GE P7 Automatic Oven experts (John combo52)? please help!

[swando]

Dear experts and John combo52, sorry to have to call you all out like this but you are my final hope. I discovered your in depth discussion of the GE P7 cleaning mechanisms and thought you might also be able to figure out my P7's trouble as well. I need to find an answer on what part we need to fix our vintage GE P7 Automatic Oven - the top oven doesn't work. When we bought our home recently (and inherited this awesome double oven) we knew the top oven didn't work but we were hoping it only needed a new heating element. Well I researched and bought a new one on Amazon and had it installed today but no joy... still not working. My friend and I then unscrewed and opened the top board display of the oven and we looked around inside to see what looked broken. Right away we noticed that the device behind the temp switch knob for the lower oven was lit up and working whereas the device behind the switch knob for the upper oven had a crack on the end and there was no light on. So after turning off the power we went back in and tried to photo the bits that seem damaged and see if we could read any part number. I snapped two pictures which I will attach here. The first is the metal looking item marked "King Seeley" it had a patent number and my friend thought it was numbered part #62515. There is a device plugged into this metal part which is white and terra-cotta colored and is CRACKED on the edge. It is hard to tell if these are separate items and if both items need replacing? And we aren't certain what these are called? Is this a responder...? And what is the plug in part called since that is actually broken? I would be forever in the debt of anyone who can name these items and point me toward some company that might have replacements for sale. We love our awesome looking old ovens and hate to only have one in working order. I attached a photo of both wall ovens so you can see them... Thank you for any help you can provide! Sara

 

[robinsondm]

Oven sensor?

Hi Sara,

When my P7 oven (part of a 40-inch range) stopped working in 2012, it turned out that the oven sensor had failed. For my 1966 range, the part number was WB21X158. See the attached picture. Does your unit have a sensor like that protruding into the oven? If so, you might try looking up the sensor part number for your model # and replacing it. If you have two identical P7 ovens, you could try swapping the sensors first, to see if that fixes the problem. (And if you have two identical ovens, you could try swapping other parts as well to isolate the problem, if necessary.) Good luck.

Dean

 

[swando]

Great ideas!

Thanks Dean!

I did call a parts company yesterday about my P7 oven (JK2801) and yes, it uses the same part number #WB21X158 ...I do see the sensor protruding in both ovens in the back. The upper oven sensor looks very dark and burned over. The oven is clean but the sensor is just very dark - I imagine it could use cleaning or maybe is too burned out and does need replacing. I found a new sensor part in the original package for $35 on Ebay. I might just nab it to save time. Swapping out parts that work in the lower oven and testing them in the non-working upper oven is a great idea. The only thing is that I am paying someone to do this work for me so I don't want to spend a lot of additional time going back and forth. I also read somewhere that rewiring the sensor can be tricky - and we need to pull the whole oven out of the wall to access the sensor as well. I also bought a full pdf of the original tech manual on AE and there are several schematic pages so hopefully that will help speed up the process. I'll let you know if it works! Thanks for the info - it's super nice of you. So happy I found this site!

Sara

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[mopar65]

Pic's

From what I can see is what appears to be switches are broken. I don't know that much about your oven but you could look at the wiring diagram and see what they are. I would say if they are broken that's what's going on.

 

[stevet]

I agree..

With Anthony.
It sure looks like the switch is broken and like a screw is missing to connect it securely to the front panel on the right side of the switch. I wonder if they tried to get the selector knob off or forced it back on and broke the switch and left it that way.

If you can check the lower one, it should look much better and see if it has the screw on the right side as well.

Regarding the probes, the discoloration may not be an issue as most people will use the upper oven far more often than the lower one just as a matter of ease of use. Therefore it was probably cleaned more often and has discolored the probe.

If you know how to use a multimeter, you can check the resistance reading of both of them and if they are the same reading or within close proximity in ohms, then there is nothing wrong with it and you don't need to buy a new one. Your service manual should give you the values to be found for those probes.

I think you may only have to replace the broken switch and will be back in business.

Keep us posted.

 

[combo52]

Non Heating P-7 Oven

Hi Anthony and Steve, where are you guys seeing a broken switch?

Discoloration of these oven sensors happens the first time the oven is self-cleaned and is not the reason it is bad, but it is still the most likely suspect.

 

[swando]

switch?

I'm a bit confused too... do you mean some switch directly behind the knob that selects temp "bake" "broil" etc...? I didn't actually include any photo of that area.... this is the responder back and front only. Plus one image of the double ovens from a distance and two photos of possible sensors I could buy.

But please do elaborate a bit more... is it the knob switch on the dash board that you are talking about?

Thanks again for comments, Sara

 

[mopar65]

John

I'm not all that sheer it's a switch but that's what it looks like in pic 1&2 I could be vary worng but they look broke to me. I'm vary intrigued as to what's going on. As with most things you know these things in and out like the back of your hand. I hope one day this guy will know as much till then I will sit back and watch lol

 

[swando]

this might be helpful...

Just to clarify the upper oven does not heat up no matter where you set the temp dial. The dial never lights and the heating element coil never warms. BUT the dial to the left that selects type of cooking DOES light up... I set it to "BAKE" and the light came on and I took a picture to illustrate this. I had explained in my first post that there is a light behind the one dial but not behind the other because we were looking at the inside when my friend first pulled the cover off. Maybe that was confusing so I am trying to go over that here in case it is an indicator of something important.

I get that the sensor and responder are meant to work together like a thermostat and set the proper heating level. But is there a switch by the front dial that could be easily tested or screwed in tighter first? Or is this too hopeful thinking? Sara