The short answer
Find where the water first appears — door, floor at the front, or under the machine — because those three point at three completely different parts of the machine.
What you observe
- Water running down the front of the door
- A puddle at the front edge of the machine
- Water found under the cabinet or in the basement below
- Damp or swollen flooring in front of the machine
- Suds overflowing from the door
- Water only during a specific part of the cycle
- Water inside the tub that never leaves — Means: a drainage fault
- Damp at the door with no puddle — Means: a door or gasket fault
- Water plus a tripped breaker — Means: an electrical hazard — stop and cut power
Ranked causes
- Wrong detergent producing suds — Position: first — Rank reason: a connected platform has settings and modes that produce symptoms indistinguishable from hardware faults — Owner fixable: true
- A tall item deflecting the spray at the door — Position: second — Rank reason: a connected platform has settings and modes that produce symptoms indistinguishable from hardware faults — Owner fixable: true
- Pump or sump seal leaking — Position: third — Rank reason: the moving hardware is well built and fails after the sensed components do — Owner fixable: false
- Latch not pulling the door fully closed — Position: fourth — Rank reason: the moving hardware is well built and fails after the sensed components do — Owner fixable: true
- Tub or heater seal damaged — Position: fifth — Rank reason: the moving hardware is well built and fails after the sensed components do — Owner fixable: false
- Door gasket hardened, displaced or dirty — Position: sixth — Rank reason: door and gasket faults are real but the platform usually flags the door before you find it — Owner fixable: true
- Basis: Ranked for the whole line, generalized across families.
Check in this order
- Establish whether your machine is front-control or top-control — Position: first
- Stop the cycle and find where the water first appears — Position: second
- Rule out suds and loading — Position: third
- Inspect the door gasket and the latch — Position: fourth
- Then check the connections and level — Position: fifth
Owner checks
- Stop the machine mid-cycle, open it, and look for water on the inside of the door above the water line. — Position: first — Tools: towels — Time: a few minutes
- Open the door and look at the top edge for the control panel, then check whether the outer door carries a cabinet panel rather than a factory one. — Position: second — Tools: no tools needed — Time: a few minutes
- Wipe the gasket and the door frame clean, then run a hand along the gasket looking for hard, flattened or torn sections. — Position: third — Tools: a cloth, mild detergent — Time: a few minutes
- Confirm only dishwasher detergent has been used, and run one cycle with no detergent at all to see whether the leak stops. — Position: fourth — Tools: none — Time: one cycle
- Put a level across the door opening and front-to-back on the tub floor, and adjust the levelling feet if it leans forward. — Position: fifth — Tools: a spirit level, an adjustable wrench — Time: a short job
- Cut the power at the breaker, pull the toe panel and lay a sheet of paper towel under the machine, then run a cycle and see where it wets first. — Position: sixth — Tools: a screwdriver, paper towel — Time: one cycle
- Note: Times are given as qualitative bands, not measured values.
Safety
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off.
When to call a technician
Call when the gasket is sound, the load and detergent are correct, the machine is level and it still leaks — and immediately if water is reaching an outlet, a junction box or the breaker is tripping.
Sources — This page carries no warehouse-derived figures; the only numbers in it are published safety constants, cited here.
General guidance- The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), 29 CFR 1910.147 — OSHA, fetched 2026-09-06
The nearest same-class pages
Generalized information
Links down: - [Café Dishwasher: Water Leak — Built-In Top-Control Family](/blog/caf-dishwasher-water-leak)
Model-specific wiring, component locations, part numbers and code lists for individual Café models.
Related pages
- Common Café Dishwasher Problems — All Families
- Café Dishwasher: Abnormal Noise or Vibration — All Families
- Café Dishwasher: Does Not Clean or Dry — All Families
- Café Dishwasher: Controls, Display or Error Code — All Families
- Café Dishwasher: Cycle Will Not Run or Complete — All Families
- Café Dishwasher: Door, Latch or Seal Fault — All Families
SC
Sarah Chen
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
EPA 608 UniversalNASTeC Certified
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
