Detergent Dispenser Latch - White

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 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, I removed the screws that hold the interior part of the door in place. Next, I removed the two screws that covers the interior parts of the latch release in place. Then, I removed the broken latch, put in the new one and attached the spring. I put the pieces back in place, and the two screws back in. Finally, I screwed the door panel back together.

I didn't know exactly what was wrong, so I ordered 5 differnt parts. I probably only needed the wax motor, but I thought I might as well change some of the other parts while I had the door lining opened, which was easy with a socket set to remove the Torx screws. The hardest part was getting the old detergent cup lid off. Replacing the motor took 30 seconds! I didn't replace the latch after all, because it looked fine. The parts costs $38. Your web site is great and reading other's comments gave me the confidence to do my own job. Thank you so much!