I have had troubles with this since we bought it. I have pulled it out and cleaned what I thought would be clogged and it wasn't...it is just moody. Sometimes it dispenses the fabric softener and other times it does not. Sometimes it just adds water the the fabric softener I put in there, sometimes not. There is no rhyme or reason. Sometimes it empties, when I pull the tray out to refill for a new load and before I put anything in the tray, I will notice it's already full from the last cycle that failed to empty and it will begin to dispense it into the washer before starting the cycle or even pushing the tray back in.
I would love to find an answer for this.