11072331511 Kenmore Dryer - Instructions

My wife reported that the dryer was not working. I checked it and it seemed to work fine. This went on for about a month or two. Every time I checked it, it started just fine.

Well, she threatened to go buy a new dryer, I took her more seriously. I thought perhaps a thermal protection was the cause. But when I dug into it, I learned that when those trip out, they are permanent (have to be replaced).

I finally noticed loud humming sound the motor made at start-up, when it failed to start turning on one occasion and eventually tripped out the motors thermal protection.

I ordered the new drive motor form PartSelect.com.

Replacing the motor was fairly easy if you like to take stuff apart. One thing that I had not anticipated was that the two foam gaskets on the exhaust duct were dry rotted. I went to my local part supplier to get them. They did not have them in stock. :( While I was there, I asked how much the motor was, they wanted $50 more than PartSelect.com :D

I put it back together without the new gaskets, and it runs like new. I ordered the gaskets from PartSelect and will add them when they arrive.

My wife is happy again, she can bust out the laundry in one day; it had been taking here all weekend.

I learned to take her at her word.

I opened the panel, undid the plugs, detached the radiant sensor by undoing one screw and removed and replaced the part. Fairly simply.

**** Remove power cord from the wall****

As said earlier, you will need to lift the top. Drop the two screws holding the lint shoot and pop the top by sliding a screw driver into the corner on the front. Lif tthe top and rest against the wall behid the unit. remove the two (4 total) screws at the top and bottom of the front door assembly.
Place sometin under the front portion of the drum. At this point you'll see the need to clean everything! :) Slide the belt off and around the drum, (take note of the routing it takes.) Remove the drum by gently pulling it towards you. Set it aside. Clean more. :) (It is nice to have a vacuum handy.) At this point you really need to get to the rear of the system. So I tipped the top back down, and spun it around. Removed the rear panel and cleaned some more. (15 years of a lot of lint in there!) Then you'll need to remove the rear cover on the left side, covering the blower impeller. Get read for a whole lot of debris. Vacuum again. So now you have the motor exposed in the front and rear. You need to remove the impeller by turning that clockwise to loosen it. The trick is holding the shaft in place from the front at the same time. I used an old rag and wedged it into the impeller edges and worked it around until it jamed up. Once the rag was wedged pretty good, I went back to the front spun the shaft. Then you can remove the impeller by hand. Vacuum more. You may get by without having to remove the lint shoot completely, but I did just to clean it up more. I did have to remove two screws in the upper corner near the top of the lint shoot. (Basically the hold the back in place.) I took a few notes at this point about the wiring harness. Used a heavier screw driver (standard), You can push down on the clips that hold the old motor in place. Then work it out the front. Clean more. The new motor is not an exact replacement slightly differnt but the instructions with it were ok. Follow them for the correct wiring. You will need to remove one wire and cut and recrimp a spade lug or two. I used ty-wraps to secure the lines back in place. Look closely at the diagrams and make sure you set the motor down in the same direction the instructions say, if you twist it slightly it will sorta lock in place where it needs to be. Re-install the hold down clips to the front and rear of the motor. Clean up your impeller, and reinstall it too. Then basically reassemble the dryer...tracing your steps backwards. This isn't really difficult, it just takes time and as you can see, you will/should clean as you go !

Problem: Drum light not working, bulb ok. Removed 6 screws on panel behind timer, light, buzzer, switches. Lifted back of dryer top then moved dryer top forward and off of dryer. The switch was located above the door. Unhooked wiring plug and took out 2 screws holding in the switch. Installed new switch and repaced bulb. Reassembled as needed and tested light by opening door. Works great.

If you were to do the Belt Replacement only, here is the quick synopsis:
1. Unplug dryer;
2a. Open lint door on top of dryer and remove the two phillips head screws that hold the lint bay to the metal dryer top;
2b. Next remove the two brakets holding the metal top to the dryer back (one screw on each bracket);
3. Use a flat-blade screw driver to pry off the top of the dryer (leaving the timer and start button area attached);
4. Lift off top and push back to expose just enough area so you can get to the two screws holding the dryer sides to the dryer front;
5. Unplug door switch;
6. Unscrew screws from #4;
7. With door open, lift dryer front (only about an inch) and then pry bottom of dryer front from dryer sides. The bottom of the dryer front is not screwed, just siting on Front Panel Clips;
8. Once the front is off the dryer, simply remove the belt and install the new one. Please note that while you are in here, you may want to inspect the rear drum seal and replace if it is worn to the point where metal is rubbing on metal. This is also a good time to clean out dust from inside this cavity to help extend the life of the bearings on the rollers and prevent dust from accumulating and gunking up the motor, etc.
9. Re-assemble tin the opposite order.
If you have any mechanical sense at all and you don't know anything about dryers, you will be surprised at the simplicity of the dryer.

The dryer motor quit working. Learned, if you are changing one that is old, get the blower wheel fan too! I could not break mine loose from the motor shaft, and had to bust it off.

To un-screw the blower wheel fan from the motor shaft: from the front of the dryer, grab the plastic fan on the back of the motor with an adjustable wrench, and the motor shaft on the front of the motor with vice grips. Turn the motor shaft CLOCKWISE holding the fan still to un-screw the fan. If you have to remove the pulley, grab the shaft and turn the pulley COUNTERCLOCKWISE with a wrench.

Just make sure to pay attention to the orientation of the new motor in the instructions. If you match the old motor, it will not fit. It is all spelled out in the directions.

After replacing all the other fuses and sensors I finally replaced the Radiant Flame Sensor and it is working perfectly.

After replacing the other parts and the heat still not coming on I read somewhere that the Radiant Flame Sensor is a normal closed circuit and when I checked with a meter it was open. I would have saved a lot of time and money if I had read that earlier.

After replacing the heat element as a guess, (which did not fix it), I measured voltage with a DVOM, found lower cut off switch in op, And thanx to some tips on parts select I ordered the the Thermal cut off kit, fast shipping, installed very easily and all is working properly

Put high temperature glue on first, then put door gasket over the high temperature glue and then let it set for 24 hours. It worked fine....

The video provided by this site on YouTube on this topic was perfect. Saved us a couple of hundred dollars DIY rather than repair man.

Found one of the two drum support rollers was badly worn. Found Partselect.com, found my parts in less then 2 mins. Figured that I was in there so I should just replace the belt so I got one of those also. Parts arrived in 3 days dryer as good as new in 20 mins.

1. Shut off gas and disconnected dryer.
2. Opened cabinet. Easy sheet metal screws and fairly obvious how everything goes together. NB: You'll need a block (or a helper to hold things while you run to look for one) to hold the drum while removing the front.
3. The motor is connected with a single harness, so wiring is a snap.
4. Removing the blower wheel from the back was hard. I braced the motor shaft and turned with all the leverage I could muster, but it was stuck. Plan B: Recip saw to cut the shaft. Motor comes out one side and the fan comes out the other.
5. The fan, of course, was unusable because there was still a piece of motor shaft stuck in the thread. This is why I had to spring for a new wheel.
6. Put everything back together and receive wife's adoring praise...

I opened up the dryer as per the instructions I had received from PartSelect tech support. It was very easy to do. The only unexpected thing was that the original belt had snapped and in doing so the idler pulley was actually laying on the floor of the dryer's bottom. I had to figure out how it went, but that only took a minute and I popped it back into place. I held the drum by hand while pulling the dryer face away so it wouldn't fall and then I slipped the belt over the drum and quickly closed the front up again. I aligned the belt on the spot where the old one had been, pulled it through the idler pulley and over the motor and voila. Done. I closed up the dryer and was on to another "Honey Do" project within 20 minutes.

First I raised the top of the dryer(after unplugging the power cord) disconnected two wires to the front door switch and then removed two screws using a nutdriver. The front cover lifts up and while supporting the drum set the cover aside. Slide the belt off the drum and remove it. I then removed the two support roller tri rings and replaced the rollers and tri rings and reassymbled the dryer.
It was a very simple repair.

Thanks Mike

Popped the lower cover off the dryer, found the thermal fuse and thermostat mounted on the heating tube. Removed the screws with a nutdriver, swapped wires to the new parts, and reinstalled. Then I spent 30 minutes vacuuming 13 years worth of lint and crud out of the machine - it was pretty gummed up in spots, which is probably the cause of the failure.
I have a 25 foot run of hose from the dryer outside, so I replaced that with 4" metal ducting. Clothes dry much faster now!!! Maybe my electric bill will go down (fat chance :) )