Kitchenaid Hidden Bake Element

[mawaw]

I have a Kitchenaid slide in oven Model KESS907SSS04 that the hidden bake element has quit working. I am trying to figure out how to get the element out. I have pulled several covers off the back and can see the 2 prongs with the wires connected to the element. It just seems that this element is fully enclosed with no easy way to get it out. I don't know if it should come out the rear of the oven somehow or does it come out the front?  Has anyone run into this problem before and have figured out how to get this element out?

[darren412]

unplug  the power cord for the oven before anything !!   Pull the oven out and take off that lower middle back cover . then disconnect the hidden bake elements terminal connections. Open the oven door  and remove the grills. Then look at that bottom panel in the oven cavity and at the inside back of that oven panel you will see two screws. One in the left rear corner and right rear corner of that bottom oven panel. Once you remove those two screws , lift the bottom panel up and out towards you. once that is removed you will expose the hidden bake element so you can remove and replace it with the new one.  If you know how to remove the door assembly off the oven , it is easier to do the job without the oven door in the way. If you dont know how to remove the oven door easily at the hinge latches, then dont concern yourself with removing the door because that will prevent you from damaging anything on the door till you can learn how to easily remove and put back the oven door . Sometimes it can be more challenging just putting the door back on correctly if you have not had experience with door removals.  Good luck. Its not a hard job and quite simple actually. 

[mawaw]

My oven on the inside is a completely sealed unit, no screws anywhere inside. Now I see why people refer to the element on this model as a hidden bake element. I am almost thinking the element has to come out the rear of the oven somehow.

[Rhubarb Tau]

Yep, comes out from the back. It's a bit of a pain. Once you can see the terminals, you have to unscrew and fold down the sheet metal on either side of the terminals. If memory serves, on some units there may be an additional back cover to remove before you can get access to the outer screws on the fold-down bits.

Then you have to cut a horizontal slit in the exposed insulation to allow you to pull the element out (newer models may already have the insulation slitted, not sure)

[evaappliance]

The designer of this oven should be fired.  The end !  

[darren412]

10 hours ago, Rhubarb Tau said:

Yep, comes out from the back. It's a bit of a pain. Once you can see the terminals, you have to unscrew and fold down the sheet metal on either side of the terminals. If memory serves, on some units there may be an additional back cover to remove before you can get access to the outer screws on the fold-down bits.

Then you have to cut a horizontal slit in the exposed insulation to allow you to pull the element out (newer models may already have the insulation slitted, not sure)

OOps !   I see now the bake element cover in the back of the bake element in the parts breakdown of the diagrame. I should of caught that.   Like evaapliance had mentioned sometimes you just wonder why the engineers do what they do at times when they roll out a product like this.  I did a GE double wall oven one time with a bad lower oven bake element that was hidden also.  I had to completely take Out the wall oven and the bake element had to be replaced through the side of the wall oven.  It was a challenge for me a few years back because it was actually one of the first double wall ovens I had ever removed.   I slid the wall oven out onto a  small table the customer had handy and was hoping the table would not collapse.  The table seemed strong enough but any thing can happen in this business if your not careful enough. I have definately learned alot since then.  Now I use a Hydraulic cart when I pull wall ovens out.  Its slightly heavier than I would like but It takes the worry out completely now whenever the wall oven is a heavy one.  Lived and learned. 

[mawaw]

 

I finally was able to get the element out. Ya'll were correct in that it had to come out the rear and that the engineer of this unit should be banished from designing appliances ever again. Bad idea and design. But now I have a new problem. After replacing all the covers on the back and plugging the range in the outlet to try it out, the second I flipped the breaker on it had an arc inside the oven door and then the door locked itself. I cannot understand what would have caused it. I removed the covers on the back again and checked continuity on the new element and it seems to be okay. But I can't figure out how to get the door open to be able to check inside the oven at what might had arced. The only thing inside the oven is the hole in which you stick the probe in for cooking meats. I have had problems on a couple of occasions in which I got an error message something to the effect that I needed to unplug the probe in which there was no probe plugged in. We have have never used a probe with this oven. And both times it did that it would lock the oven door. Any ideas of what might be happening?    

[darren412]

Look at the back and remove what panels you had removed to replace the Bake element.  When you  re -assembled the back panel and covers to replace the bake element you may have pinched a wire somewhere putting it back together. I know you mentioned you looked at the element again but its possible you overlooked something arced out back there. Look closely at all the metal covering and loose wires for any arced out areas or arced out wires . Fix anything arced out that is visible and start there . the oven may be able to reset safely if in fact there is something that arced out and then the lock could possibly re open itself when it is replugged back in again. If there is a wire that arced out in an area you can't reach then trying to reset the oven and lock will be tough to do. looking at the oven from the front , your door latch will close to the right so if there is enough room  on the left side top of the door for you to slide in a hanger and catch the latch , then pull it to the left, you may get lucky and be able to open the door that way the quickest.  it's worth a look at and a try if the oven door opening will let you do this and if the lock is positioned enough to let you pull the latch to the left.  Look at it and see if you think the door space will allow you to attemp opening it this way with out damaging anything.  Usually you will most likely have to remove the front panel console to gain access. and there is a vent cover I believe on the other side of the top of the door that you may have to remove also.  Obviousely with the door locked you have a challenge.   you may even  have to remove the side panel also to gain access to screws on the console that you cannot see when you try to remove the console.  Obviousely with the door being in a locked position it might make any  way your trying to access all the screws for the console difficult. 

[mawaw]

This morning I decided to flip the breaker on again just to see what would happen, to see if it would arc again or not. It did not arc and the clock came on ready to reset it and the oven door opened which was a good thing. When I opened it I did not see anything such as black smut to indicate where the arc came from but I did smell something like a burnt wire smell.  I had disconnected the new bake element I had installed and all covers were off the back when I turned it on. The first thing I checked was to see if the stove burners would come on and work and they did not. The first thing I thought of was that there may be a built in fuse in the range that had blown when it arced protecting it from any more damage. Do you know if there is a fuse on this model and where it might be located at?  

[darren412]

I dont believe your model  has any  fuses that protect your top burners.  There are fuses that protect your main control and its functions for the oven only I believe.  If all your top burners are not working . That would probably mean you lost  L1(black wire) or L2 (red wire) going through the wire harness to your top switches at the console some where along the way.    OR    One of breakers have acted up possibly in the breaker box.   I'm gonna say its probably the L1 or L2 wire in the ovens wiring harness  somewhere going to the top switches at the console since you said you saw a large flash in the oven when it crapped out.      Do some continuity checks or a visual check along the way of the Black (L1) wire and Red (L2) wire .  Check each one  from the terminal block in back  all the way into the top part of the oven where the wire harness continues into the top . If there is not a break before it goes into the top up to as much as you can access , then I would remove the console on front and visually check and continuity check the L1 and L2 wires from that point , going to the switches at the console.  you may  need to raise the top and check further if you dont find anything with the L1 or L2 wires at the front console ?  to effectively test the L1 and L2 wires that go further in the top to the  torward the  switches .  Concentrate on the L1 and L2 wire  where it first starts splicing out to your  console switches.  I bet you have an arced and broken wire there somewhere just before the switches.  check the Left front switches L1 wire (black) from the left front switch and see if you have  continuity all the way to the terminal block in the back. If you do then the L1 Black wire is good going to the top burners.      Then check the left front switches L2 (red) wire from the switch all the way to the red L2 wire at the terminal block in the back.    see if there is a break in that wire along the way some where.   Hopefully Chances are it will be one of them and you will have to chase the break in the wire where ever it is ??   Good luck and I hope this will lead to where the problem is and all you will need to do is splice a wire back together.     

Edited March 2, 2019 by darren412

[mawaw]

Thanks, I will check those things out you mentioned. I am trying to figure out how what I was doing when I changed out the bake element would have caused something else to happen that prevents the top burners from working. Are there any wires in the oven area around where the oven door hinges are? I did take the door off because one site I look at said to remove the door to get the bake element out the front. If there are wires around the hinges maybe I cut one when trying to get the door back into the hinge holes on the stove. I looked at the back of the oven and the rear covers and did not see any sign where maybe a cover touch a wire and shorted out there. Just curious. 

[darren412]

there are  no wires near the door hinges Some higher end GE wall ovens have wire strips at the doors but yours does not have anything like that.

[mawaw]

This is what I tried this morning. 1. First thing was to check the wall plug and junction box on back of oven where the power cord attaches for 220v and everything was okay there. 2. Then I pulled the brand new bake element out to look at it and make sure it did not short out and to check continuity on it again. Everything seemed to be okay. 3. With the bake element out I turned the breaker on to the stove to see what would happen. All the stove's burners worked and the broil element heated up. With the bake element still out I checked current on both wires to the bake element and had 120v on each one. So I thought maybe everything was okay now so I turned the breaker off and re-installed the bake element. When I turned the breaker back on there was some kind of information on the front display panel and the door was locked again and none of the stove's burners heated up. So every time I flip the breaker on this information is displayed, Kitchen Aid and the number 30 below it in the top left corner and then across the bottom is,  "  AM18   UI26   EEKEO 220." I googled those numbers for Kitchenaid oven codes and could not find anything. Does anybody know what those codes mean?    

 

[darren412]

also check the white ground wire from the terminal block to where it goes .    The  Heating elements for the top burners get their neutral line through that.  If theres a break in that line somewhere , and it is acting up intermittently , it can shut down the top burner elements also.   Messing around with the bake element in the back may be disturbing the white neutral line and it is intermittently acting up.  make sure the terminal block screws are all tight.  and check those wires I mentioned. You need to verify that the wires are ok ! and there are no breaks or a grounded out line voltage wire. I'm still thinking you have a bad wire some where or possibly  a broken neutral some where in there.  

[mawaw]

Making progress. This morning I went back to basics and checked current at the junction box where the power cord attaches. Only had 110v on 1 side. What I figured out was that as I was sliding the stove around to get to the back the plug on the power cord was pulling out just enough to give me 110v and not 220v. The plug looked like it was all the way in but wasn't. So now I got the stove burners and the broil element working but for some reason now I only have 110v going to the bottom bake element. It warms up but doesn't get hot enough without the other 110v. I had 220v going to the bake element at one time yesterday which makes me think it might be a short in that wire. The only problem is I don't see a way to get to the other end of the wire to check continuity. I pulled the front cover off which has the display in it but the wires plug in to something back to far to get to without somehow pulling the whole top of the stove off. Any suggestions? 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Hats off to the OP for this thread. Big thanks to those who answered it. I had a bake element issue on my Kitchen Aid and wanted to check it for continuity but I just couldn’t find the right YouTube video online on how to locate it. We’ve all been down that rabbit hole. 
 

Luckily, I found this thread and decided to read through it. I eventually would have accessed the back of the oven to locate the element’s connections but after finding no continuity, I would have been hesitant to go through the steps needed to access the element without the experience of others.

It had no continuity and in the end, it was clear why not….

 

Thanks again folks.