Moisture Sensor on my dryer not allowing dryer to advance

[teknikleespekng]

I am hoping you can help me diagnose the problem. I have a 2001 Kenmore (Frigidaire) gas fired dryer. Yesterday DH put a load of sopping wet clothes into the dryer. It ran about 15 minutes before I went to check the lint (he hadnt emptied it from last load) to find that he did this. Now the moisture sensor seems to be in a permanent state of being shorted out. It wont advance. Timed dry works fine. Would putting sopping wet clothes do something, leaking down in to the wiring somehow?

On a better note - the cause of the sopping wet clothes was a color catcher that managed to get in the pump of the washer. That was an easy fix.

This happened yesterday - I dried the clothes that I had to rewash. I left the door open overnight with the lint filter out. I did a load of hand towels and its still not advancing although the towels are getting dry (after about 30 minutes).

HELP. Thanks!

 

[thefixer]

What is the model number of the dryer?

 

[teknikleespekng]

417.91052000

Tomorrow DH and I are going to move the dryer, and change the duct hose. Going to clean out the dryer as well of any lint.

 

[thefixer]

Open the control panel and unplug the moisture sensor control board. Check resistance between the two red wires of the connector. These go to the sensor bars and should read open (infinity). If your getting a resistance reading, then clean the bars and check again. If you still get resistance, you need to remove the grille that has the sensor bars in it and inspect the wiring connections. If you do read open on the sensor bars, then it appears that the control board has been damaged.

 

[teknikleespekng]

Update

Put a new dryer hose on, made sure the rigid pipe was clear (which it was), and cleaned in inside of the lint compartment and back of inside drum (inside the holes lint accumulates). Did a test run empty, and within 10 minutes the auto dry moved! Have a load in the washer now, hopefully it will be fine.

thefixer - I will keep that for future reference. Im not sure how I get to the control panel, if I have to unscrew the metal plate on the back of the rear deck. To get to the wiring, I have to take the door off. Thanks for your help!