Kenmore Elite 790.79013100 gas oven - long preheat, sometimes makes woosh sound and smells of gas

[MKeating42]

My wife has a concern about our approx. 10 yo Kenmore Elite gas oven, model# 790.79013100

I know her observations are subjective, but trust me she KNOWS this oven. She's like a cross between Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart, uses this appliance daily, bakes frequently, and routinely turns out magnificent meals, treats, cakes, baked goods etc. with it. 

She says it's been taking longer to preheat. I observed this myself on a day that also happened to be the first time this year we put on the central AC in the house (which i also suspect needs so PM). That was a concern but didn't reach panic mode until she got a whiff of gas, or possibly wiring insulation. 

My first thought was the igniter is bad or headed there fast. A little informal testing had ignition almost exactly 60 seconds after the oven temp is set. Then Betty Stewart freaked out and accused me of trying to asphyxiate the family. 

What's my next (non-lethal) step here? 

[evaappliance]

If it were me, I would go ahead and replace the igniter , a good igniter will usually light the gas between 30 & 40 seconds . When one is borderline like yours, it can do the things you are describing .

[MKeating42]

Quote

If it were me, I would go ahead and replace the igniter

I decided to switch the broiler & oven igniters to see if the ignition time would get better. Tore the oven apart to find - the broiler igniter has a ceramic "tail" about 6" long. Put everything back, and now the oven igniter won't even glow. The broiler works just fine. I guess I was right? and jostling the oven igniter just accelerated its demise.

The pisser is, I have done this exact repair on this oven - with help from this forum - and I didn't remember about the difference between the igniters. :-/

[evaappliance]

at least you didn't break the good one , which would have been my luck !  

[MKeating42]

I put the new igniter in. It doesn't glow at all, either. The broiler works just fine. the normal "bake" setting doesn't appear to do anything (other than set temperature at the control panel). Convection bake will engage the heating element and fan, and the preheat indicator on the control panel, but the igniter does not glow. The gas valve doesn't open either, naturally.

I'm guessing I disturbed the wiring harness somewhere when I took the old element out? in retrospect, it was probably when I tried to switch the broiler element in and discovered it was different from the bake igniter. I checked the physical connections at the wire nuts and they seem fine. I have a basic meter. Is there something like a continuity check I can do to see where the circuit is broken?

[MKeating42]

I think I really stepped in it.

I forgot to unplug the oven from the wall when I took the old igniter off. When I removed the wire nuts the leads made contact with the heat shield above the warming drawer and drew sparks. Both leads, unfortunately. That's what prompted me to unplug the beastie.

Is it possible I damaged the gas safety valve, as in this older post? What are the "bake terminals?" I can put a meter on them, if I can get some help identifying them. (The two on the bottom of the valve?)

 

 

[MKeating42]

nm, found the video on RepairClinic.com.

[MKeating42]

No continuity across the top two terminals (the ones attached to the oven igniter). Across the two on the bottom (for the broiler I assume), needle jumped right up to 0.

According to Mr. Helpful in the video, "If the needle does not move... there is no continuity which means the valve is defective and will need to be replaced."

right? :-/

 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

Yes, you blew out the valve bi-metal heater when the bare wires shorted to ground, you put a direct 120 Vac thru the heater wire which would instantly burn it out, (with the ignitor in the circuit the valve only receives 3.2 to 3.5Vac).   You will now also need to replace the dual bake/broil gas valve to fix your problem.

Here's the dual gas valve that you need:
Part number: 5303208499

[MKeating42]

Aw nuts. I was afraid of that.

Thanks for the follow-up.

[Ryan Cincy]

I just serviced this oven. A neighbor of my Client installed the new igniter. The Client stated that it ran a few minutes made some crackling noise and then made a big POP. I removed the drawer and found wires everywhere with about 8 ceramic wire nuts. I removed the burner bar with the igniter attached. I hot wired the igniter to a power cord and the Igniter glowed up. I have a good igniter. I corrected all of the wiring. When I tried powering up the the igniter…nothing. The Broiler was not lighting either. Is it possible that the Main Board was damaged?

[Budget Appliance Repair]

Major wiring mess made by DIY - and the hearing a loud pop, they could have wired the gas safety valve directly to 120 Vac not going thru the ignitor and blown out the safety valve immediately on power up.

You need to check to make sure the safety valve still has continuity then if it does - check to make sure you are getting 120 Vac from the control.

If not getting 120 Vac from the control there is a good chance the crackling noise and pop was a bad solder connection on the control board relay to bake.  Remove the board from the plastic casing and look at the back side solder connections on the control relays.