ZE2160SF04 General Electric Microwave - Instructions

First I ordered and replaced the diode. That did not help. Then I ordered both the magnetron and the thermostat magnetron because I didn't know what I was doing. After I replaced those, it still wouldn't heat. So I called an electrician. He noticed I had knocked a wire loose. I connected it and the microwave worked. I reconnected the old magnetron, just to test it. It didn't work. Then I put the new one back in. It's working just fine now! It took quite a while to put everything back in place because it was a built-in. But it was a lot cheaper than getting a new microwave, even with the cost of a repair man to show me I had a loose wire!

First, I read the PartsSelect DIY report by Linda, Warsaw, IN. With confidence, I purchased the magnetron. Upon receipt, I took the built-in microwave out of the cabinet, set the unit on the kitchen floor, and was stopped cold by the Safety Torx nuts on the reverse of the unit. Borrowing the right wrench allowed the 20 minute start-to-finish part changeout and reinstallation of the unit in the cabinet to proceed. The old magnetron was the defective part. Discovery of the 10-year Parts-Only warranty on the less than 10-year old unit was insufficinet to guide me to take the unit in for their Labor bill to repair. New part in hand, it just was that easy - and assumed to be no less expensive.

First step was to discharge the transformer's capacitor (very important to do), before attempting any microwave repair. I opened the diagram/schematic found inside the microwave oven and followed the technician's troubleshooting steps; checked the capacitor; it checked OK, I checked the diode for a short, it checked OK. I checked the windings of the transformer that supply the power to the Magnetron; it checked Ok. I proceeded to order the parts; the Magnetron and the sensor located on the top part of the Magnetron. When the parts arrived; I went straight to the location of the Magnetron, I attached the new sensor on the new Magnetron and removed the old one. I connected the harness from the transformer to the new Magnetron and tested the microwave oven and it worked perfectly like a new one. This site has a great deal of information about repairs for the do it-yourself like myself, unlike other appliance's parts websites. Thumbs up to this site, I am very pleased with my order, I received it in a timely fashion as promised. I recommend it to everyone; this site is the best place to shop for appliances parts.

Door microswith was stuck on. This is caused, I discovered, by frequently stopping the oven, while running, by opening the door rather than using the stop button. Causes the switch to arc and eventually fail. This causes the safety microswitch to trip the breaker when door is opened. There are little nubs sticking up on the spade connectors. You must squeeze them down before you can remove them from the switch. The main door switch is the upper one, mounted at an angle. You have to remove the latch assembly to remove the switch. The problem was obvious once I got the switch out. This problem could also blow the fuse, but in my case the breaker tripped first. Use an ohmmeter to check switch and fuse. The door switch is normally open. The safety switch is normally CLOSED. Instructions inside were helpful and described this problem. So, avoid this repair by always stopping oven with stop button!

I checked out the two posts here. The one that said that the Plexiglass and Stainless Steel snapped off as one unit didn't work for me. Tried gently to pry stainless trim but it didn't want to budge and I didn't want to force it.
The second advice about using a thin knife to run down behind the Plexiglass worked.There is some kind of adhesive that stays sticky that is right at the opening edge of the door so you just have to gently break through the stickiness seal. As noted, you can bend the panel out in the middle, grab it, and slide it out toward you.
Take the protective coating off the front of the replacement part and slide it in, bending it slightly in the middle so that, when it is fully in, you can push it against the sticky part to hold it in place.
This was real easy.
The hardest part was getting the part delivered without it getting scratched. It has a protective film on the front, but nothing protects the back and the Shipping Department insists on sending it out with nothing to protect the back from the bouncing around it gets in its oversized cardboard box. (no bubble wrap, no wrapping plastic, no peanuts).
The first one arrived with the back heavily scratched. The second try (I explained the problem but the second was shipped exactly the same way as the first) had only a couple of abrasions on the back so I settled for it.
Customer Service is excellent but someone should tell Shipping not to send out Plexiglass sheets without protecting both sides.

easy to handle

R & R - Remove old part,cleaned roller grove,Replaced old part with new one.Job done.

Open the shipping package the new roller guide comes in and removed it from the package. Open the microwave door and removed the glass turntable plate. Remove the broken roller guide ring and roller wheel/s. Clean the surface that the roller guide assembly rides on. Place the new roller guide assembly into the microwave. Clean the bottom surface of the glass turntable plate that the roller guide wheels ride on and put the plate back into the oven. Place a cup of water onto the turntable plate close the oven door and start the microwave. Looking through the door assure that the new roller guide assembly is rolling smoothly under the turntable plate. Stop the oven, remove the cup, reset the oven timer.

I felt proud of myself for just taking time to get serial # ,call verify on serial # to match picture on internet.,which #did not match part, so I question, a re check ;thank goodness I did as the part would have been to large, so glad I ask question before mailing.

My wife tried cooking popcorn without the rotating glass plate in the microwave. The door of the microwave required no tools to remove. The front plexiglass and the stainless steel trim simply snap off as a unit. Then the plexiglass slides out. Reverse to reassemble.

We removed the glass circular plate of the microwave. We replaced the original roller guide with the new part. Then we placed the glass plate back in its place. Quick and simple.

The key to this repair is attaching the spring once the rest of the assembly is attached. I primarily used a wratcheting screw drive to remove the assembly but used a socket attachment with the screw bit to finish it off.

First, I removed the spring entirely. In order to attach the spring, I expanded the spring by sliding quarters into each of the coils (I had a quarter in every coil in order to get the ends as close as possible). I then first attached the spring to the post on the right side. I would have preferred to attach it to the closure assembly arm as the angle to attach was much simpler with the spring detached however there wasnt enough room to work around the post.

I then adjusted the closure assembly arm to be aligned with the spring and with a little elbow grease, stretched the string the remaining 1/2" or so and connected it to the arm. Once connected, I opened the fridge door and was easily able to remove the quarters.

Removed the unit from counter, opened metal housing, removed Humid sensor from top left side of unit, unpluged wire from curcuit board. Installed new Humid senor, metal housing and reinstalled unit into counter top. Microwave works like new.

Thanks
John

My brand new never used microwave had the plexiglass all fogged up by no good cleaners using harsh abbrasives. The repair was quite simple but took a few minutes to figure out. You open the door and look at the end of the door. You can see the plexiglass screen edge. Slide a knife under the edge and work it up and down releasing the two face tape that holds it in place. Then using the knife to gently hold the plexiglass off of the tape simply slide it out the end. Put some two face tape on the new plexiglass in the same location, slide it in (bowing out the plexiglass while you slide the last little bit where the tape is) and once all the way in, press down to engage the tape. That is it.

Fast & easy. I was able to determine that this foot would work from the descriptions on online!! Thanks