RU38B4C2 General Electric Range - Overview

1. Removed the back panel.
2. Disconnected the wires from the old switch while connecting wires to the new switch one at a time.
3. Installed the new switch and broke off the excess metal on the post which fits into the burner knob on front of the range.
4. Replaced the burner knob and replaced the back panel.

Ever the optimist, I'd replaced the burner on this relic of another time to no effect. That left the switch. You guys should know that when a burner element goes bad it can take out the switch. I should have put a meter on it. Wehn I looked for a replacement a few months ago there were still factory parts available, but they were $80 or s ... Read more o and I wasn't inclined to risk that on a 40 year old range. I offered to replace the raange for my daughter as a Christmas present but she like this old thing. It was an unusual size with a pan storage compartment on the left. I went on line and found this universal replacement for about $25 delivered. What the heck. I ordered it and it arrived within a week. I pulled the stove out, killed the breaker, pulled the knob off, used a nut driver to take ther rear panel off, two phillips screws under the knob hold the switch in. The terminals on the old switch are in a slightly different order but are clearly marked L1, L2, H1, H2 and P. The P is the power and has a smaller terminal so you can't put it on the wrong one. Just examine the old switch ( it was marked the same way) take off the L1 and put in on the L1 of the new switch and so on, make sure you use the correct knob adapter to fit your old knob and break the switch stem to the correct length. It will break easilly if you hold it with one pliers and break it with another. Screw the new switch in place with he old screws. At this point, I closed the breakers and tested it. It worked fine. I turned the breakers off again. Buttoned it up and slid the stove back into place. 20 minutes tops. Great product. Good for another forty years.

First thing to do is to KILL THE POWER. The last thing you want is for two leads feeding power to a range coil burner "hot" when you are working on them. After power is off, I removed the coils and set them aside. The terminals had "fried" apparently from to much cooking with hot oils and having the "over splash" working its way down t ... Read more o where the coils plug into the terminals and over time the oil getting in the terminals causes shorting / frying of the leads / contacts.

Anyway, after removing the heat coils I removed the drip pans and cleaned up the area underneath before working on terminals. I like a clean area when I work. I then unscrewed the "brackets" that house the terminals with a Phillips screwdriver and pulled out the assembly.

To completely remove the assembly I cut with a straight razor the existing heat shrink around the wire nuts (These two had been replaced once before. On first go around, I just cut the terminal assembly off and stripped the wire to attach the new terminals). Then I removed the wire nuts and the old assembly. After that I trimmed the wire to the correct length on the new terminal assembly and checked that the wire from the stove was in good shape. Upon confirming I had a good lead, I connected the new terminal leads to the stove leads and put the heat shrink over the connections. I used a lighter to "shrink" the heat shrink to the new connection (not having a proper heat shrink gun, which most of us don't have, the lighter works well as long as you are careful and do not let the lighter heat up to much. Let the lighter cool (esp. if a plastic disposable type or it will melt and ruin the lighter or burn your fingers).

After that I cleaned the area where the terminal block bracket connects to the stove (it gets a bit gunked up over time) before screwing in the new bracket / assembly in place with my screwdriver.

I gave the drip pans a good cleaning, adjusted the new terminal brackets so they were even / centered, cleaned once more the area under the drip pan and replaced the drip pans. The types of pans I have are one piece with a hole for the heat coil leads to go through.

Before placing the coils back in the terminals I took a strip of medium grade, 220 grit, sand paper (you could use steal wool or small wire brush) and cleaned the terminal leads (the steal end that plugs into the terminal only, careful not to damage the burner). This was needed as the leads had accumulated some residue from the same dynamics that caused the burning / melting of the terminal leads and terminal block. Once the leads were clean I fitted them into the place in the new terminal blocks and drip pan grooves.

Finally I turned back on the breaker to the stove and cranked on the burners to test out the connection and that everything was working A-OK.

Job done:-)