No power to hot tub, GFI keeps tripping

My hot tub has given me flawless preformance for about 4 years. however today, there was no indications on the display and the water was only slightly warm.

Testing the power, the GFIC was tripped, and trips instantly when the breaker is reset. I removed the wires from the control box and reapplied power, all is well. good power levels.

unplugged pump motors, lights and other accessories from the controller and still the GFCI trips.

I then noticed water accumulated around one terminal of the heater!
not much, but certainly noticable, where as the other terminal was dry.
Could this be causing the GCFI trip problem?

The controler is a Balboa 460 Mach 3, and looks like a Balboa heater as well. Can this leak be serviced, or do I need to purchase a new element, or whole heater unit?

Thanks,
cjanik

Yes the first thing you want to eliminate when you have a GFCI tripping issue is the spa heater. If a component on the spa is causing your GFCI to trip then usually it will be the heater.