Whirlpool Range (electric) troubleshooting

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Symptom: Whirlpool Model WFE371LVS clock and display works but burners won’t turn on.

Troubleshooting

Here we have a Whirlpool Range (Model WFE371LVS) that has a functioning display but none of the burners will turn on.

**Model Number tags are located inside the door opening.**
Whirlpool Model # WFE371LVS

Check the Plug/Power Source

The first step in troubleshooting 101 is to check the last known source of power. We need to ensure we have 240V to the plug in the back, since this is a 240V model. If you would like to know how to do that check out this video here. Once we eliminated power source as a potential problem it’s time to pull the back cover off and investigate.

Wow.. Just, Wow..

This terminal block is designed to accept wires into the lug and, with the tightening of this screw, tightens down on the wires to securely hold them in place while making a strong electrical connection. Whoever installed this plug did not understand how this terminal block works and instead used the terminal ring connectors that come on the plug. That would have been fine if they were able to actually tighten down but they weren’t and this caused EXCESSIVE heat at the connections. It’s a miracle this thing didn’t catch on fire.

Sourcing Parts

So after I Googled a few terms like “plug connector” or “wire connector” I learned that this is called a “terminal block” – duh should have known that. A local appliance shop was able to get them for a few bucks more than Amazon and if they had it in stock I definitely would have voted to support local business. Unfortunately their estimated arrival time was a slower than Amazon and we needed to get this thing back up and running ASAP. A link to the part can be found here.

R/R (Repair and Replace)

The new block came in within a day or two (gotta love Amazon) and the repair can begin. Pull the connections off and save the old hardware, you’ll probably need it. The old terminal block is easy to remove, just two Philips screws in the middle of the block and one ground screw. In this case the heat also damaged another wire so I wound up soldering on a new terminal ring. I can cover that in another post but hopefully this isn’t required for most of you.