Agree that running cycles will likely cause suds-lock. Suggest this procedure:

Take off the lower front panel. Find the drain-hose upstream of coin-filter and pump. Disconnect that and direct the outlet into wet/dry vac or another hose leading to safe drain-path. Pour hot water into/through the machine from the point where the Dawn was introduced.

The hot water you pour in will follow the same path the Dawn did and will flush most of it out. Repeat until satisfied. Then throw in several loads of dirty rags and run several normal hot cycles to get the vestiges. The dirty rags will attenuate the sudsing of the remaining detergent. You'll be able to judge by suds-level when you've got it done.

PIA, I know, but not the end of the world. You'll be fine again in no time.

Umm....how did this happen?

Can also add some liquid fabric softener (not much!) or perhaps cooking oil to help cut the sudsing. Rug shampoo anti-sudsing agent also works. If any of these are used, suggest after the sudsing is cleared run one more hot-water flush cycle with a *minimum* amount of HE detergent and/or chlorine bleach.

Stupid question, but is the Dawn already in the washer lines or is it still in the tub?

A long time ago, I'd heard you could use salt to cut sudsing. Maybe you could test that with some Dawn in the sink, and if it works, add a box of salt with some water to rinse the washer. I know when you do fabric dying in the washer, you can add salt to help fix the color, so I don't think it would hurt anything.

Or, maybe call the manufacturer--they might have a suggestion, too.

This post was edited by gnancy on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 12:07

Thank you all for the suggestions, I will get right on it. My 3 yr old son thought he was helping with the laundry, he put it in the dispenser and the tub, he was so proud of his accomplishment :-/

I will start with the hot water/front hose and softener suggestions and see what happens!

So I've flushed about 50 gallons of hot water through the dispenser and out the front hose (with a bit of softener) and I can't believe how sudsy it still is! Its not as bad as it was, so thats great, just amazed at how sudsy Dawn can be!

Suds will linger for a load or two. After 50-gallon flush, I'd predict you've flushed the bulk of it. Suggest moving on to a hot load of dirty rags without adding any new detergent and see what you've got.

Must say I don't envy you this fun. But all WILL be well in the end.

You could try running an empty load & adding some white vinegar to the dispenser while machine is adding water. Vinegar eats up soap so it's worth a try!

I finally finished a load that had no bubbles! Thank you all for the suggestions, I thought my machine was a goner!

Good!! And thanks for coming back with the report!

Now you have to tell us the final details of how you got this job done. You know, the last chapter :)

It was quite a job! I connected a sprayer hose to the hot water behind the washer and initially sprayed the drum and dispenser but it made lots of suds, so I just filled an empty milk jug... gallon by gallon... to flush out the dispenser. I also hooked up a hose to the drain in the front and the water was able to run out into the rocks in my front yard (through the garage).It took almost 2 days and probably more than 100 gallons of hot water but thankfully it's done and I hope no one else ever has to deal with that!

Good Job!!!