Detergent Dispenser Assembly

Printed door assembly parts list and photo from KitchenAid website. (With the absence of instructions, it was a big help.) Remove door cover. You'll need a star driver bit. Remove the old dispenser. Note how the metal clamp and black cover sheet are positioned. Install the new dispenser. Insure the wiring harness is snapped in place. Replace the door cover. Not difficult; just some patience. One more hint ... be careful when taking the door cover off and you won't have to disconnect any other wiring.

Removed the screws holding the metal front of the dishwasher on, removed the 6 screws holding the dispenser in place. Put the new part in and put all screws back in where they were. Put the front back on the dishwasher with its screws, done.

Before starting the repair, I turned off electrical power to the dishwasher at the circuit breaker.

Instructions for removing the door cover panel were included in my dishwasher installation manual. The instructions were in a section for adding a custom door panel. For my dishwasher, this only required removing six screws using a Torx (star shaped) driver, size T15. I found it possible to support the door cover by myself with a knee under one side and one hand wrapped around the opposite side, but another person would be helpful.

The electrical connector to the dispenser has a small tab to lock it in place. I gently pried the tab back a *little* and pulled out the connector.

There are six screws holding the dispenser in place. In this case, they were 5mm hex head screws. The screws hold a metal bracket in place and a vinyl flap is sandwiched between the bracket and the inner door panel. The vinyl flap has three holes, with two of the screws passing through the left and right holes, and the middle hold goes over a plastic tab on the dispenser.

After removing the bracket and vinyl flap, I found that there were two metal tabs holding the dispenser in place. These tabs are part of the door sheet metal. Gently prying them back a *little* released the dispenser (which would have fallen out if I hadn’t kept a hand on it).

I pushed the new dispenser through the opening until it clicked into place with the metal door tabs holding it. Then I put the vinyl flap in place with the middle hole over the plastic tab on top of the dispenser, and put the metal bracket over that and attached with the hex head screws.

Next, I reconnected the electrical wire to the dispenser, installed the door cover panel, turned on power at the circuit breaker, and tried a wash cycle. The new dispenser works great!

To replace the soap dispenser you need to take off the front of the door, which requires removing about 12 torx screws - of 2 different lenghths (so keep track). Then the soap dispenser is held in place with 6 very small 4mm hex screws (why they used these instead of normal phillips??). Both my hex sets stopped at 5mm, so I had to go get one. Tool has to be narrow (not one that is flared) because the clearance between the screws and the unit is very tight. There is one small two-wire connector with a press-in connector that at first looked hard to pry off, but just grab it with channel-lock and it will just come off. Remember which way the wires are facing (ie. up or down). Be sure to note how the vinyl flap (that covers the back of the dispenser) attaches, then pull out the old one. Once the new one is in, the hardest part is putting the door cover back on. I'd advise having an extra set of hands. Made it much easier.

1. Removed six screws securing outer panel to dishwasher door.
2. Removed outer panel which exposed back of dispenser.
3. Remover six screws holding dispenser.
4. Removed dispenser.
5. Installed new dispenser.
6. Replaced six screws.
7. Reattached electrical connection to dispenser relay.
8. Reinstalled outer panel with six screws.

After I took apart the inside of the door, removing 12 star screws, I was able to see the inside of the automatic soap dispenser device. Since I now had the new device to look at, I was able to replace the latch pin back in the existing device and it worked!

I now have a replacement if the device actually breaks in the future and looking at the small plastic pieces, it will probably happen sooner or later.

Take 10 lower star srews from inside of door (5 per/side) that hold on front. Remove front door panel. Remove 6 screws in detergent dispenser and replace.

After reading other posts I opened the dishwasher door put a support underneath it. Knowing that all the screws were not the same I carefully unscrewed them and placed them on a towel in order of extraction. After all the screws were taken out, I lifted the door up gently and lifted it out of its place and put it aside. Now I could see the hex screws holding in the soap dispenser. I then unscrewed the screws and place the frame aside. Next I gently pulled the electrical connector to the dispensing unit off. After locating a snap tab on top on the left hand side and one underneath on the right hand side, I gently lifted the tab and the dispenser unit moved slightly forward. After gently prying the lower tab on the right hand side the dispensing unit was loose. I just reversed the process to put things back together. I was not necessary to have any help taking things apart but it was very helpful having a second set of hands when we put it back together. Lining up the screws for the door was much easier with two people. After installation, I started the dishwasher to check for leaks. Everything was fine. Very satisfied to be able to repair/replace this unit without calling a tech. If you can change a spark plug on a lawnmower you can replace a soap dispenser on a dishwasher such as mine. Very quick delivery from parts source. Thank you.

very easy, thank you for your quick service

replaced