The short answer
When a Maytag cooktop displays F43, the control is naming the control board. What the manufacturer documents is in the table; what to check first is in the ranking under it. A cycle that still completes normally is safe to run; a cycle that stops part-way is not.
The documented code and its meaning
Reference| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| F43 | There may be a problem with the Cooktop Power Control Board, or the associated wiring. |
What you actually observe
- The code appears on its own, with nothing else obviously wrong — Everything looks normal until the display changes, which is why this family is usually found by the code rather than by a symptom.
- A function stops working while the rest of the cooktop carries on — Controls fail by function, not all at once, so one dead setting and a working panel is the usual picture.
- The code clears after a power-down and returns later — That pattern is the most useful single observation you can record.
- NEAR MISS — nothing lights up at all — A completely dead panel is a supply question rather than a control fault, and it belongs on a different page.
Causes, most likely first on this cooktop
- A connector backing out of its header on the board — Vibration and repeated heat cycling walk a plug out of its header over years; the control sees the signal vanish long before the connector is visibly loose.
- A cracked solder joint or a scorched relay pad on the board itself — The heavy joints are where a board gives out, so what you lose is one function at a time rather than the whole control.
- Worn or pinched harness insulation on the run to the driven part — A harness routed against a sharp edge wears through slowly, which is why this code often starts as an occasional event and becomes permanent.
- A supply disturbance that left the board in a stuck state — A brown-out or a spike can leave the logic parked in a state it has no exit from, and only a complete loss of supply gets it out.
Check in this order, and why
- Drop the power completely and bring it back up — Nothing is spent, and the result separates a latched condition from a component that has actually failed.
- Watch whether the code returns immediately or only under load — An immediate return points at the board or its wiring; a delayed one points at the part the board is watching.
- Have the run between board and part inspected end to end — The wiring is cheaper to fix than the board and fails more often than the board does.
- Leave the board itself for last — The board is the dearest item in the chain and the least likely single cause, which makes it the wrong place to open a wallet.
What an owner can safely check
- Cut the power at the breaker for a full minute, then restore it — Cancel does not do it. The breaker also takes away the standby rail, and that is what lets a latched state go.
About 3 min
- Record the point in the cycle where the code appears — A note of the setting and how far the cycle reached saves a whole diagnostic visit.
Tools: pen and paperAbout 5 min
- Check that nothing has been spilled or cleaned into the control area — Liquid tracking across a board mimics a failed component almost exactly, so it is worth ruling out by eye.
Tools: flashlightAbout 5 min
Before anything is opened
Safety
Isolate first. Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel, because a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. On most installations there is no plug: the cooktop is wired in, and the breaker is the isolation point. Treat the glass as hot well after the display says the zones are off. Do not re-route or hold closed anything on the door circuit; it takes power away at a point the design depends on.
When this stops being an owner job
Book the visit once the power-down has been tried and the code comes straight back. After that the next move is behind a panel, and the top has to come out of the counter before any component below it is accessible. Bring the call forward if you smell burning, find scorching near the control area, or the breaker trips as the appliance starts.
Nearest error-code pages
What this page does not cover
The F43 reading set out here is the shared-platform one for Maytag cooktop models, not a single-model one. Earlier generations that reuse these characters for a different condition are outside it. So are wiring colours, connector positions, torque figures and part numbers, all of which vary by family and belong on a family page rather than here. If a page exists for your family or model, go there first — it is the more specific answer — and the code index below lists them.
Other Maytag cooktop codes
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