The self-clean cycle slowly raises the oven temperature to 900F. This stresses the design limits and often results in a temperature dependent failure. Customers have no clue of how complex this process is. For safety sake, the oven cannot be opened by the customer when the temperature gets above 600F. The latch is disabled and the door cannot be opened. After the end of the cleaning, the oven must be allowed to cool off before the latch is again operational and it can be opened. This feature prevents a blast of high temp air hitting the customer in the face and burning off her mustache.
This lock out feature causes a host of problems.
Lock Forcing -Being an impatient breed, customers will attempt to open the door and force the lock open before the cycle is finished or before it has sufficiently cooled off. A strong customer can easily bend the lock arms or keeper before the lock is released causing to permanently lockup. It is often possible to correct this. Simply unbend the arms by forcing the arms the opposite way (toward the lock position). Once they are straight the oven will open. If this is not successful it is necessary to gain access in some way. All models require a bit of ingenuity.
Easily Bent Arms
Loose bolts or worn lock - Locking arms are bolted to the central lock device and these bolts get loose or fall out. They are easy to fix; the hard part is gaining access.
Frozen Lock motor - A seldom used lock motor (Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner preparation) may fail when subjected to self-cleaning heat and stay locked. This can be a nasty problem, especially if the oven cabinet screws are hidden by the oven door. Once I have had to resort to a Sawzall to cut the mounting screws in order to pull out a locked up oven. Once you gain access to the lock assembly it can be forced or unscrewed and the door opened. Only then can you determine what is broken. It may well be necessary to do some damage while getting the oven open. So be it. Just keep the damage to a minimum.
