Whirlpool WPW10117748 Dishwasher Door Foam Insulation Strip OEM Part

About a month ago, a sporadic drip was noticed on right hand bottom corner of dishwasher. Puddle would vary in size but nothing major. My first inclination was to change the door gasket (~$35 at a major online retailer) as this seemed reasonable to me and was a straightforward fix. Next wash cycle, no drip. However the drip returned the wash cycle after that, however this time at a different spot along the bottom of dishwasher door. I then replaced a deteriorated corner door seal (~$17 from an auction site). There was still a drip. Door closed straight and snug enough. Bottom sprayer arm was taken out and examined. There were no cracks and only one hole needed cleaned out. When running dishwasher, it would only leak with the spray/rinse cycle. The tub of the dishwasher would never overfill as this was checked also. I gave up and called our local repair guy. He was on vacation that week and would not be able to come for about 10 days. In the meantime, I continued to research possible culprits and came across this insulation foam strip (~$27 w/ shipping here) and others saying a drip could be attributed to a bad one. I had seen this strip many times on our own dishwasher as I had taken the door apart probably a dozen times, but never considered this having any kind of seal properties. Apparently it does. I ordered the piece and replaced the old one. Our old one, like others', was attached to the inner door insulation. It wasn't overly difficult to remove though. I was careful to put the new one on and we have since had 4 or so cycles without a leak.

My unit isn't hard wired in, but plugged in under the sink. I unplugged, and removed the bottom panel (4 phillips screws) and the inside panel of the door (7 Torx screws). I didn't have my Torx set, but used a suitable allen wrench with no problem. The door wants to close due to a spring, so I held the door open with some tools for counter weight. There are 4 wires to pull from the inside door panel to allow the panel to be completely set aside. As a general rule, I use my camera phone to take pictures of wiring the I'll be pulling, and the general area I'm working on. It's too easy to "not notice" something and wonder how to get it back together properly. I noticed the foam insulation strip was in bad shape on the left side. There is a plastic covering of this strip that helps form the seal when the door is closed. That was intact, but the foam behind it was wet and didn't have enough integrity to stay tight against the opposing plastic. After the new strip arrived, I repeated the above steps for the repair. The existing strip was a little tough to remove, since the adhesive strip was old and tore easily. I used a small putty knife to work the strip loose as I pulled it. Once removed, I installed the new strip by peeling back part of the protective cover to insert the strip into place. There is a small metal tab that the strip goes under on the right side. It is very difficult to insert a sticky piece of foam into a tight spot without it sticking on everything as you insert it. To avoid the sticking, I pulled back some of the protective cover and attached the strip a couple inches back from the edge, leaving the right amount of strip "folded back". This way, I could have the strip attached in the proper position,then fold the end piece into place under the metal tab. It was easier to deal with the sticky foam this way, rather than trying to force it into place. From there, I peeled the protective coating a few inches at a time while pressing the foam into place. Easily reassembled and tested! HOWEVER, it appeared that the old seal was actually ruined by the door gasket leaking on the foam from above. I found this problem AFTER replacing the foam seal. When pulling it apart again, I found that the new foam was wet, but the plastic seal on the front was not (it was before, since the foam behind the old one was too soft to seal). The door gasket is on order now, and is said to simply slip in the slot of the old seal. In short, you may need to order both seals. Check for moisture on the left lower door to see if water is getting past your upper seal and order both parts if needed. Part numbers: Foam seal (foam insulation strip): WPW10117748. Door Gasket: Whirlpool 902894 Door Gasket

Removed inner door cover , pulled off old gasket caeprefully and then placed old one ,no more leak.

Removed inside panel of door six hex head screws and removed old seal (or peeled off) and installed new one with adhesive back

The repair went great! It was my daughter's dishwasher located 3 hours away. I ordered the door seal, two water deflectors, and a foam insulation strip. I was pleasantly surprised when they came to me in less than two days! My daughter was selling her townhome and wanted to fix the leak before a home inspection. I drove the 3 hours and helped my daughter install the seal and water deflectors (she did it all by herself!). We ran a wash cycle and no leak!! I did not use the foam strip but will hold on to it in case we need it down the line. Finding the parts was easy on your website, shipping was very quick, and buying the parts from you and driving 6 hours round trip was still less expensive than having a repair person make a house call. Very Happy!