The dishwasher is a Bosch EcoSense which I installed new in 2011.
It started leaking intermittently on the floor a few weeks ago, apparently from the lower door seal. Not too badly to that point. And then, about a week ago it leaked really badly, to the point where I had to shut it down early in the cycle, switch to a short cycle, and mop up while it drained.
I watched several YouTube videos, and figured that the lower door seal was worn out.
I picked one up this past Monday, and installed it. It's a bit of an ordeal - turn off the water supply and flip the breaker off, disconnect the water line and electrical connections, feed through enough slack from the drain hose, remove the anchoring screws at the top, turn the foot pads in to gain some vertical slack, and pull the DW out from its cubby. Then remove the door to get access, and install the new lower seal. Not a really big deal, but lots of steps.
The old seal was quite disgusting, with 12 years of greasy detrius including little plastic pieces, likely from various containers we'd sent through the DW over the years. Aha - obviously this stuff would prevent a good seal.
I put it all back together, and it continued to leak, at least as badly as before.
So then I figured that the main door seal (for the top and sides) was at fault. I picked one up and installed it. Very easy - 5 minutes rather than 2 hours or whatever for the lower door seal.
The leak continued. GRRR!
So I started second-guessing my installation of the lower door seal, took everything apart again, and reinstalled it. I left the outer door skin off this time, so I could see what was happening. It's hard to describe, but the lower door seal forms sort of a trough on the outside of the intended wet area when the door is closed.
I fired up the DW, and could see the trough filling up with water very quickly. Why isn't it making a good seal???
I waded through a bunch more videos (many of which were red herrings), and finally found one linked off an "Ask a professional appliance repairman" site. The fellow had the same problem as me, and was at wit's end.
He was advised by a pro that the lower door seal is, by design, water-resistant rather than water-tight. That is, it's designed to resist incidental spray and splashing and so on, but not designed to stop water sprayed directly at it, or a water level that's too high.
I cranked the adjustable feet on the front up as high as I could so the DW was leaning slightly backwards into its cubby. Only a degree or so, but enough that water would flow away from the door, not towards it.
This seemed to help.
What solved things for the fellow I mentioned on the repair site was to check the lower rotating spray arm - they get brittle with time, and can crack. As they rotate, water can be sprayed out directly against the door, in fact pretty much at the level of the lower seal.
Aha! (Again ...) So I removed the lower arm, and started a test cycle. Voila - no leakage.
So then I inspected the lower arm - and found a crack. I tried to plastic-weld it with my soldering gun, but the plastic is so thin that I likely made it worse. So then I gooped a bunch of hot glue on it, wrapped it with electrical tape, and put a couple of cable ties on to secure the tape.
So far so good ... and a new lower spray arm is on order.
Posting this saga in hopes it can help someone else. The most common solution is not always the right one. Could I have gotten away with not replacing the two gaskets? Who knows. Glad it's done anyway - one less thing to worry about.
It started leaking intermittently on the floor a few weeks ago, apparently from the lower door seal. Not too badly to that point. And then, about a week ago it leaked really badly, to the point where I had to shut it down early in the cycle, switch to a short cycle, and mop up while it drained.
I watched several YouTube videos, and figured that the lower door seal was worn out.
I picked one up this past Monday, and installed it. It's a bit of an ordeal - turn off the water supply and flip the breaker off, disconnect the water line and electrical connections, feed through enough slack from the drain hose, remove the anchoring screws at the top, turn the foot pads in to gain some vertical slack, and pull the DW out from its cubby. Then remove the door to get access, and install the new lower seal. Not a really big deal, but lots of steps.
The old seal was quite disgusting, with 12 years of greasy detrius including little plastic pieces, likely from various containers we'd sent through the DW over the years. Aha - obviously this stuff would prevent a good seal.
I put it all back together, and it continued to leak, at least as badly as before.
So then I figured that the main door seal (for the top and sides) was at fault. I picked one up and installed it. Very easy - 5 minutes rather than 2 hours or whatever for the lower door seal.
The leak continued. GRRR!
So I started second-guessing my installation of the lower door seal, took everything apart again, and reinstalled it. I left the outer door skin off this time, so I could see what was happening. It's hard to describe, but the lower door seal forms sort of a trough on the outside of the intended wet area when the door is closed.
I fired up the DW, and could see the trough filling up with water very quickly. Why isn't it making a good seal???
I waded through a bunch more videos (many of which were red herrings), and finally found one linked off an "Ask a professional appliance repairman" site. The fellow had the same problem as me, and was at wit's end.
He was advised by a pro that the lower door seal is, by design, water-resistant rather than water-tight. That is, it's designed to resist incidental spray and splashing and so on, but not designed to stop water sprayed directly at it, or a water level that's too high.
I cranked the adjustable feet on the front up as high as I could so the DW was leaning slightly backwards into its cubby. Only a degree or so, but enough that water would flow away from the door, not towards it.
This seemed to help.
What solved things for the fellow I mentioned on the repair site was to check the lower rotating spray arm - they get brittle with time, and can crack. As they rotate, water can be sprayed out directly against the door, in fact pretty much at the level of the lower seal.
Aha! (Again ...) So I removed the lower arm, and started a test cycle. Voila - no leakage.
So then I inspected the lower arm - and found a crack. I tried to plastic-weld it with my soldering gun, but the plastic is so thin that I likely made it worse. So then I gooped a bunch of hot glue on it, wrapped it with electrical tape, and put a couple of cable ties on to secure the tape.
So far so good ... and a new lower spray arm is on order.
Posting this saga in hopes it can help someone else. The most common solution is not always the right one. Could I have gotten away with not replacing the two gaskets? Who knows. Glad it's done anyway - one less thing to worry about.
