Whirlpool Cabrio Dryer Model WED8000DW3 Repair

October 2020

We'd been having trouble with the dryer stopping during drying randomly. It's been going on for most of the year. I cleaned the dryer vent and that seemed to help for a week or so, then the problem was back. We were getting an error code F3-E1. Research told me that this was due to the thermistor being bad, or the wiring or the computer. I was hoping the thermistor, and not the computer, but the randomness made it not seem likely to be the thermistor.

I finally decided to replace the thermistor (a new one is only $7) and see what happens.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the thermistor. The old one and the new one both checked out ok - 10k ohms at 70 degrees F and they would decrease in resistance as the temperature increased.

I noticed when I was putting the wire connectors back on the new thermistor, that one of them was completely loose. No friction at all. So I used some pliers to crimp it a bit and then it was a nice snug fit. Crossed my fingers that was the issue. It could allow for the randomness, and I theorized the moving the dryer to clean the ductwork upset things enough that it worked for a week.

I vacuumed things while I had it all apart.

So far, we've run one load of clothes with no stoppage. Hopefully this did that trick!

Here's the thermistor. You can see the problematic connector.

Here's the blower before I vacuumed.