I made a shocking and disgusting discovery about my dishwasher

[rpms]

My beloved Kenmore Ultra Wash has been leaving food on the inside of the door.
The dishes are clean but a few black specs on the top of mugs and always crud on the left hand side of the interior door.
I cleaned the spray arms, wiped the bottom of the door,checked the rinse aid and switched detergents.
Always yuck on the door.
For some odd reason I pried the steam vent off on the inside. I didn't know you could do that? It popped right off.
Looking at this picture, the front of the dishwasher could stand a wipe.

 

[rpms]

Ultra wash

Good Gawd! Eww eww eww.
Do all dishwasher fill up with crud?

 

[rpms]

Ultra wash

I am mortified at this. Can the dishwasher run with out the vent cover? I have scrubbed it spotless. Yuck!
I know of people that deep fry everything. I can only imagine what their vent looks like.
Dishwasher is working just fine.

 

[wayupnorth]

I had the same crud build up on my 95 Whirlpools vent at the top and it was packed with almost 29 years of crap and it finally decided to wet on the floor and I thought it was history. Cleaned that vent out good and its run fine since. I knew there was no other leaks and found it coming out of the vent and trickling down the front.

 

[murando531]

My aunt's PowerClean was like that because she's never cleaned it in 12 years. This seems to be one of the few weak points on these otherwise magnificent machines. It's not wise to run it without that cover, as it serves as a baffle to prevent water from spraying out of the vent or water falling into the area where the electronics are. Just pop it out and clean it every few months and it'll be right as rain.