Kenmore water softener not draining

I have a kenmore 370, For the last 6 months have had really low water perssure in the house unless in bypass on the water softener. Then on Friday came home to rusty water and a water softener 3/4 of the way full of water where the salt should be. I have cleaned and looked over the Venturi with Gasket and fill flow and all that stuff 3x's, I spent 2 hrs hanging inside the tank with my feet out the top cupping the water out 1 cup at a time. Got 10 gallons of water. Cupped out 5 gallons of salt and powerder salt mush that had caked hard to the bottom 6 inch deep. I used hot water to loosen that salt up and cleaned the tank. Added bleach and the 3 gallons of water like showed on the kenmore water site. Ran the cycle. checked it when the cycle was done. It filled back up with water. The drain hose is draining and not blocked. We have had the unit for 3 yrs and use Iron out about once every 6 months as we have high levels of iron in our water. I am not sure what to do now. My hubby is gone working and wont be home for another 3 days. Any ideas, tips or thoughts would be very helpful. I went to sears and asked for help. The lady there would only help me by saling me a new unit. said it would cost me $170 for a service call plus at least $150 for parts. She said hers filled with water and flooded her basement so they baought a new one and so should I.
Is it possible that it is the contral valve? and how do I know for sure? We have a chlorinater that sits on our well house. Not sure if the extra chloine has anything to do with the issue or not. Thanks for your help.