GE Drier timer repair

I agree. With most appliances being modular repair units, the hardest part will probably be getting the unit away from the wall, and monkeying with the screwdrivers, socket set and whatever, to get to it.

If it has one of the dryness sensors, that could be the problem. I have seen these fail with an open electrolytic filter capacitor. That module will either allow or not allow the timer to advance. Try it on timed heat first to see if it advances then.

David

This model does not have the dryness sensor. Thx for the input, I'll get the module and give it a shot. /ff

Before buying a new timer, you might unplug the dryer, open it up, and make sure it's not something like a wire that fell off. The connections are usually pretty secure, but heat and vibration take their toll. If you find a burned wire, further troubleshooting is indicated. You'll probably need a flat-blade screwdriver, a Philips screwdriver, a 5/16" nutdriver or wrench, and possibly a 1/4" nutdriver or wrench to open it up.

It's not great, but the dryer has a couple of safety thermostats that should shut it down before anything gets too exciting.

Some dryers have all the timer connections in one plug - unplug the old one, plug in the new one, done. Some others have several individual wires that have to be transferred one by one. *DO NOT* pull all the wires off of the old timer and then try to put them on the new one! You'll get lost. Just do one wire at a time and it'll be good.

Very occasionally, the replacement timer will be made for several models of dryer, and you have to do something like move a jumper wire or put two wires that used to be on separate terminals onto one terminal or something like that. The timer will come with a sheet that explains what to do. If there's no sheet, assume it's no different than the installed timer.

You should also find a basic wiring diagram on a piece of paper that's been folded up and put in the control panel. It might even have the part number of the replacement timer on it, but it might not.

If you want a little more information, GE publishes a DIY repair manual. The dryer manual is GE part WX10X116 ; a GE parts place should know it by that number and it should be about $15 plus or minus. They used to update the manuals every several years, but all the references I can find to that manual say it was last updated in 1994. The manual will walk you through the whole diagnosis, and then tell you how to replace the bad part and/or when to give up and call for service.

Disclaimer: I used to work for GE selling appliance parts, but I don't anymore.

Matt Roberds

I had this exact same problem on my ancient GE dryer. A bit of checking revealed that the clock motor winding was open. I looked around and a new timer was around $100 so I ended up very carefully disassembling the motor (hacksaw surgery) until I got to the bobbin with the coil on it, then I unwound many feet of tiny wire until it was empty. The smallest magnet wire I had was considerably larger than the original so I wound on as much as would fit, then connected it to a little 7.5v transformer from a scrapped clock radio instead of the 120v it was originally made for and found that it ran perfectly. Let it run for several hours to make sure nothing was getting particularly warm then carefully put it all back together and epoxied it closed. Given that it's still running great over a year later I think it was well worth the 2 or 3 hours it took me to fix it.