GE Dishwasher Soap Dispenser Not Closing: Fix All Types of Them!

A dishwasher is a good replacement for human labor. For people who work and do not have a helping hand at home, a dishwasher can come in handy.

However, there are some problems that you might face with a dishwasher from time to time; Your dishwasher may not drain, your dishes may not be drying. 

Sometimes, your dishwasher may run for too long, and the soap dispenser lid may not close.

If your GE dishwasher soap dispenser is not closing, there are a number of different solutions to try out. 

But first, let’s know about the types of soap dispenser lids in GE dishwashers.

Types of Soap Dispenser Lids

There are 2 types of soap dispenser lids used in GE dishwashers. 

1. Round lid 
2. Sliding lid 

There are different ways of fixing the different types of lids. But before going to that consider the fact that an electronic dishwasher and mechanical dishwasher don’t work the same way.

• Electronic Dishwasher

If you are facing problems regarding your soap dispenser lid, for electronic control Dishwashers, press the Start or Reset button twice to reset the dishwasher. 

The dishwasher will run for 90 seconds and the unit will pump out. After it is done, try to close the soap cup again.

• Mechanical Dishwasher

For mechanical control dishwashers, the detergent cup will not close unless the timers have advanced to the offsetting.

Try to turn the timer knob a full revolution clockwise, ending at OFF. If these don’t work, you have to follow some specific methods for specific types of lids.

How to Fix the Issue – Two Different Lid Types

Now let’s talk about how you can approach fixing the two different types of soap dispenser lids.

• Round Lid

When you try to close your round lid, it may not close or stay closed. There are a number of reasons as to why this might happen. 

There might be food particles, detergents, broken plastic particles stuck in the slideway.

Plastic particles from any older latch or even your latch may cause unwanted particles to jam your soap dispenser lid. As a result, your dishwasher soap dispenser won’t stay closed. 

Your latch may be old or may also go out of shape causing your lid not to close properly.

However, this is a very common problem and sometimes the reason might be that you have the dial on the wrong spot. So, the lid is set to close only when the dial is OFF.

• You always have to check if your dial is at the OFF. If not, turn your dial to the offsetting and try to close the lid. It may work now.
• Again, if your GE soap dispenser is not opening or closing, check if detergent has hardened around the lid. Do not use detergents that get stuck around the lid. You basically have to check if the things inside your dishwasher are somehow blocking the opening of the lid.
• If this happens manually, open the lid of the cup and remove the hardened detergent. If you are using tablet soap, make sure they fit in the cup and do not bind the cover, preventing it from opening. You can also break the tablets into smaller pieces to make sure that the tablet fits properly.

If none of the methods work you may need a cup replacement. There might also be some deeper issues with your lid. In that case, you will have to do some maintenance work.

1. Bring a box of screws and open the surface lid of the whole of your dishwasher.
2. You are supposed to see a spring that works to help the lid close and open. There might be some issues with the spring that is causing your lid not to open.
3. The spring may be stripped out and may not touch the hook. This will cause problems for the lid. You will have to check if the screw is in the right place.

Now, let’s talk about fixing the sliding lid type.

• Sliding Lid

This sort of lid slides up and down creating space for the detergent to go in the dishwasher. The sliding lid is not very common. 

However, like other sorts of lids, you will also face problems in closing or opening such lids if not used carefully.

The cup cover on these models opens against the upper rack. When the dishwasher is opened, the cup flips all the way open and prepares for the next role. This is normal.

But if you notice that your GE dishwasher soap dispenser is not opening even after you have opened the dishwasher, there might be some issues you will need to fix.

The most common cause of the problems is detergent getting stuck in the lid. If detergent particles get stuck the lid will be clogged and won’t close or open. 

You definitely want to avoid this sort of problem for a good GE dishwasher experience.

• The first thing you have to keep in mind is – do not overfill the detergent compartment. Always use an adequate amount of detergent or put detergent in small batches.
• You might say that tablet soap is a good alternative. But tablets also cause problems for your lid. If you are using a tablet that is too large for the compartment, your lid won’t close. You can try to break the tablet then put the pieces in the soap dispenser.
• Even after caution, you might notice residual detergent in the dispenser. Residual detergent in the cup is caused by blocking the lower spray arm jets with a large item loaded in the left front corner of the lower rack.

The large item may cause the water not to reach detergent, and as a result, detergent may still be left after the machine is done washing your dishes. The residual detergent will clog your lid.

• Also, if you put large items in the front your flip, the lid won’t open all the way. This way, your soap packet would be stuck in there and the soap won’t properly dissolve to clean your dishes.

This is also how there might be still detergent left in the compartment. You can avoid this problem by loading large items away from the left front corner of the lower rack. Putting the large items on the deeper side of the rack will be helpful.

If even after following these remedies, you face problems in closing the lid, you have to look for other internal, structural issues of the cup. In this case, you can try to fix the problem yourself or go to a mechanic or just buy a new soap dispenser.

Now, watch this video to learn how to fix this.

https://youtu.be/uO4HmoZ6Jm4

Things To Keep in Mind

To summarize, always make sure to keep the dishwasher off before adding any detergent or the cup will be stuck at some point and will not want to close or even latch.

The ones with mechanical controllers will not close until the time limit set on the timer goes off. 

In such a case, all you need to do is reset the timer and erase any limit. To do this, you’ll need to rotate the timer knob till it is reset.

For round lit covers, and spring flip covers do not overfill with detergent or use a bigger tablet than the space provided for soap.

Final Words

Always check if the items inside are not blocking the opening of the lid.

Even after maintaining your soap dispenser in the right manner, if your GE dishwasher soap dispenser is not closing you can schedule a service appointment at GE appliance factory service.