36272198892 Kenmore Range - Instructions

This gas range had an oven that would heat, but it wouldn't hold it at a stable temperature. Say you set it at 300 degrees. Well, it'd head up to broiling temperatures, then drop down to like 200 degrees, then 400 degrees (You get the picture).

My guess was that the thermostat, given that this oven was ~20+ years old, was no longer able to detect correctly the temperature inside the oven.

The thermostat sensor is made up of the housing (The part that sits behind the oven temperature control knob), a long wire (so you can route it to the inside of the oven), and the probe itself (Which I boldly assume is the thing that measures the temperature inside the oven)

TL;DR:

-Pull oven from wall.
-Turn off electric and gas.
-Remove the grates and drip pans off the top.
-Pry the range's cooktop up (It's on like a hinge and is designed to lift up. You have to play with it a bit with like a screwdriver on the sides (One on each side). If you pry just a tad, you'll notice these prongs that act like detents. (LIFT CAREFULLY, the heating elements are still connected via their gas lines! They're flexible, but don't man handle the thing!
-Once that's up, it's time to finally start removing the thermostat which is the knob that controls the oven temperature. Pull the plastic knob off which will expose the two screws you need to detach it from the oven (Phillips head). Be super careful. You don't want to drop these screws. You'll be struggling to fish them out of the empty space that sits between the thermostat and plastic knob.
-Once that's loose, open the oven door and detach the thermostat from the back of the oven. Recycle the prongs holding the old thermostat sensor for the new one.
-Go to the back of the range. Like the actual back part of it.
-Frustrate yourself with pulling out the thermostat through the route it's been put in. It's difficult to route it through the tight spaces, but not complicated. Keep a mental note of this route and copy it with the new thermostat that you have to install.
-Don't fret, when it comes time to wire the new thermostat sensor, it's actually a lot easier than you would think to find that little hole in the back of the range that you have to slot it through. It's just slightly covered by insulation. Pulling it slightly aside, you'll see it very easily.
-Screw in the thermostat housing at the front of the oven.
-Frustrate yourself again by routing the wire while taking care not to bend the probe (This is my assumption not to bend it and I think it's a safe assumption to make)
-Find that tiny little hold in the back of the range again, insert the probe through it, then use those recycled prongs to hook that probe into place.
-Yay, you're almost done.
-Reinsert knob on thermostat.
-Turn gas and electricity back on.
-Give it a test run to see if you did it right.
-if it still doesn't work, then it might not have been the thermostat giving you problems.
-If it does work, put everything back the way it was.
-You're done.

Followed you tube instructions I found on line via parts select recommendations.

I put it in the same way tuck it out

the electrodes on this model have to be removed before you can raise cooktop, once cooktop is raised remove wire from burner bracket, use needle nose pliers to squeeze bottom of clip,remove &replace with new parts.

Easy

My son lifted up cooktop, unscrewed the front plate to gain access to old tube burners, removed and replaced with new parts.

Remove the old tubes. Lift the lid NO MORE THAN FOUR INCHES. !!!!! Feel for the connections on the switch ends and attach losely. Carefully ( with some slight bending ) attach tubes to the burners. Tighten all connections. Do not over tighten.
The tubes broke originaly because , attempting to clean the area I lifted the lid too high.

Cut off the power. unscrewed the cover. fed the new thermostat inside the over and rescrewed. Feeding the line was the most time consuming finding the hole to insert it in the back of the oven.

Opened up the top of the stove using a screwdriver. Lifted it up about 3 inches and legs popped out on each corner and held it in that position. Traced the wire to the back and down to the oven. Pulled new thermostat along that route. When I got to the back it was a little tricky moving the thicker end around and down into the hole without removing anything from the back- but I did manage to do it. I then unhooked old thermostat from 2 clips, inserted new one and then went to the front and unsrewed the 2 small screws behind the oven control knob. Magnetic bit on screwdriver is a must! Pulled it back and removed wires one at atime and put onto new unit, then screwed it back in place and replaced knob. Plugged it in and turned it on. It came on ,stayed lit. Turned it off and it stayed lit- surprised me. . . . . . 25 Seconds or so and it went out. . . . . Job done!!

I read the instructions from other peoples repairs. One note: unplug stove, and turn gas off, remember where wires go. I didnt have to remove top of stove completly.

Unplugged stove. Removed the top rear panel to see where the thermostat cable fed into the oven. Left the current cable in place and fed new cable along side the old one. Pulled out the old cable once new one was installed. Attached wires to new thermostat and installed. Turned oven on to test. Everything went great.

loosen the compression fitting both ends and screwed new ones in place .

Lifted both pieces off and placed the new ones on,turned on the burner and it worked as it should.

Turned off circuit breaker, Then pulled out range, straight out and away from wall and cabinets. Layed braket on flooring and moved stove back in to make certain it aligned with range rear stands. Moved range back out, marked holes in braket, screwed in screws to anchor bracket. Pushed range back into placed against wall. Tried to |"tilt" range by pulling down on door after opened - range was held in place sre

Very easy to remove grates, burner cover and remove old burner head. Very simple process, but surprised that there was no efficient way to clean carbon deposits from my old burner. Burner video instructions on line insured I installed the new burner head correctly (actually, pretty hard to get wrong), and burner worked correctly immediately. Will likely replace other burners in time as the new one is so "silvery" colored compared to my other burners.