My 3-yr.old Kenmore Elite Gas dryer has been doing very odd things! After running a load, when the dryer shuts off, or I shut it off (clear it), the touch control panel goes dead. No lights are lit. If you push the touch pad for various cycles it will not do anything. You can also push clear/off again, or unplug it, and the panel is still absolutely dead. If you try it later, generally you can push around on it, find one cycle that will start up, and then you can clear that cycle, push any cycle and it will work. But after it goes all the way through a cycle, the process starts over again (dead panel, no response on touch pad, leave and come back later, then you have a response).

Today it started something else. No matter what cycle I put in, it will only run in one particular cycle. There are no other lights lit (to clean out vent, etc.). I was able to unplug the thing and clear it, and put it in the desired cycle, but I had to leave it unplugged for several minutes in order for that to work. Just unplugging and plugging it back in didn't do the trick.

I am thinking I have a bad control panel, which is a $200 part. Any thoughts on this? I am generally pretty handy and could probably replace myself but don't want to buy the expensive part and have it be something else.

Thanks very much for any input!

It does sound like a bad control board, provided the keys that don't work sometimes do work other times. The part number for this control board is 280070, which is a Whirlpool part number (that's who built it). A rough price would be about 150.00, though some dealers have different mark-ups. Unfortunately, the only way to guarantee (more than doing it yourself) that it is indeed the failed part, is to call a servicer in to look at it. Otherwise, you take a larger gamble that is all on you. Usually servicers and parts providers won't accept electronic parts for return, because the distributor where they got it won't accept it back from them. Good luck.

Sears gas dryer mod.110.70092991 Recap! See my post of 3/28 and your reply of 3/28
We did replace the control board; in fact ended up having the Sears repairman do it. Wish we had just done it ourselves. We were meanwhile having a 2nd problem - when we could get the dryer to run, it would run 10 minutes and stop (buzzer would sound). No matter what cycle we would use, it would run exactly 10 minutes and stop. Sears repairman said that was absolutely indicative of a bad thermistor. He didn't have one on his truck, but said it was easy to put in and he would show me how. Popped the old one out for me, showed me how to put the new one in. He left after taking our payment for the control panel and labor to put it in, and the new thermistor, which he said someone would drop off in a couple of hours. They did, I put it in, very easy. But dryer is still doing the very same thing. Run any cycle, any temperature - it runs 10 minutes and stops. Any thoughts on this for me. Thanks very much!

I meant to say, also, that replacing the control panel did fix the original problem. Thanks for your help on that.

First, you should read my post on theory of operation, posted today, at "Maytag dryer doesn't dry in auto dry mode". Your dryer works basically the same way. If you have any questions after reading that, let me know. Your dryer should also have a tech sheet inside the control panel illustrating how to test the sensing system, just unplug the dryer before opening it.

Our sears kenmore elite dryer keeps showing E1 on the digital screen. Basically the dryer starts runs for a short time then the E1 indicator comes on. What does this mean and what's the solution?

My dryer has been doing the same thing for some time now. I have always been able to reset it by unplugging it. I would unplug it when washing a load so that it would be ready when I needed to dry them. However that no longer works, and the panel is dead most of the time now.

I know I need to buy the circuit board part number 280070, but since it is Christmas, I would rather keep my $167 right now... can I bypass the board somehow, and just make the dryer run either on or off as a quick temporary fix. Until I order the part, it comes in, and I get the time to change it out.