Answers · Preheat and temperature
What is the oven temperature sensor (RTD)?
The probe an electronic oven control reads to judge heat: its resistance climbs as the oven warms, and the control converts that to temperature. Viking Repair Redmond, (425) 585-2373.
An open cavity seen from the door. The sensor reads the air in this space and reports nothing else to the control.
- 01Seal round the oven opening
- 02Rack runners
Check, in this order
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Bake at 350°F, thermometer on the centre rack, and compare after preheat.
pass close to 350°F: the sensor is reading true fail far off either way: sensor or wiring suspect
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Still failing? Stop there and call Viking Repair Redmond on (425) 585-2373 — $89 diagnosis, credited to the repair.
Where Viking uses one
On the VGSO166 gas wall oven, F1 is a shorted sensor and F2 an open one; a sound sensor reads about 1,100 ohms near 75°F. EOC4 electric wall ovens show either fault as F02, rated critical.
Older free-standing gas ranges with dial thermostats use a thermostat bulb on a capillary tube instead, clipped to the oven’s inner back wall. Testing either kind means reaching the controls, a job for the visit.
Stop and call if
- F2 or F02 comes back after the oven is switched off and on again.
- The oven heats far past your setting.
Also asked
Can a failing sensor make the oven run hot?
Yes. The control trusts the resistance it reads, so a sensor reporting less heat than there is keeps the burner or element on too long. Viking Repair Redmond, (425) 585-2373, checks it against Viking's own resistance chart for that model.
Is the RTD the same thing as the meat probe?
No. The RTD stays put and governs the heat. On EOC4 electric wall ovens the meat probe is a separate probe for the food, with its own input; a shorted one shows as F04, which the fault table rates non-critical.
Cost Every repair band is printed on the homepage price table, quoted and agreed before any work.
- Checked by
- Hollis Yamada
- Bench role
- Service technician — refrigeration and cooking
- At the bench
- 21 years in the trade
- Revised