The short answer
A leak from the DWT family is usually the door seal or the supply connection rather than the tub itself, and on a built-in machine the water travels under the cabinet before it shows. The brand-generic page treats the door seal first; on this platform the fill and drain connections behind the machine deserve equal billing, because they leak out of sight.
What you observe
- Water appearing at the toe kick during a cycle — The floor of the cabinet channels everything forward, so the visible point is almost never the source.
- A stain on the cabinet floor with no water present — A historic or intermittent leak, and it usually means a fill or drain event rather than a constant seep.
- Water only on heavy or long cycles — A leak that needs heat or a full fill to show, which points at the door seal or an overfill.
- NEAR MISS - water only when the sink is used — That is a plumbing fault at the shared waste, not a dishwasher fault.
Causes, most likely first on DWT
- Door seal hardened, displaced or dirty — Ranked first on the DWT family: the seal on this family runs around a tall narrow door, and the bottom corners are where it lifts first. The table above is one platform, so a weakness in the wash path shows on every code in it and not on a single variant. What moves against the brand-generic order is lower down: drain hose connection or a split hose sits above overfill from a stuck inlet valve or float here, because the platform has run in many trims, and the parts common to every trim accumulate the failures.
- Supply connection at the inlet valve or the stop tap — Second: the supply union is made up behind the machine in a space nobody looks into, so a weep runs along the cabinet floor and appears at the front.
- Drain hose connection or a split hose — Third: the hose is clipped high behind the machine and is chafed by the cabinet edge over years of service.
- Overfill from a stuck inlet valve or float — Fourth: an overfill puts water against the door bottom rather than into the sump, which looks like a seal fault and is not one.
- Tub, sump gasket or heater seal — Last: last: a cracked tub is uncommon, and the sump gasket is a service item rather than an owner check.
Check in this order, and why
- Dry everything, run a cycle and watch where it wets first — The order in which two points get wet tells you which is the source and which is the path.
- Check the machine is level front to back — A machine tilted forward holds water against the door bottom instead of returning it to the sump.
- Look under the toe kick with a torch while the cycle runs — It shows whether water is arriving from behind or running down the door.
- Look at the detergent and the rinse-aid setting — It costs nothing, and it is the whole answer when the leak is foam rather than water.
Before you open anything
Safety
Power off at the breaker, water off at the stop tap, and hands out of the sump until you have looked into it with a torch. Leave the latch to do its job and judge a running cycle from outside the machine.
When to call a technician
Call when the leak is behind the machine, when the tub or sump gasket is suspect, or when water has been running under the cabinet for any length of time: the floor damage matters more than the dishwasher does.
Other DWT pages
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
