I have a maytag Maxima XL front load washer (mhw8000aw) that has started to drip detergent when it is not in use. It has a refillable Optimal Detergent dispenser. The machine is about 9 months old and it started doing this about 2 months ago. The detergent is slowly dripping into the tub from the port that it is dispensed from when in use. When you leave the door open after use to let the tub air dry, the detergent drips onto the inside of the door and then onto the floor. Maytag sent out a contract repair service, but they seemed clueless. His solution was to leave the detergent drawer open or remove the dispenser when not in use. He did order a new dispenser cartridge at my request, but that did not fix the problem. I have tried cleaning the cartridge. The machine appears to be pretty well balanced. I've used the same detergent from day one. There appears to be a spring loaded seal on the dispenser that is pushed open when the cartridge is in the drawer and the drawer is completely closed. Other than that, I can't figure what starts or stops the detergent flow. There must be something other than gravity as there are water hardness settings that I would imagine would adjust the amount of detergent dispensed. Any ideas?

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I intend to contact Maytag again. I was hoping, however, to gain some insight so that I knew I had someone knowledgeable enough to work on the machine without making it worse and to sound credible when I spoke to them. I first contacted them by e-mail and I gave them the same detail that I posted. I would have hoped that they would have known what was going on and sent someone with the knowledge and parts to fix it.

Follow-up: Maytag sent another repair service. The tech had never seen the problem before so he called Maytag's master tech. The tech advised that there were too many variables to isolate the problem and recommended that the whole dispenser unit be replaced. So far this seemed to correct the problem. It didn't look too difficult to do if someone wanted to DIY, but expensive part. For me, it is under warranty. Hope this helps someone else.

I'm having the exact problem you describe but am no longer in warranty. Has the fix continued to work for you?