Kenmore Oven Works only intermittently

Oven Repair (including Ranges and Cooktops)
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1

I have this Gas range since 1997, in 2003 I replaced the igniter for the oven, it has been working fine. Now when we turn the oven on, I see the glow bar coming on then the gas flow can be heard coming and igniting, then it can be heard going off, this is similar to what we observed when the igniter went bad in the past. What is now new is that even when we turn on broiler that has the heater and igniter on the ceiling of the top shelf of the oven, the bottom shelf (bake oven) igniter/glow bar is seen coming on instead of the broiler on the top shelf. Also when we set the oven to pre heat, the alarm will sound after some minutes that the oven is preheated, but when we open the oven door we see that oven is not at all heated. Something more than igniter seems to have gone bad, I am not sure if the igniter is bad because it is brightly glowing. And sometimes the oven does heat as it should, but it is unpredictable.

I suspect the control module where we turn the knob and select oven/broiler and their heating temperature has gone bad, I took it out and looked at it. It is made by Eaton, out of Winterset, Iowa and Eaton model number for this module as written on the PC board sticker is 14GL45497Y. There is also a GE Model number written on the same sticker which is 183D5586P001.

Please advise, is it time to replace the range rather than struggling with it or what needs to be replaced now ?

Kenmore Model Number for this Gas Cooktop Range is 362.73271691

Thanks

Matt

3

Thanks for the response.

I am almost convinced the control module is intermittently going bad. What to do in that case ? I have the details of it in my original post. But is it worth replacing a $250 part in a 12 years old appliance ?

Thanks

Matt

4

I personally wouldn’t base any several hundred dollar decision on a guess.

That will be up to you to decide. Generally speaking, if the repair was going to be 1/2 the price or more of a comparable replacement appliance, it would usually not be cost effective to repair. If the appliance wasn’t in good general condition or you were not happy with its performance anyway, leaning toward replacement might be the way to go… should it be determined it needed expensive repairs.

JMO

Dan O.
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