[savonald]

I have an 8 year old Whirlpool dishwasher that suddenly started leaking near the left hinge. There is a small gap (less than 1/4 inch) between the door and the frame on both sides that appears to be there by design, but water splashes through the left gap, especially when the spray arms first start spinning. Curiously, the right side does not leak even though it has the same gap. I put a 2" high piece of metal in the front left corner of the tub to see if blocking some of the water to the gap would help and it did help somewhat, but that is obviously not a solution.

The door seal is in good condition, the door and door latch alignment seem good, the dishwasher is perfectly leveled, and the water level seems normal (below the float switch and heating element). I haven't checked the spray arms for damage, but I will check that tonight. What could be causing this problem?

[PS Volunteer - Appguy]

Check for a cracked spray arm. You also may have a door gasket leak. I usually smear vaseline on the gasket to make it seal better. If that fixes it you might want to replace it.

[savonald]

I think I figured out the problem. This is a model with the "Power Clean" filter which is a fine mesh screen above the pump. There are a couple places where the screen separated a bit from the plastic base and that is causing water to jet horizontally directly at the left hinge where the leak is. I glued the screen back down and that seems to have fixed the problem.