Bake Element not working. Is it the thermostat or controller board?
I own a frigidaire professional series built-in oven model CPEB30S9FC1 that is approximately 7 years old. A few weeks ago while cooking pizza at 400 degrees smoke started coming out of the oven after 20 minutes and the oven started to give out a continuous beep and the control panel showed me F10. Clearly the oven hit a high temperature and burned the pizza. The oven was completely unresponsive and would not turn off at which point I had to cut the breaker. After the over cooled down I turned the breaker back on and reset the oven clock. I attempted to use the oven and bake again but the heating element would not get hot at all. I then cut the breaker again and left it off for a few days. I attempted again to use the oven with the same results. Since then I have had the following observations and trying to figure if its the oven controller board or the Shut-Off thermostat.
1) When I kill the power to the oven with the breaker and leave it off for a few hours then turn it back on, the bake element works until it reaches the temperature I set at which point the element goes off but it never comes back on again. No F10/Runaway Temperature.
2) Broil works and the broil element works 100% with proper temperature. The broil element goes on and off as expected when the desired temperature is reached. No runaway when the broil is working.
3) I checked the OHMS on temperature sensor and it comes back back normal at approximately 1K (per company spec).
4) I verified the bake element and it works 100%. No issues.
5) I checked electrical power on the bake element terminals with the oven running and set at 350, and there is LOW power...
Here is where things get complicated.
1) Although I have the electrical schematic of the oven, It's not easy for me to trace the wires coming to the front of the oven on the controller board to see if the thermostat has continuity. I know the thermostat is in the back off the oven but pulling out the oven to test it DIRECTLY is NOT easy. The previous homeowner poorly installed the oven and would require me to dismantle a huge section of my kitchen cabinet to pull it out and so Im trying to trace the wires to the controller up front.
2) I don't see any electrical issue with the controller board (cold solder, burned relay) and the board works properly in terms of the time, buttons, etc but don't know of a way to properly know if the electronic temperature controller works or not.
So...
If the issue was the thermostat why would the broil element work 100% and not the bake element? Is the thermostat also connected to the broil or does it work separately for some reason?
If the issue is the controller board why would it work for broil and not bake? Wouldn't it simply not work for either and also have issues with keeping time, buttons not working, etc?
I'm trying to minimize my cost and time in repairing the oven. The controller is real easy to replace but if I buy a new controller and its not the issue I'm out $300. Of course if it is the issue then I'm ahead of the game in other ways..
If I assume it's the thermostat and go through all the trouble of pulling out my cabinets and the oven to replace it while cheap, would easily take up the better part of a day and risk the possibility of damaging the cabinet.
I have read in numerous forums that Frigidaire ovens are horrible and its a common problem but since there are so many variables with mine, not sure how to proceed.
If anyone has any idea about better diagnosing the controller I would greatly appreciate it...Thanks so much!
