How To Repair A Dryer When The Timer Is Not Working

If your dryer doesn’t have an electronic main control board, it probably uses a mechanical timer instead. Timer uses a small motor which rotates the cams that turn the circuits on and off and to operate the timer motor itself. Unplug the dryer and use a multi-meter to check for continuity in the contacts that control the small timer motor. If a continuity test fails, replace the timer motor, or the complete timer itself.

If your gas or electric dryer isn’t doing the Auto Dry cycle correctly, it may be the fault of a defective cycling thermostat. This part governs the temperature of the dryer and also the operation of the timer motor on Auto Dry models. This thermostat will alternately turn on the heater circuit until the correct temperature is reached, and then cycle on the timer motor until the temperature drops enough to turn the heater back on. You’ll find the cycling thermostat in the internal airflow ducting, generally on the housing of the blower. Since the correct way to test whether the cycling thermostat is advancing the timer is with the dryer actually running, a test on whether the thermostat’s playing its part in this sequence should only be done by a service technician. If you truly do not want to pay for repair work, you can eliminate all the other potential sources of trouble in your timer parts, and then just replace the cycling thermostat if all else is fine: this part might cost less than a technician’s visit.