How to Troubleshoot a High-Limit Dryer Thermostat

Unplug the dryer's electrical cord and wait for the appliance to cool.

Turn the dryer so you can reach the back plate. Remove the bolts along the edges of the plate, using the nut driver.

Pull off the plate and set it aside. Locate the heating coils in a metal box on the left-hand side. If you have a GE dryer, the heating coil is in a circular frame shaped like a hubcap. The thermostats, typically underneath the coils, are oval-shaped with two wires connected to each one. Your dryer will have two or more thermostats if the cycle control has multiple heat settings.

Pull the wires off each thermostat by the metal connectors on the ends. Write down the color of each wire and its corresponding thermostat to reconnect later.

Set the multitester to X1, which measures ohms, and place the probes on the metal conductors on each thermostat. For this test, a zero reading at room temperature means the thermostat is working properly. Any numeric reading means the thermostat is defective and must be replaced.