Fix For Bosch Range Door Closing Problem

This is going to be one of those posts that most of you should skip, now, unless you happen to have a Bosch range on which the oven door doesn't close properly.

I have a Bosch HDI7282U 30" slide-in range which I bought new about two years ago. A few months ago the oven door stopped closing all the way, preventing a good seal. This caused a lot of problems, not the least of which is half the heat goes into the kitchen instead of staying in the range. Uneven cooking and verrrry long preheats was a consequence. While the range is probably still under warranty, my online research into this problem told me that I was far from alone. At least it's a common enough problem that others had discussed it in a few online forums. Unfortunately there was no good resolution that I could find, and those who had dealt with Bosch's service (even under warranty) did not get satisfaction. Can't say I'm excited to hear about that since I own three Bosch appliances. But I finally got around to trying to figure this out myself, and came up with a good solution that is simple and takes about 15 minutes.

Remove The Range Door

Start by taking off the range door. To do this, open the door all the way and flip the hinge-locks toward the door all the way. The two pictures below show the hinge in the normal position (left), and the locked position (right) needed to remove the door. Complete instructions are on Page 48 of the manual. You can also download the whole manual here -- I assure you it is a riveting read.

Once the hinge is in the locked position, you can basically just lift the door up an pull it out. The hinges have a little slot on the bottom and are cantilevered against a pin on the top. So you raise it up about 1/4" to clear the slot, and pull it straight out.






Below is a picture of my oven door with the hinge in the locked postion.



You must tilt the door to a 45 degree angle with the hinge locked before removing it. Do not try to close the door all the way with the hinge locked. From this position, just raise the door vertically about 1/4", then pull it horizontally awayfrom the oven.




Remove the door hinges

To do this you need two torx wrenches, a T10 and a T20. There are four screws holding the inside of the door to the outside, and three screws holding each hinge onto the door interior, for a total of 10 screws. Their approximate positions are circled in the photo of my door below. Yeah, it's pretty gross, and that's AFTER I cleaned it. Remove all the screws. When you take off the two at the top, be aware that the handle will no longer be attached to the door.




After all the screws are out, lift the door interior away from the exterior. The hinges are just loose now, they look like this:



You're not going to do much now except put everything back together, with one minor adjustment. I'm not quite sure exactly what's causing the change in dynamics here resulting in the door not closing - either the hinge isn't quite right any more, or the pin inside the range itself that the hinge cantilevers against moved slightly. I saw no evidence of anything bent on the hinge itself so I am guessing it's the pin. Accessing this looks like a big hassle, even if it could be adjusted, so I went for a different solution.

To correct the problem, all you need to do is change the dynamics of the door so when the hinge is in it's "closed" position, the door once again is shut all the way. The simplest way to do this is to add some space between the back of the hinge and the door at the top of the hinge. In th picture above, you may be able to make out a couple little washers on the counter behind the hinge. Re-attach the hinge to the door interior, but put a couple washers between the large screw and the hinge itself. I used two washers on each side like the ones above, adding a little less than 1/8" of space. This results in a significantly bigger difference at the top of the door, and was just right to cause my door to close snugly.

Put It Back Together

After you've re-attached the hinges with your spacer, completely attach it using the two small screws for each. Put the door interior back over the door exterior, being sure to line everything up correctly. There are three tabs on the bottom that should go inside the interior, and make sure the handle is correctly positioned before tightening the two screws at the top.

After it's completely reassembled, simply put it back on the range, open it all the way, and return the hinge locks to the open postion. You're done.