my dryer is malfunctioning. it was originally finishing loads with clothes still damp, which happened for a day or two. then it began stopping 30 or so minutes into cycle, with the three righthand lights illuminated, and two dots in upper right and lower left corners of LCD display.

in service mode, everything works, except the heat. I've since replaced the dryer with a new one, and it works great, so I know the outlet is fine.

in field test mode, I get error e4a 016, which I read is extended run time, meaning the cycle took longer than it was supposed to.

I haven't been able to reproduce the dryer stopping mid-cycle, but when I plug it in and cycle for however long it just doesn't heat.

I've pulled it apart, and aside from a little lint, the innards look fine. connections are snug, wiring insulation is fine.

i've got a multimeter and am prepared to test units, but am not sure which values I should see.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

connor

ok so I pulled out the thermistor, it metered at about 31k. after a minute of blasting with the wife's thermonuclear hairdryer, it gradually dropped to around 6k.

from what I've read, that's an appropriate range. i'll assume the thermistor is ok.

after more reading, I checked the thermostat and high heat thermostat and those both show no continuity, which I assume is correct for the current state (off and relatively cold).

I've also read that the average dryer heating element will read between 8 and 25 ohms depending on the make, so my 11.1 meter sounds reasonable.

the icing on the cake is this: after completely disassembling, inspecting, and testing every component, I put it all back together and it's working just fine now. what am I missing? i'm sure every connection was good, because I had to use pliers to remove the terminal connectors. I had already tried disconnecting power for some time, so I cannot imagine what might've happened to cause it to work properly.

any ideas? also, there is a sensor of some sort right inside door... it's two metallic bars about 1/4" apart, with a lead connected to each one. part #8 on the cabinet assy houses it. can somebody tell me what that does?

thanks...? anybody?