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Whirlpool dishwasher rinse aid leaking from the cap

15 years ago

I have a WP dishwasher that is right at 4 yrs old. I've always used Jet Dry liquid rinse aid but recently bought some "Walmart Everyday Living" blue liquid rinse aid. It seems a little thicker but seems to do pretty good. But I've noticed rinse aid leaking from the cap, not a lot but some. I've taken the cap off, looked at it, rinsed it off, tightened it back but it's still leaking. Any idea why?

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Comments (4)

sparky823
15 years ago
I have a Kenmore Elite that also leaks but mine leaks out from around the whole dispenser. There will be 10-15 little streaks running down the door into the tub. After filling it takes about 3-4 days for it to be empty again so I just stopped using the rinse aid. I was going to replace the part but then I was having problems with it cleaning for a while---seems that started when the rinse aid went bad. Now the washing seems to be better but ONLY if I use Cascade Complete liquid. Anything else and I have all the particles on the dishes again. I had always used Jet Dry then I switched to the Jet Dry Turbo. I also wondered if that was what caused mine to fail although I tried the original since then and it leaks out also. Mine must have a bad seal?? Don't know what to tell you about yours other than just replace it, OR maybe when you empty it go back to Jet Dry and see if that helps. Do you think it could be too full?
ci_lantro
15 years ago
Try replacing the little O-ring on the cap. Either order a replacement part or take the filler cap to a good hardware store & have them match an O-ring to your old one.
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OK, here is what happened. The substance was Sheila Shine, a metal polisher. I noticed that it was yellow, not blue, but paid it no mind beyond half thinking - gee, that's intersting, now they're making a yellow rinse aid. Being male, I was just interested in getting the "add rinse aid" message off the display. Every substance has a material handling data sheet, or something like that available that lists every toxic ingredient and its CSA #, which is a centralized database with 4,000 chemicals added every day (IIRC). Sheila Shine merely said "This is to inform you you may have a problem." and suggested washing the dispenser out several times with soapy warm water. Miele said I should replace the dispenser ($70) and check the other plastic parts that are readily visible to see if they were contaminated or damaged. They reassured me that the dispenser only releases a few drops for every load. I then remembered that my brother is an executive of an environmental consulting company. I sent him the material data sheet which he shared with an expert. The expert said that the chemicals were indeed nasty, but, as the poison control center said, they were volatile and evaporated when exposed to heat. Being a New Yorker himself, he said we were much more at risk from the general environment than from the contamination of our dishwasher. He said it was unnecessary, but he said we could if we wanted wash out with TSP (trisodium phosphate), which used to be in all detergents but was removed for environmental reasons. It can be purchased in any hardware store he said. So I am greatly relieved not to have to replace a very expensive dishwasher and not to feel that our health was violently assaulted. I hope others will be more careful than I was and less foolish than our house cleaners, but if you're not please remember you are not alone in your human frailty and forgiveness all around is in order.
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LOL Gary, I saw that post by the person who filled that reservoir with soap. That would so not be pretty. I'm pretty sure that it's a similar style to yours. There is one long unit across the door, with two spring loaded doors. The seal on the rinse aid reservoir looks like the one you described. What I think is happening is that the rinse aid is leaking out of the bottom of the plastic unit. I'm hesitant to put anymore rinse aid in there, because it's such a total pain in the rear to get all the suds out of the DW when it gets overdosed with the rinse aid. Thanks for looking it up for me, though, much appreciated. I like your idea of putting a colored liquid into it--I might through some food coloring into some water and put it through, just to see what happens. I wish mine was still under warranty, but it's out by a good bit, even though we did have a Miele tech install it, so we got two years. I'm going to see if I can find out how the thing is attached to the door. Maybe that will give me an idea of where the problem lies. Cj
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My mistake. I had a Touchtronic, not a Novotronic. Not sure where my mind went on that. I had one of the 800 series. I miss it. Well, the saga continues. The little connector came in and the repairman came last week to put it on my dishwasher. I wasn't home when he fixed it (I was out of town), so I don't know if he actually tested it, but I discovered that the detergent door STILL isn't opening. SO, I put in another call to Miele. They were very nice to make sure someone came out the next day. This time they sent a senior tech to diagnose (honestly, I think they thought I was nuts). He came today, spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally discovered that when the rinse aid leaked into the wire, in addition to eating the wire, it shorted out one part of the computer. But of course that part wasn't on the truck. Soooo, here's hoping that when the computer gets replaced, it will all work again.
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mark40511
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks...........I did a search and found the rinse aid caps for 8.95. I'm not sure I'm gonna buy one though...This doesn't seem to be a problem unless I fill the rinse aid up over a quarter of the way full. Another thing I wanted to note while I'm thinking about it. When I read reviews I see countless people saying that their dishwasher's detergent dispenser doesn't open. You know, mine never has opened. When the dishes are done and I open the dishwasher, the dispenser pops open, but the funny thing is, if I'm in the kitchen and the dw is running, I can hear it pop open. I've never seen any detergent left in the dishwasher, ever. I thought it was just the way it was designed to work. But one would assume it would be already open when you open the door but it pops open when I open it. Hmmmmmm
sparky823
15 years ago
Your dispenser is opening during the wash like it should. That is the sound you hear when it is running. When it opens the lid of the dispenser stops against the bottom of the top rack. Then when you open the door you hear the lid flip the rest of the way back against the machines door.

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