SLIDER

I first removed 7 Torx screws holding the plastic housing to the door. Then removed two hex screws holding the
dispenser in place. At first I thought that the wax motor was broken, but measuring it with an ohm meter, it had the same resistance as a new wax motor (about 2-3 kOhms). Examining the release mechanism it looked like the stem at the back of the latch was a bit bent. I replaced both the latch and the slider. However, I probably only needed to replace the slider. After reassembling the pieces, the soap dispenser now works. By the way, as another poster noted, you can only test the mechanism when the dispenser door is closed and the latch is
displaced from its normal position.

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.

removed inner door panel. tested ythe Wax motor that operates the soap dispenser latch. It tested OK so I removed dispenser assembly. replaced the worn plastic parts and reinstalled the inner door panel.

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.