Hi there, I'm wondering if anybody can help. My dishwasher (whirlpool) is less than 2 years old but giving trouble. Basically the problem is with the tablet compartement - mostly it has not opened at the end of the wash, leaving a dry intact tablet still inside and dirty cups, other times it does open but the tablet has landed in the cutlery department - undesolved. Have tried changing the brand of tablet to no avail.
Help?

I too have a whirlpool dishwasher. I explored the internet a little on this, then I took my dishwasher apart to see what to check for.

My dishwasher may be a few years older than yours, but it has a spring loaded cover on the soap dispenser. This cover is held in place by a latch. Behind this latch, in the guts of the door is a large spring loaded assembly. Remove the inner cover of your dishwasher, you should see assembly.

There is a small arm that rotates with the timer, it pushes down on the latch assembly. Once it reaches a certain point in the wash cycle, it will open the hatch.

If your set up is similar to this, then the arm could be missing the latch mechinism. Or the latch itself should be malfunctioning.

On the internet I discovered that some washers actually have small motors that control the soap dispenser cover. If this is your case, it will be a matter of testing the motor. However on mine, there is no motor, its all mechanical, and works on the timer. Let me know how yours is set up. If its like mine, I would be happy to post a picture of this.