Recently noticed a little water where the kickplate meets the floor on the right side of the dishwasher. Just a trace but I suspected there was more underneath the dishwasher. Since I live alone, the dishwasher only gets run every 6 or 7 days so it's younger in terms of run cycles than it's 17 years. Still I decided to try to find the source of the leak before doing anything. If it was a simple hose clamp or hose replacement I figured I could handle that. If it required a serviceman, I'd just replace it, since parts and a couple hours labor would likely run about 1/2 the cost of a new unit.
Today I pulled the kickplate-access panel. There were signs of small amounts of water having leaked in the past but nothing major. I ran the dishwasher through a normal wash, rinse and dry cycle. Every 5 minutes I looked underneath to try to find the source of the leak. Nothing. Ran completely through prewash, wash, and rinse and not a drop leaked. It went into the dry cycle and I had no idea where the water had come from before. With the water using and drain cycles ended I stopped checking.
After the dry cycle finished and the clean light had come on I decided to check once more. Now there's between half a cup and a cup of water on the floor underneath the dishwasher. It appears to have come from near the center of the dishwasher.
Anyone have any ideas what might be leaking and why it doesn't leak during filling, washing or draining cycles but starts after the unit goes to the dry cycle? It's a mystery to me.