I don't have any advice on the fill issues, but your issues with the racks rusting are directly caused by your pre rinsing of the dishes. The dishes are going in clean, so the detergent has basically nothing to act on, therefore, it eats the coating off of the racks. That dishwasher should be more than capable of cleaning soiled dishes, so just scrape any leftovers off, then move on and load them into the dishwasher with no rinsing. I tend to soak anything that has been cooked/burned on, but with little to no scrubbing, then run it through the machine. And no, putting dirty or greasy dishes in the dishwasher won't make the whole load greasy, and won't splatter the food all over the dishes. Actually, the manual to our Maytag states in a couple of places "DO NOT pre rinse dishes" Good luck with your repair and hope this helps!