Gas oven overheats and never shuts off

[michael]

We have a Jenn-Air slide-in gas oven and stovetop that's acting up. It came with the house, but I don't think it's too old - maybe 5 or 10 years (maybe that's old for a range?).

Before Thanksgiving, the oven (not the stovetop) would occasionally trip the breaker. This happened maybe three times. Then the day after Thanksgiving, I noticed it was not off, even though the display was fully canceled out and hitting Cancel had no effect. I toggled the breaker and when it came on again, it threw a fault, code 1D11, meaning that it's overheating. Of course, because it's not turning off.

I checked the voltage in the breaker panel with the oven on, off, and preheating. With the oven unplugged, draw is zero, so I understand that that means the problem is with the oven and not the house wiring. So I stripped the oven and looked all over for shorts, blown fuses, burns on the control board, etc. Nothing, no smoking gun. I called an appliance repair service and the guy was stumped, said to replace the gas control valve and the control board.

At $250 each, I replaced just the control board and all has been fine for a few weeks. I got home today and my wife said the oven had clicked and tripped the breaker again. We flipped it back and it seemed fine, so we threw in our squash and lo and behold, it preheated to 375°, then kept on going. The digital thermometer stayed at 375° but it was overheating - and then I hit cancel, the display cleared, but the heating element stayed on and the gas kept flowing. D'oh.

There's my story - what are your thoughts? Internet research hasn't revealed anything new to me - everything I find suggests wiring or control board. Do I need another new control board? Maybe the replacement was also bad? Do I need a control valve too?

Thanks for any advice!

[Miss Piggy]

Following as I have a similar stove (Kitchen Aid but since it's a downdraft, my understanding is that those are all made by Jenn-Air).

Is the control board known to be bad for your model? If not, I'd probably look for a different cause since you've already replaced that once. Then again, maybe the root cause destroyed the new control board, but you still have to identify the root cause before trying again with the control board. Disclaimer: Not a service repair person. Just troubleshooting/guessing.

I assume you re-worked the wiring into and out of the control board, but did you check the "other" ends of all those wires to make sure they were properly connected to whatever they connect to? Maybe the wire going from the control board to the "turn oven off when temp reaches X" function isn't properly connected?

Did you also check the broil element? Repairman Google points to that as a potential option, in addition to the control board. (I assume your research showed the same.)

[michael]

Following as I have a similar stove (Kitchen Aid but since it's a downdraft, my understanding is that those are all made by Jenn-Air).

Is the control board known to be bad for your model? If not, I'd probably look for a different cause since you've already replaced that once. Then again, maybe the root cause destroyed the new control board, but you still have to identify the root cause before trying again with the control board. Disclaimer: Not a service repair person. Just troubleshooting/guessing.

I assume you re-worked the wiring into and out of the control board, but did you check the "other" ends of all those wires to make sure they were properly connected to whatever they connect to? Maybe the wire going from the control board to the "turn oven off when temp reaches X" function isn't properly connected?

Did you also check the broil element? Repairman Google points to that as a potential option, in addition to the control board. (I assume your research showed the same.)

As far as I've been able to learn, the control board is not notorious on this oven. I'm with you on this though: I think there's an unsolved problem that's causing the control board to fail, not the board itself, but I'm also not an expert /shrug

I did check the wiring on both ends and as much as I could see of it inside the oven. It all looked fine. I checked the thermal probe thing and the thermostat fuse, but those were OK too.

Gas ranges have no broil or heating elements, per se. I got confused by this too since so much research suggests it's that!

[Spork]

FWIW: Control boards are notorious on pretty much all appliances.  They're a really bad idea, IMO.  I prefer simple.

Everyone tends to treat all their computers with kid gloves (UPS's and surge protectors) but then they don't protect the computers inside their appliances.  Even with a whole house surge and lots of scattered surge protectors, I've lost several control boards (dishwasher, DVR, garage door opener and a partial loss on a washing machine.)

I'm confused... you mention your heating element stayed on and the gas kept flowing... but that the thermometer stayed rock solid at 375.  Does your oven have a bypass flame?  (I.e, does the flame go from a 2 inch flame down to a little nub of a flame when the temperature hits the target?)

[michael]

I'm confused... you mention your heating element stayed on and the gas kept flowing... but that the thermometer stayed rock solid at 375.  Does your oven have a bypass flame?  (I.e, does the flame go from a 2 inch flame down to a little nub of a flame when the temperature hits the target?)

No. When it's working and the set temp is reached, the gas stops flowing and the flame and electric "pilot" goes out. The 375° on the panel is more like a "requested temp" rather than the current oven temp reading. It only changes during the pre-heat phase.

[Spork]

I'm confused... you mention your heating element stayed on and the gas kept flowing... but that the thermometer stayed rock solid at 375.  Does your oven have a bypass flame?  (I.e, does the flame go from a 2 inch flame down to a little nub of a flame when the temperature hits the target?)

No. When it's working and the set temp is reached, the gas stops flowing and the flame and electric "pilot" goes out. The 375° on the panel is more like a "requested temp" rather than the current oven temp reading. It only changes during the pre-heat phase.

So... is the oven itself overheating?  or the entire appliance?

What I am getting at is: could this be a busted thermostat?  (Warning: my experience with gas stoves is on MUCH older stoves.  Newer stoves may not have dedicated thermostats.)

[dycker1978]

This sounds to me like a faulty gas inlet valve.  Did you say this valve was $250?  That seems really high, my experience those are $80-90.  Maybe just that model?

[michael]

So... is the oven itself overheating?  or the entire appliance?

What I am getting at is: could this be a busted thermostat?  (Warning: my experience with gas stoves is on MUCH older stoves.  Newer stoves may not have dedicated thermostats.)

I can't really say... what's the difference? :) I did take out the probe and what I think was the thermostat. I tested both according to repairclinic.com multimeter suggestions and they were OK.

[michael]

This sounds to me like a faulty gas inlet valve.  Did you say this valve was $250?  That seems really high, my experience those are $80-90.  Maybe just that model?

My memory failed me. I checked the same place I got the control board from, and the valve is listed for $133.

Can you help clarify what about the valve would cause the oven to continue to heat? I would think a failed valve would continuously send gas, but I'm unclear with how the valve would cause the electric "pilot" that this oven has to stay on.

[Spork]

So... is the oven itself overheating?  or the entire appliance?

What I am getting at is: could this be a busted thermostat?  (Warning: my experience with gas stoves is on MUCH older stoves.  Newer stoves may not have dedicated thermostats.)

I can't really say... what's the difference? :) I did take out the probe and what I think was the thermostat. I tested both according to repairclinic.com multimeter suggestions and they were OK.

Well, the ones I have dealt with are generally capillary tubes... so my advice may not apply.

[dycker1978]

This sounds to me like a faulty gas inlet valve.  Did you say this valve was $250?  That seems really high, my experience those are $80-90.  Maybe just that model?

My memory failed me. I checked the same place I got the control board from, and the valve is listed for $133.

Can you help clarify what about the valve would cause the oven to continue to heat? I would think a failed valve would continuously send gas, but I'm unclear with how the valve would cause the electric "pilot" that this oven has to stay on.

If the valve is failing open it will cause gas to flow.  The pilot( or burner) cannot shut off if there is contently gas feeding it, so it will heat forever.   This what I was thinking.

[dycker1978]

Another thing to check out if you can, here we have used appliance parts stores, where they will strip good parts off of appliances that have had something else fail and been replaced.  They are usually about half price.

[michael]

Well, I think I found something. The bare wire was resting against the metal bottom of the oven, clearly shorting (there are electrical burn marks where the wire had been).

[HipGnosis]

You definitely found something!

[zolotiyeruki]

 

Well, I think I found something. The bare wire was resting against the metal bottom of the oven, clearly shorting (there are electrical burn marks where the wire had been).

Yikes!

Interesting that you had the same problem as we had a couple years ago.  Except our oven is electric, so apples-to-oranges :)  In our case, it was a failed relay that made the oven stick on.

[Miss Piggy]

Interesting. Any evidence of mice? It sure doesn't look like it's a burned wire.

[michael]

Interesting. Any evidence of mice? It sure doesn't look like it's a burned wire.

I know, that's what's weird about it: the wire was clearly damaged prior, but that left the insulation and electrical burns on the oven itself. No mice, but we do have a rat in the crawlspace. I don't see that any way he could've gotten into the oven, under the flame shield, and behind the inlet cover plate, just to cut the insulation on this one wire. There are a lot of other tasty wires that are easier to reach :)

The way the cover plate was attached seemed unorthodox, too, with the screws upside down and mismatched. My best guess is that the previous owners had replaced the igniter or some other oven element nearby and caused this damage. The breaker tripping happened very sporadically; I think the contact with the bare wire here was changed when the oven door opening and closing, so it was never a guarantee.

/shrug New igniter is coming Monday, so I'll get a chance to try that out with the old and the new control board. Hopefully the shorting didn't cause permanent damage in the new one, at least.