38FA-5TXW Magic Chef Range - Instructions

Repair tech checked oven and said the control panel was bad and needed to be replaced. The new control panel would cost over $450.00! I found that the oven sensor was bad and replaced it for $30.00. The old oven sensor had failed following a self cleaning cycle. I found that the wires coming out of it were burnt.

Replacing the oven sensor was very easy. I removed the back panels 6 screws to gain access to the sensor's connection. I then removed the 2 screw that hold the sensor in place inside the oven and pulled the old sensor out through the oven. I reversed this process to place the new sensor in the oven.

Removed the oven door by opening slightly, then pic door up to remove. Remove 2 screws holding oven sensor in place, gently pull on sensor to remove, had to remove about 8 inches to get at plastic connector. Unplug connector, had to use an adapter cable supplied with the PartSelect kit to install new sensor, push cable back into opening, reinstall 2 screws. The oven works fine! Note that due to thermal lag the temperature overshoots to 370 degrees and undershoots to 340 degrees, this appears to be normal oven operation. Putting door back in place was easy.

First I removed the two screws that hold the element in place. I then pulled the sensor out about 3 inches and disconnected the two wires. Next, I connected new sensor and screwed the new sensor back in place. One area for caution. Make sure that the electrical connection is pushed in past the insulation on the back side of the oven. Failure to do so will cause the plastic plug connector to melt from oven heat.

Removed and replaced above named parts, rewired.Be sure to tighten all nuts that secure wires. I believe this is what caused the problem.

First I removed the two philips screws inside the oven that hold the element in place. Then I pulled the sensor out and the two insulated wires through the hole to reveal the plastic connector. I unsnapped it from the connector and replaced it with the new element. Then, behind the oven, I removed five or six philips screws on the right side of the large panel so I could pull the wires back through the layer of fiberglass insulation to make sure only the sensor itself would be exposed to the oven's heat. I then secured the back panel again and replaced the two philips screws holding the sensor in place.

First I removed two screws that hold the oven sensor in place. I then removed the screws that held the panel on the back of the oven. I simply unclipped the plastic adaptor and replaced the old sensor with the new one. I screwed the sensor back in and put the back panel on. turned the power back on to the oven and hit the bake button. Voila!! The oven turned on and now it works like new!!!

I removed two retainer screws which released the outside panel.
Next I removed 2 screws which hold the middle glass pane from one of its retainer brackets.
The was another panel with 4 screws to remove before reaching the final glass inner assembly.
Once that panel was reoved with the broken glass it was time to put the repacement glass assembly back together.

Pulled oven out of the cabinet/wall and pulled sensor out and replaced with new one.

A few years previously I had this same problem and a PROFESSIONAL had replaced the sensor.
Thus this time I knew what the failure was and obtained the sensor from Part Select. Having observed the PROFESSIONAL replace the sensor before; I followed his easy technec only to learn that when the sensor was pulled from the aft wall of the oven that the wires had deteriorated and the plastic plug melted. Therefore it was neccessary to remove the oven from the wall cabinet. Then I removed the panel from the back outside of the oven, cut back the wires and because the kit from Part Select contained additional connectors was able to splice in a replacement connector. Installed the new sensor and reinstalled the oven. LESSON LEARNED; when the PROFESSIONAL had replaced the sensor he had failed to feed the wiring and plug back past the insulated chamber, directly behind the oven, into the cool area assessable by the panel on the aft side of the oven thus the plug and wires were exposed to the heat of the oven. What would commonly be a few minutes job turned into an afternoon project.

Remove racks and pull out stove from wall. Remove back cover from stove. Unscrew and unplug sensor. Rethread new sensor wire through hole and plug in new sensor and rescrew plate that holds in place.

We had complications because of how the stove was installed, which delayed the "fix" time considerably.

Also installed ignitor. It was determined that both were bad. Gas would come on but not light. When oven would light, it would not re-light periodically to keep the temperature up, causing gas smell. This added time to repair of an additional 1 hour, and required removal of bottom drawer.

My oven stopped working and the display read F3 error. I looked up the code and found that it was probably the thermostat sensor. I ordered the part from partselect.com and when it arrived I went to install it but I ran into a somewhat scary issue. I found that I had to pull my oven out of the wall in order to replace the sensor.

After a minor nervous breakdown, I decided to go for it and found that it was much easier than I had imagined. Changing the sensor involves taking out the two screws that hold the sensor in place (inside of the oven), pulling it out to the point you can reach the connector, plugging in the new sensor and screwing it back in place. However, if you have an oven like my model, you have to pull out the whole oven from the wall in order to reach the plug on the sensor. This sounds like a lot of trouble but for me it was very easy. The oven is held in place with screws around the front side. Most are easily accessed and you don't have to take out any critical/complicated pieces of the oven. My screw gun made short issue of the problem and I found that the oven was out of the wall within minutes. I could then easily unscrew a small back cover, change the sensor and then screw the oven back into the wall. Being very careful, the whole operation took about 20 minutes. I recommend that you get help from a friend just because the oven is bulky. It is not heavy, an average sized male can handle the weight but it’s easier with a friend. Also, be careful that the gas hose which feeds the oven is long enough (and not tangled) for you to move the oven out of its space. Obviously, be careful about gas leaks.

Removed the old sensor by removing two screws and pulling the wire out through the hole. Disconnected the connector and discarded the old sensor.
Selected the correct connector of the 3 provided, plugged the new sensor in and threaded the wire back into the hole paying special attention to make sure wire and connector was on the backside of the insulation. Assembled the two screws and tightened.

First, thanks to PartsSelect for getting the part to me so quickly. I went to the "Instant Repairman" , checked all that applied to my problem. The answer was the sensor, 99% of the time.I used a coat hanger to pull the latch back and open the door. I watched the video and followed the instructions to remove the old sensor. The wires were melted but the plug was still good. I used one of the adapters to install the new sensor, then replaced the two screws inside the oven. I pulled the stove out because I had read in the reviews that you needed to get the plug behind the insulation away from the oven wall. I was lucky ,there was a small hole in the back ,right behind the sensor.I gently pulled the wire and plug to the back ,well away from the oven wall. Put the stove back in place ,threw the breaker and was back cooking again!! My stove has a downdraft vent, took me longer to hook the vent back up than to install the sensor..Oh yes, did I say,I am a75 year old female and I did it all myself..

Pulled the oven away from wall to access rear of oven. Disconnect electric plug from duplex outlet, turn off gas supply ball valve. Removed two screws that retain sensor on inside of oven. Disconnected two prong sensor connector at rear of oven. Tied a length of string to sensor connector wires. Pulled old sensor out through front of oven. Use the string to tie onto new sensor connector wires and pull new sensor into place from rear of oven. Retain sensor with two screws. At back of oven, used connector jumper supplied with part package to make connection to existing connector.

The old gasket fell apart as I replaced the oven light and had to be replaced. That was very easy once I received the part. The spring broke on the oven door and had to be replaced. I initially tried to reach in from inside the pan drawer under the oven. That was impossible to reaach but it only took a few minutes to realize that I had to remove the side panel. I had to slide the range out from between the cabinets, but once that was done it was a relatively easy fix, without any special tools needed.