Hi... I have a Whirlpool Gold electric dryer, model # GEQ 9858JQO that won't start.

Last week the dryer sparked and a little smoke came out of the panel where the controls are and it was dead.

I have replaced the dryer plug and when I opened the back there is no evidence of a short. No black spots, smoky spots, obviously damaged wiring. It looks like new under the panel.

I have checked:

The door switch. The dryer closes fine and the light turns on and off.

Tried the factory test but it would not activate.

Tested the thermal fuse and it has continuity.

Tested the thermistor and it DOES NOT appear to have continuity.

Power to the dryer works fine and I am getting 240 volts.

When I press the start button I get nothing. No clicking. No noise. Nothing.

There is no lint build-up and the exhaust/venting is completely clear. Took it out and vacuumed it to be sure but there was no real build-up. There is no lint build-up anywhere on the machine.

I guess the answer would be to replace the thermistor but since I am not sure what it does I wonder if that is the answer given the sparking and little smoke. When I unplugged the machine and plugged it back in it sparked again and tripped the house breaker. I flipped the breaker back on, plugged it in again.. this time it didn't trip the breaker.

I'm not sure what else I can do. Is there a way to test the main control board to see if that might be the problem?

Any help is greatly appreciate. Too broke to call the repairman!

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Ladena

I have the same thing happening with my senseon dryer. It will not even turn on at all and will not respond from the keypanel. I have checked the thermistors, sensors and everything in the wiring diagram except for the motor. I took apart the control panel and replaced the control panel board twice... $178.00 and that did not work. I cannot seem to get the 5 Volts DC to the keypad from the controller board board. I did however use an external power supply and power up the keypad to see if it worked. It did. I also did the continuity test for the keys and that worked as well.
The only solution I have come up with so far is that I turned off the main breaker for the dryer then jumpered pins 5 and 4 on connector P1 for the motor and red and black wires going to the heater relay. This allowed me to use the breaker as a switch to run my dryer so I could dry my clothes in the mean time until I can get it fixed. It also proves that the motor, heater, high limit thermostat, centrifugal switch, belt switch, dorr switch and thermal fuse are all operating properly.
The only thing I have not checked is the two capacitors that are in parallel with the moisture sensor. They show them on the schematic as sensor MOVS. If I fix mine I will post what the root cause is so everyone can fix theirs as well...