Can we fix it? Yes, we can!

A few weeks ago, I noticed my dishwasher soap dispenser wouldn't open or close properly.  I tried fix it from the inside of the door, to no avail. I tried running the dishwasher as is, but after realizing that the dispenser door was still closed when it was done, and the dishes didn't seem completely clean, I knew I had to do something about it. Unfortunately, we live a long way from the nearest repairman, meanings not only have to pay for a service call and labor time, but also significant mileage. 

First I found part number and priced the part I needed to order. It would be about $70-80. I also sought out what would be involved to make sure I would be able to do what was required. 

It is a bit of a pain being a homeowner when things go wrong, but I finally got around to changing the soap dispenser last night, and after running it, I will say it was well worth the price paid and my 30-45 minutes time to have such shiny clean dishes.  

Here's what it took:

First of all, I unplugged the dishwasher and made certain there was no power to it. Next, I removed the front panel, by removing the T15 screws from the inside of the door. There were 5 on each side and 4 along the top. Next, I removed the wire clip that attached to the soap dispenser. It was a lot like unplugging a phone cord. The most tedious part of the job was using a ratchet to remove 6 screw that held the dispenser in place from the backside. Then it was simply a matter of popping out the old dispenser and popping in the new one from the inside of the dishwasher, replacing the six screws (once again with the slow ratchet), and making sure to replace the plastic shroud that keeps any condensed water from getting into electrical connections then I replaced the front panel and plugged it back in!