1965 GE Electric Range -- Cleaning backsplash and replacing burners!

[howdelightfull]

Hi all! Recently I moved back to my home town and have been trying to help my parents repair their vintage GE range. It's a 1965 40" model #J486A3DC in brown with push buttons, knobs, and outlets. It came original with the house when we moved in 15 years ago (along with the matching dishwasher and spin-dial phone)--we are only the second owners. My parents love it but have not taken very good care of it--though they promise to do so from here on out!

When we first moved in all parts were in fantastic working condition, but unfortunately things have deteriorated in recent years and now only one of the four burners works (rear 6"). We are very lucky in that all other parts of the stove still function perfectly!

I want to repair the other 2 normal burners (and perhaps, eventually the Sensi-Temp), but I'm not sure where to start. Since I don't know where the problem lies, is there any way to test which parts need to be replaced? What are the most common parts that need replacement? I've found the replacement burner elements for the 8" and 6" both online and through GE, but I am not sure which part is actually broken. I see that the Sensi-Temp parts are more difficult to come by, so I'm focusing on the other two for now!

Also, there is some grease buildup on the inside of the glass panel where the timer and clock are. Any tips on how to clean this out?

We are in dire need to replacement drip pans and rings, but I've managed to find these online, luckily! We still have the original manual and the Sensi-Temp manual.

Thanks for all your help! I've been looking for a long time now to help fix this stovetop, and am so glad to have finally found this board!

 

[rp2813]

I see GE-compatible replacement burners all the time at OSH and ACE.  I presume the big box home improvement stores carry them too.  Of all the makes, replacement burners for GE ranges seem to be the easiest to find.  Same goes for bowls.  I don't think your parents' range is too old to accommodate the burners and bowls that are available at those stores.  I got bowls for my mom's 1949 Westinghouse range at OSH, and the stove was around 50 years old at the time.

 

I suggest switching the two 6" burner locations and checking how they behave.  If the known good burner is still good and the bad burner is still bad, then you can rule out the burner control as the source of the problem and go buy a 6" burner.

 

It's not so easy with the 8" burners since one of them is a Sensi-Temp and has a special control, but if you were able to conclude that the one 6" burner is indeed bad, chances are the same will be true for the plain 8" burner too.

 

Electric burner elements will fail if pots and pans are banged around on them.  If you find that you have a couple of bad burners, repeated impact from pots and pans over time could be the reason why they stopped working.

 

I can't speak to the Sensi-Temp issue, but I do know that you can't replace it with a plain burner without also changing the control.  Experts here can provide you with more information depending on how you want to resolve the problem with the Sensi-Temp element.

 

[goatfarmer]

Many times you will find the wires going to the burner have broken from the heat.

 

[rp2813]

Good point, Kenny.  I'm not at all familiar with GE ranges and assumed the burners had some type of snap-in arrangement that kept the wires a safe distance from the heat source.

 

Over the nearly 60 years my mom had her '49 Westinghouse, the red lead serving the 8" burner up front broke off its terminal several times, and as a result of stripping and re-attaching there was almost no slack left in it.

 

[robinsondm]

Service manuals available!

Hi, nice range. I have a 1966 model myself!

I strongly suggest you purchase two electronic documents from the sister site automatice.org. First is the general service manual for this range, available at this link:

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~946~General Electric~

Second is the P-7 self-cleaning service manual, at this link:

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~947~General Electric~

For replacing burners and cleaning the backsplasher crystal, you only need the first manual. Look on page 40 of the pdf (labeled page 6 in the document) to see how to disassemble the backsplasher and remove the window crystal for cleaning.

The second manual will be invaluable if you ever need to troubleshoot the self-cleaning feature of the main oven.

Good luck, and have fun!

Dean

 

[robinsondm]

Sensi-Temp

I forgot to mention... The most common problem with the Sensi-Temp burner is failure of the sensor at the center of the burner. Much less common is a problem with the "responder" that sits behind the Sensi-Temp control dial.

The good news is that Sensi-Temp sensors are often available on eBay. The bad news is that they're expensive -- usually from $140 to over $200! You need part number WB21X5207, or its predecessor, WB21X154. Other Sensi-Temp part numbers probably won't fit.

There's a WB21X5207 sensor available on eBay now for $145, which is a fair price. The seller is also accepting best offers. Again, good luck!

Dean