LG electric ovens lock when self-cleaning mode is on because the extreme temperatures reached during the cleaning cycle can be dangerous.
Sometimes the lock can fail to disengage once the cycle has finished and the oven has cooled down. Read on to find out why this happens and what you can do to fix it.
The following models of LG oven are covered by this guide:
FG4134ES
FG4341ES
LDG3016ST
LDG3017ST
LRE30451SB
LRE30451ST
LRE30451SW
LRE30755SB
LRE30755ST
LRE30755SW
LRG3091ST
LRG3091ST/00
LRG3091ST/01
LRG3093SB
LRG3093ST
LRG3093SW
LRG3095SB
LRG3095ST
LRG3095SW
LRG3097ST
LSRG309ST
Your oven heats up to around 900°F during the self-cleaning cycle. After the cycle has finished, the lock will stay engaged until the oven has cooled down to a safe temperature. Since ovens are designed to keep heat in as efficiently as possible, this can take a while.
While it usually takes between 30 and 90 minutes for the lock to disengage, it can sometimes take longer. Try waiting another hour or two to see whether the lock disengages before you try anything else.
The oven relies on a temperature sensor to tell it when the oven is cool enough to unlock the door. If this sensor malfunctions, then the lock can get stuck indefinitely.
Resetting the sensor can unlock the oven. To do this, simply switch off the power to the oven and wait for five minutes before turning it on again.
If that doesn’t work, try starting a new self-cleaning cycle and cancelling it after a couple of minutes. Do not attempt to start a new self-cleaning cycle if the oven is displaying an error code.
Release the Door Lock Manually
You can access the door’s locking mechanism through the rear access panel and release it manually. This will open the door and let you access the inside of the oven to conduct further repairs.
Here’s how to release the lock:
Manually releasing the lock motor is not a long-term solution if the lock gets stuck repeatedly. A faulty lock motor will continue to malfunction and will need to be replaced.
You can test if the lock motor is working using a multimeter. Unplug your oven and access the lock motor through the rear access panel in the same way as when you manually released the lock.
Take the wires off the terminals on the lock motor, and place one multimeter probe on each terminal. A reading of one or close to one means that there is no continuity – current cannot flow through the motor.
A reading of zero or close to zero means that current is flowing fine. In this case, you know that the lock motor is not the problem.
If the lock motor is faulty, contact a professional appliance repair technician to conduct the repair.
If the lock motor is functioning correctly but your lock mechanism is still malfunctioning, the problem could be a faulty connection in the wire harness.
This component allows current to flow from the control board to the lock motor. The control board sends out signals that tell the lock motor when to lock or unlock the door.
To check the wire harness for a faulty connection, follow these steps:
With the door now open, you can check the temperature sensor to see if it is working correctly. If it is faulty, the door can remain locked after self-cleaning.
You can use a multimeter to test the continuity through the temperature sensor. If the sensor is faulty, you will need to replace it. It’s possible to do this yourself.
Here’s how to do it:
These are the most common reasons for a door locking mechanism that stays locked after engaging the self-cleaning mode on your LG oven. If the above methods do not fix the problem, contact a professional appliance repair technician to find and repair the source of the fault.
Whether it's rising water bills or environmental concerns, people now more than ever want to…
A dryer making a grinding noise while it's running indicates that there is a problem…
Error codes are designed to alert you when there is an issue with your Maytag…
A washer that won’t spin can be incredibly frustrating. Picture this: you’ve gone to get…
Is your GE dishwasher totally failing to turn on? Or perhaps the display is working…
GE washers are usually pretty reliable appliances, but even the most reliable washer has issues…
Leave a Comment