How to Fix a Leaking Dishwasher

Stop the leak before looking for it

The dishwasher fills, sprays water around the tub and pumps it to the sink drain. The first wet spot and the cycle phase point to different parts of that path. We'd start at the door and under-sink connections because you can see them without moving the machine.

1. Cancel the cycle, switch off its circuit breaker and close the dishwasher shutoff under the sink.
2. Soak up standing water with towels or a wet/dry vacuum. Dry the floor so a later wet spot will be fresh water.

Find the first wet spot

Dry the door edge, the floor beneath the machine and each visible under-sink fitting. Touch a separate dry paper towel to each connection. The first wet spot matters because water can travel across the floor.

Water escapes at the door during washing

Start with foam. Hand dish soap, excess automatic dishwasher detergent and spilled rinse aid can make suds push water through the door. If the leak is sudsy, cancel the wash, remove the dishes, mop up the overflow and let heavy foam settle. After the surrounding area is dry and no under-machine leak is suspected, restore power, then drain excess tub water with the machine's cancel or drain control.

Once the foam has subsided, the area is dry and nothing else appears to leak, restore the water supply and run an empty detergent-free clearing cycle. Repeat the clearing steps if foam remains. The result you want is draining water without foam escaping; foam-free water at the door sends you to the spray and seal checks.

With power off, pull out the racks and move anything touching the door or blocking a spray arm. Slide the racks back in, then turn each spray arm by hand; it should clear the dishes through a full turn. Clear food from blocked spray holes with a soft brush and warm soapy water, then secure any arm you removed. Blocked holes can deflect a jet toward the door. A split arm needs replacement before another wash.

Wipe the gasket and the tub edge it meets with a damp cloth and mild soap. Use a soft toothbrush with warm soapy water for stubborn soil, then press any displaced section back into its channel. The rubber should sit evenly and meet the closed door without food or grease in between. A tear, cut or flattened section calls for a new seal; our door-seal checks help narrow a persistent corner leak. If the seal will not seat or the corner wets again, stop using the dishwasher.

On GE dishwashers with a light gray door-mounted gasket, inspect both black lower-corner baffles for a missing or damaged piece and replace it with the matching part; GE Appliances' door-leak checks (opens in a new tab) show their positions. If that door has an inside top-corner vent cap, switch off power and hand-tighten it if loose; it should stay seated and the door edge should stay dry during a supervised test. Both baffles should sit in place and the corner should stay dry during a supervised test; if it wets again, stop using the dishwasher.

If the spray path and gasket are clear but the door still leaks, switch off power and open and close the door. Look for cabinet contact and confirm the latch engages without forcing the door. Clear any visible obstruction; a displaced or damaged latch needs repair. After the obstruction is cleared, the door should close squarely and its edge should stay dry during a supervised test.

Close the door and look for contact with a dish, cabinet, counter or kick plate; remove the obstruction. Open the door again. Put a level across the tub opening side to side and front to back. A low front edge can pool water at the door. With power and water off, adjust only leveling feet accessible without removing a panel; if reaching them requires removing the toe kick or another panel, stop and have an installer or technician level and secure the dishwasher. The door should close squarely without rubbing. A door that remains crooked or a distorted tub has reached the repair point.

An idle or filling leak points to the supply

For a wet external hose fitting, keep the breaker and water valve off and put a towel beneath the connection. Dry the full hose and both couplings. If a gasketed coupling is loose and its threads are sound, seat it squarely and snug it with an adjustable wrench without overtightening. Restore water with the breaker off. If the coupling wets a paper towel, close the valve again before disconnecting the line and replacing its washer or seal. Replace a swollen, cut, torn or leaking hose; a wet valve body ends the owner repair. Restore water while the breaker remains off and touch dry paper towels to both ends. Both ends must stay dry before you consider a wash test.

If water rises inside the idle tub, inspect the drain hose under the sink. It must rise in a high loop or pass through a countertop air gap to keep sink water from returning. Secure a fallen loop in the position required for that installation. If clean water keeps entering the idle tub, leave the supply valve closed: the inlet valve needs diagnosis.

If water approached the lower door opening during filling, keep power and water off and inspect the float. If your overfill float sits in the tub or sump, turn off power, lift away debris around it and make sure it moves freely or sits straight in its seat. Put any owner-removable piece back as directed. On a supervised fill after clearing an obstructed float, the float should move freely, filling should stop below the lower door opening and no water should escape. If water again approaches the opening, the fill system needs repair.

Trace a leak during draining

With power off, dry the visible drain hose, its clamp and its sink or disposal connection separately. Straighten a kinked or crushed hose and move anything pressing against it. Reseat a hose that has slipped at the sink connection and tighten its loose clamp; replace a visibly damaged external hose or clamp. The hose and joint should stay dry during a supervised drain after that visible correction.

If draining is poor or water remains in the tub alongside the leak, switch off the breaker, remove the lower rack, release and clean the removable filter as your model directs, use a soft brush under running water only if its instructions permit it, and refit the filter fully. On a dishwasher with an owner-removable pump cover beneath the filter, remove that cover, lift out visible debris with a sponge, then refit the cover and filter fully. If drainage is still poor, inspect the visible hose and air gap next; our dishwasher filter cleaning steps show how to clean each removable piece. If water spills from a countertop air gap during draining, switch off power, lift off its outer cover, then unscrew or unsnap the inner cap. Clear the debris and refit both caps; GE Appliances' air-gap cleaning instructions (opens in a new tab) show the cap arrangement. After a visible obstruction has been cleared, a supervised drain should leave the counter dry. Continued overflow points to the downstream household drain.

If a disposal was just installed, confirm its dishwasher-inlet knockout was removed before running the dishwasher. A retained plug blocks discharge. Water still spilling from a clear air gap points to the household drain; a newly connected hose with incorrect routing points to the installation.

Water comes from underneath or a leak alert stays on

With power and water off, inspect only visible hose runs, fittings and fresh water marks from the sink cabinet or front opening. A puddle beneath the center can begin at a connection or at an internal hose, valve, pump, diverter, seal or tub.

A base-pan leak alert may appear before water reaches the floor because the pan catches it first. Clearing the alert or drying the pan leaves the cause unresolved. An unexplained under-machine leak, returning alert, persistent overfill, wet internal part or failed door repair means no further test cycle.

Keep the breaker and dishwasher water valve off. Call an appliance repair service or the dishwasher maker for an internal leak, a plumber for a leaking household shutoff or blocked sink drain, or the installer for a new connection or drain-routing fault. Tell them the brand, model and serial number, first wet spot and cycle phase, any suds or alert, what you corrected, and whether a dishwasher or disposal was recently installed.

An independent in-home diagnosis with no repair authorized runs $100 to $130. For a built-in dishwasher using a factory pump or circulation-motor assembly, repair runs $230 to $720, including a $180 to $520 assembly and one to two labor hours at $50 to $100 an hour when the diagnostic fee is credited. A separately billed, uncredited visit costs extra. If the tub is leaking and repair is impractical, a standard built-in replacement with existing connections runs $610 to $1,550 installed, combining a new dishwasher at $430 to $1,099 per unit, one to two installation hours at $75 to $150 an hour, and $100 to $150 to remove and dispose of the old one. Cabinet changes and new utility lines add to that job.

Make sure the corrected leak stays dry

Test only after you have corrected a visible minor cause, dried the floor and visible connections, and found no sign of an internal leak.

1. Place dry towels at the door edge and beneath visible sink connections. Keep the previously wet lower corner or cabinet area in view.
2. Restore water and power. Run an empty detergent-free cycle after a suds correction, or a normal supervised cycle after another visible correction.
3. Watch filling, washing and draining. Stop the cycle, switch off the breaker and close the water valve immediately if a towel or connection becomes wet.

A dry door, dry visible connections and no new water at the original spot through each phase show the correction worked for that cycle. If the first leak happened only with a particular load or appeared intermittently, inspect the same spot during later matching cycles. Stop using the dishwasher if moisture returns.

Questions before you use it again