Hello all!
I recently diagnosed and replaced a thermostat in a relative's GE electric dryer, model DBXR463ED2WW . The "control inlet" thermostat, GE part number WE4M181, had gone out of calibration. The replacement had a different mounting foot, but it fit and worked. I made a small writeup about it:
Anticipating some questions:
Yes, there are a lot of disclaimers at the top of that page.
Yes, I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment. :)
Lessons learned:
These thermostats can go out of calibration. I thought they would mostly fail always open (this is what most online troubleshooting tips tell you to look for) or possibly always closed. This one still opened and closed, but at such wrong temperatures that one of the other thermostats in the dryer operated first.
If what you're doing isn't fixing it, do something else. I got kind of stuck on it being a problem with the venting, so I didn't look into other causes for a while. Finally I looked at other things, eliminated them, and settled on one of the thermostats as the problem.
Check the symptoms yourself. I sort of already knew this, but it got reinforced with this one. I was basing some of my early efforts on feedback from the user, rather than trying it myself. (Many years ago, I spent an entertaining afternoon next to and under a Buick, pulling the alternator and starter, due to someone else's bad diagnosis. After both items tested OK at the car parts store, it turned out to just need the battery cable connections cleaned and tightened.)
I hope this helps!
Matt Roberds