My Jenn-Air D156 is driving me nuts. Its a real puzzle. For some years, everything but the down-draft fan/oven light rocker switch that sits in front of the downdraft vent was working fine. This switch is famously now no longer made
by anyone. It is two momentary switches in one, one side for the fan, the other for the light, and a middle off position. Although Ive since learned that Jenn Air designed the down draft fan to start automatically when you turn on burners, our downdraft never seemed to come on automatically since weve had it. It used to work when I depressed that side of the rocker switch, but that pretty much quit years ago.
Because this switch could not be replaced, folks on ebay will sell you a partial replacement. Instead of having the four contacts that connect White (N) to Brown wires AND Black (L1) to Blue wires, it will just connect the wires that activate the downdraft blower motor (i.e. Black and Blue). I purchased one and installed this new substitute, and I temporarily electric-taped over the old, now unused, connectors for the oven light. It all seemed to work. The clock came back on and I could switch the downdraft fan on and off. (I didnt think to test other things like the burners or the oven.)
Then, to be safe, I opted to replace the now disconnected connectors, as they had no switch posts to connect to. These connectors where a bit complicated. In each, two like colored wires (white to white and brown to brown) were joined to a connectors that fit over the posts on the old switch that, inside the rocker switch, made a connection and turned on the over light.
I capped off the wire pairs white to white and brown to brown that had each come together and that had been connected to the original switch. BIG MISTAKE.
Now, when I turn the juice back on the clock/ control buttons dont come back on, and the fan wont work either. HOWEVER, if I turn on a burner or two, power is restored to the clock/controller, and I can even turn on all the oven functions, and the downdraft fan. Nothing that actually cooks (burners and I suspect oven), however, is fully powered, and you can even see the LEDs in the clock readout go dim. If I turn off all of these heavy electrical draws, the clock/controller shuts down again.
I then tried buying a second switch to replace the other half of the original switch and tried it in all possible combinations of both on and off, and alternates. No cure.
Ive been studying the wiring diagram. I cant help but think that there is a switch hidden away (maybe in the control plug) somewhere that needs to be reset. Maybe things break in pairs and I need to replace something else too? Im stumped.
Im hoping one of you old hands at older Jenn-Airs knows what I can do next. I cant even get it into Fast test mode to get an error code (pressing and holding the cook time key doesnt seem to do the trick on a system that wont properly power up in the first place.) My local repairman from the power company tells me he cant even touch the thing if the original parts cant be replaced, so he left this morning.
Because this switch could not be replaced, folks on ebay will sell you a partial replacement. Instead of having the four contacts that connect White (N) to Brown wires AND Black (L1) to Blue wires, it will just connect the wires that activate the downdraft blower motor (i.e. Black and Blue). I purchased one and installed this new substitute, and I temporarily electric-taped over the old, now unused, connectors for the oven light. It all seemed to work. The clock came back on and I could switch the downdraft fan on and off. (I didnt think to test other things like the burners or the oven.)
Then, to be safe, I opted to replace the now disconnected connectors, as they had no switch posts to connect to. These connectors where a bit complicated. In each, two like colored wires (white to white and brown to brown) were joined to a connectors that fit over the posts on the old switch that, inside the rocker switch, made a connection and turned on the over light.
I capped off the wire pairs white to white and brown to brown that had each come together and that had been connected to the original switch. BIG MISTAKE.
Now, when I turn the juice back on the clock/ control buttons dont come back on, and the fan wont work either. HOWEVER, if I turn on a burner or two, power is restored to the clock/controller, and I can even turn on all the oven functions, and the downdraft fan. Nothing that actually cooks (burners and I suspect oven), however, is fully powered, and you can even see the LEDs in the clock readout go dim. If I turn off all of these heavy electrical draws, the clock/controller shuts down again.
I then tried buying a second switch to replace the other half of the original switch and tried it in all possible combinations of both on and off, and alternates. No cure.
Ive been studying the wiring diagram. I cant help but think that there is a switch hidden away (maybe in the control plug) somewhere that needs to be reset. Maybe things break in pairs and I need to replace something else too? Im stumped.
Im hoping one of you old hands at older Jenn-Airs knows what I can do next. I cant even get it into Fast test mode to get an error code (pressing and holding the cook time key doesnt seem to do the trick on a system that wont properly power up in the first place.) My local repairman from the power company tells me he cant even touch the thing if the original parts cant be replaced, so he left this morning.
