The short version
This code says the reading arriving from the convection thermistor and its wiring fell outside the band the control is built to trust. The machine protects itself by refusing to heat on an unverified reading, which is why the cycle ends early.
What this code is documented as meaning
Reference| Code | Documented meaning |
|---|---|
| F3T2 | There may be a problem with the Convection Thermistor or the associated wiring. |
Symptoms that travel with this code
- The code appears and the cycle stops heating — Everything else looks normal — lights, fan, display — and only the heat is missing.
- The appliance runs longer than it used to for the same result — A reading that is drifting rather than failing stretches every cycle before it ever raises a code.
- NEAR MISS - nothing heats and no code shows at all — That is a power or element fault rather than a reading fault, and it belongs on the page for that symptom.
Causes, and why they rank that way
- A loose or corroded connector at the thermistor — Ranked first because it is the failure that needs no part: the probe is fine, the joint carrying its signal is not, and heat cycling at the back of the cavity is what works a pin loose.
- Convection thermistor out of tolerance — Second: the element itself drifts or opens with age, and once it reads outside the accepted band the control has nothing to work from.
The cheapest checks first
- Power the machine down fully and see whether the code returns — Costs nothing and separates a latched one-off read from a live fault.
- Look at the connector at the thermistor before anything is measured — Seated, clean and tight is a five-second answer to the most likely cause.
What an owner can safely do
- Clear the code with a full power-down — Switch the breaker off, let the control lose its stored state, then switch it back on and start a short cycle.
About 5 min
- Run the shortest cycle the appliance offers and watch for the code — A short cycle that stays clean while a long one fails tells a technician the fault is thermal.
About 20 min
- STOP HERE if the next step is a meter across the probe terminals — That means a panel off and a connector back-probed, which is where an owner check ends and a service call begins.
What to do before any panel comes off
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before any panel comes off; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Everything in the procedure above stays outside the cabinet for that reason.
When to call a technician
Call straight away if you smell hot insulation or see discoloured wiring at the back — a connector hot enough to discolour is arcing, and that is a different and more urgent problem than the reading the code named. In the ordinary case, call once the code survives a full power-down: a repeatable reading fault is a probe, a harness or a board, and telling those three apart needs a meter and the resistance table for that model line.
Neighbouring codes on this appliance
Which model lines this reading applies to
Scope, stated plainly: the model lines that use this probe on this cavity, and this code only. Model-specific detail - the pinouts, the resistance values, the part numbers - is not on this page, because those differ between families and a wrong figure here would be worse than no figure. The index linked below lists the pages for specific families and models where they exist, and a page about your model outranks this one.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
