My MIL has an old Crosley dryer model CDE20T6W.  It has a push to start timer and it's getting to where it won't start sometimes when pushed.  Can I clean something inside it to make it work better?  The timer is NLA but I have found a few on ebay both new and used $99 for new.  Most of the dryers on CL are at least that.  If I could clean some contacts and make it work for free she would love it since she's on a fixed income. 

Hi Greg if you look at the wiring diagram for this dryer you can probably bypass the PTS ruction so the dryer simply starts when turned to the cycle setting desired.

We have to do this often on the crapy Pull To Start timers that MT used on a lot of their dryers.

John L.

Thanks John.  I was wondering about this myself.  I'll take a look and see.  Otherwise it still works well and she has been happy with its performance for many many years.  She lives next door so we can always dry her clothes here while I investigate.

And here is a pic of the back of the same timer (from ebay)

Hi Greg, It looks like you can just jump the two top-right terminals on the timer [ orange & purple ] Doing this may make the end of cycle buzz all the time so you may want to unplug it.

Hi Glenn, when I part out machines I just cut wires all the time, however it helps if you pay attention to which wires you are cutting. In the case of the E-bay timer Greg posted cutting the wires did no harm to the timer and having the colored wire stubs can make it easier to hook-up in the dryer. But you have a good point as I have seen overzealous sellers destroy parts by cutting the wrong wires.

John L.

Thank you John for confirming what I was thinking when I looked at it.  It's been a long time since I've had to read schematics so I always like to have someone more experienced than I am to verify before I do it.  It worked like a charm and I did not have to disconnect the buzzer.  MIL's happy and she saved a little $$.