardest part was finding out why it was not working and how to fix it. Google for a long time in order to find some idea what to do. Then took the door apart to see the reservoir and the wax motor. After that, it was pretty easy. HTH

Replace wax timer for detergent cup. Replaced foam insulation at bottom of the door.