Whirlpool WDT910SAYM Leaks from bottom of door

[SpaceballOne]

Apologies in advance for the lengthy post. Short version - I sucessfuly replaced the wash pump, and now I'm getting leaks from the bottom of the front door. Not sure what to do next..

Unit was purchased new about 4 years ago and ran with no issues until recently. Problem developed with failure to start wash cycle. I did some troubleshooting using the technician sheet, and found that the controls were energizing the wash motor, but the motor wasn't responding. I replaced motor, and the new one worked with no issues.

However, when I was testing outside of cabinet, I had some massive leaks from the bottom of the door just a few seconds after the unit went from fill to wash. Initially, I figured out that I'd forgotten to plumb & level it, and that seemed to fix the problem. I ran a few cycles like this (outside of cabinet) and everything was fine.

After putting back in the cabinet, it leaked again, so we pulled it back out for more testing. I've verified that the unit is plumb (placed pocket level vertically on front door) and level (placed pocket level horizontal across top of tub) in line with installation manual, and we're still getting leaks.

Since there were no leaks before pump replacement, and in the few cycles i ran after replacing, then i'm concluding that the door seal is fine and that the level switch is probably fine.

We did run a few test cycles yesterday, and it seems like the lower spray arm may not be spinning. At least - we ran it twice with the arm facing left-to-right across the tub. When we ran the cycle and cancelled after it started leaking, we opened the door and saw that the arm ended up in nearly the same position. We did this twice, so it's either a really weird coincidence or the arm isn't spinning. The upper arms are definitely filling and spinning. We removed the arm itself, and there were no obvious obstructions. We ran faucet water in it and everything flowed fine. The port where the arm attaches didn't have any obvious obstructions, but when we looked down it there was a white plastic plate. From the part diagram, it looks like this is the 'diffuser'. Not sure if this is preventing the arm from filling & spraying or what's going on.

I had my hands on the water supply line, and it does seem like it's continuing to fill even after the wash cycle starts. I can't tell from the technician sheet whether this is correct or not.

Any thoughts about what's going on here? I'm about $100 in to this repair so i'd like to be able to fix this thing rather than replacing.

I'm an industrial controls engineer, so i'm comfortable getting to the control panel and using a multimeter to ohm things out. That's how i correctly diagnosed the wash pump.

[afterblast]

The tube that runs down the inside back connects to a small circular cover overtop of a diverter plate, if that connection is loose or if the cover isn't fully down in place I've seen these spray water forward at the bottom of the door..   also it doesn't run all the spray arms at once so you may not see the bottom spray arm change position unless you catch it in the right part of the cycle...  the tech manual behind the kick plate tells you how to run it through a service test mode...

[SpaceballOne]

Thanks for the reply. I checked the tubes that connect to the top of the diverter plate. Nothing seemed to be cracked or loose.

If the machine normally does not run all of the spray arms at once, then my wife's theory is out the door. Her thought was that if the lower arm was blocked somehow, then the water that's supposed to be going through it is built up as extra water in the tub and so that's why it was overflowing.

I think maybe my next step is to open the control panel again and see if i can figure out how to see if the level switch changes state before the leak starts. If the leak starts before the switch changes state, then that means that either the switch isn't telling the system to stop filling. I could be wrong, but I put my hand on the fill line and it felt like water was still flowing in when the wash cycle started. I don't know if this is correct or not

Any other ideas of what to do next?

[afterblast]

I believe this uses a timed fill and the float switch is to prevent overflow... but if you want to see if it shuts off the water just wedge a butter knife under it and see if the valve runs when you start a cycle..  also it's not to uncommon for these to run the valve and wash motor at the same time, on the tech sheet behind the kickplate it gives the timing for how long the different loads will run during the test cycle so you could use that to see if the fill valve is sticking on... 

[SpaceballOne]

I wedged the float switch up with a butter knife, and the unit will not fill. So that tells me that the float switch is probably fine.

I'm really out of ideas here.

I want to say  i remember reading somewhere about bypassing the door switch and watching to see what happens when the wash cycle starts. Sounds like it would be a mess, but at least if i did that i could at lest tell what - if anything is spraying at the door.

[afterblast]

If you really want to try that whirlpool makes a clear plastic "door" that you can buy but last I saw they were on backorder..    what about a cell phone recording video in a ziplock bag? 

[SpaceballOne]

The jumper around the door switch worked fine. I had the door about 10" open at the top and was able to watch without making much of a mess at all.

There was no flooding while i had the door open. From my uneducated eye, none of the spray inside looked abnormal. If anything, it was weaker than i expected. There's a group of 'power scour' sprayers in the back that are spraying directly at the door, but they are fixed in place and it looks like they're designed to do that.

The only thing i would say is that I don't have the rack or any dishes in the bottom of the machine, and so the water spraying forward is less obstructed. Nothing in the manual says "don't run empty", and I would be shocked if they made the machine so that it couldn't run an empty/test cycle without flooding the floor.

[baldwinappliance]

Is the leak from one of the sides or in the middle? You can test the seal by drying off the door edge really good and then starting a cycle. After you see it leak press cancel to stop spray and then open the door carefully. Then you can see if any water is getting past the seal. Is it a massive leak or just drips?

If door is not closing evenly it can leak...I mean if one side is hitting before the other or if it is rubbing the cabinet it can cause poor seal. Usually caused by not having the unit square in cabinet.