I've had a self-cleaning oven for nearly 13 years and love it. Mine, too, has a locking mechanism that secures the door while the cleaning cycle is in process. I usually time the cleaning of my oven to a cooler than normal day, so we can benefit from the extra time the oven is producing higher than normal heat.
I've never left my racks in while the cleaning cycle is running. Instead, I put them in a big black trash bag, spray them with oven cleaner, tie up the bag and let them "incubate" with the oven cleaner until the oven is ready to accept them back after cleaning and cooling.
By the time this occurs, all I really have to do is to lightly rub them, I'm serious, with a green scrubbie to remove any residue that the oven cleaner doesn't remove. There's rarely any elbow grease necessary.
The oven and racks look as good now as they did the day the oven was installed. FWIW, the oven we have is Whirlpool.
I've never left my racks in while the cleaning cycle is running. Instead, I put them in a big black trash bag, spray them with oven cleaner, tie up the bag and let them "incubate" with the oven cleaner until the oven is ready to accept them back after cleaning and cooling.
By the time this occurs, all I really have to do is to lightly rub them, I'm serious, with a green scrubbie to remove any residue that the oven cleaner doesn't remove. There's rarely any elbow grease necessary.
The oven and racks look as good now as they did the day the oven was installed. FWIW, the oven we have is Whirlpool.