Dryer Timer Not Working - Dryer Timer Will Not Advance

First you should know that a high percentage of the time when non-technical people replace their dryer timer they rush back to the parts store and try to return it. Why… because they find out very quick that the timer was not the problem. Keeping in mind that part suppliers do not allow returns of electrical parts that have been installed it's not hard to figure out who eats the cost of the timer. And lastly on the subject, consider the fact that we service on average 3 or 4 dryers a day and in the past 5 years we have only replaced 7 defective dryer timers.

Okay now that you know that the timer is probably not the problem with your dryer, let's look at how dryer timers work. As you can see from the picture above dryer timers have small motors on the back. The motor rotates gears and cams that open and close switch contacts that control the loads in your dryer. A load is something that does work like a motor, heater, light bulb or end of the cycle buzzer. When the timer is manufactured the amount of time each set of contacts will be closed is built in by the timer cams and gears. Service manuals contain a timer sequence chart that have a matrix indicating how long each contact will be closed during a cycle. Technicians use multimeters to measure for voltage across timer contacts. And only the timer sequence chart will tell when a particular set of contacts will be open or closed.