[meng]

Kitchen Aid glass top left side elements heat but don't have nearly the heat of the right side elements. On the right side one which is halogen lights up red immediately. The right rear in 5 to 10 seconds is glowing red.
On the left side, youcan't see any red. The elements in about 10 secodns get far too hot to touch but never get red.

Any ideas?

[Drags1998]

It could be 1 of 3 things, 1.switchs, 2. Thermal limiters, 3. Elements. Without PROPER testing, You'll probably GUESS wrong!!!! Hire a PRO!!!

[meng]

Easily said. In my experience almost impossible to find. From looking at the wiring diagram, I came up with the same 3 choices. But in my experience, it's highly unusual for 2 of the same components to fail at the same time. My suspicion was that there might be a single component (relay, etc.) serving one side. I'm a fairly knowledgeable guy with an electrical engineering degree. Any idea where I might get a service manual on the unit?

[richappy]

Burners need the full 230 volts to get red. I would turn both left burners on and look for where the common voltage to them goes down. Then, you can turn power off and look for a burnt wire. Most likely somewhere where the wireing is common to both elements.

[meng]

Thanks for the response. I've never before had such an easy repair on an appliance. The first time I removed the panel with the switches, I did it while the wires were hot. I failed to notice something. Today, I cut the power to do a more thorough look. Immediately, I found a broken wire from the switch. Really strange. The wire was simply broken in half. There was no exterior sign of a crimp or any wear. It wasn't in a place where it would have worn against anything. There was no sign of arcing or burning on the insulation. However, when I stripped the insulation so that I could solder it I noted that the ends of the metal wire for about a 16th inch were burned. I suspect there was a weak spot in the wire and for some reason it separated and as it did so there was some arcing. Because there was no damage to the insulation and the wires weren't touching any metal, the breaker didn't trip. All is now working as it should.