ACO1840AW (PACO1840AW0) Amana Microwave - Instructions

The nightmare was that this microwave is installed under the cabinet....in order to get to the light bulb I had to pull out my stove then squeeze into the space between the stove and counter....my old microwave light bult was much easier to change.....Shame on Whirlpool for making this so difficult.....must be a better way to cover the light bulb so that we do not need a screwdriver to remove the door to get to the light bulb

1. I went to the internet to find the service manual for the Maytag microwave.
2. I opened up the oven and started measuring the resistance of the diode, capacitor, transformer, and magnetron between terminals and then to ground. The transformer and magnetron were well within the resistance limits. The diode was shorted in both directions(+-). The capacitor was fully open in both directions -- high resistance.
3. I ordered the 2 parts, installed them, and ran the oven. Worked perfect first time.
4. Reinstalled oven and worked ever since (1 week so far).
5. The secret was that the transformer had a load hum. I figured the transformer was OK. The magnetron had no short between filaments and ground to filaments. The only two left were the diode and capacitor. The first two are about $200 -- almost the value of a new microwave. The $70 repair was well worth it. If the first two were still bad, then tempted to buy a new oven.

Removed 1 screw, removed "burnt out" bulb and replaced it with new bulb.

Remove top grille (2 screws), undo control panel (1 screw). Tilt down control panel, switches are on the left. There are actually three switches that are involved with the door, two horizontally mounted, one vertically mounted. This would be an EASY REPAIR, but it took me a while to figure out which of the three switches was bad, and also took a while to figure out that there is a plastic rod that inserts through the hole in the switch body. Once i figured this out went like a breeze. Lower horizontal switch was the bad one, but since the kit came with two switches i went ahead and replaced the upper horizontal one as well. IT appears that the horizontal switches are probably more likely to fail than the vertical switch based on the position of the switch and force angles. Works great now!

I looked up the #1 reason for no heat for my microwave on the site , and using my model number found that 92% of the time it was the Black Sleeve Diode. Ordered the $15 part, and installed it within 30 minutes. Most of the time was used for removing the built in microwave and removing the cover. Replaced the diode by finding it on the diagram that I printed from this site (free). Very relieved that we don't need to have our custom cabinetry re-sized to accommodate a new microwave. Thank you!

removed two screws,lowered the glass shield,removed the burned out bulb and replaced it with the new one. I ordered the bulb from parts select and recieved it two days later. It was a pleasure to deal with them, and certainly use them again.

I had some difficulty removing the glass plate because of the awkward (upside down) position of the screw that retained it. After replacing the burned out bulbs and replacig the glass plate the problem of replacing the screw involved my dropping the thing several times before I got the screw threads to catch. I got a screw thread to catch enough to hold the glass plate in position and left it at that.

First I removed upper front grill by removing two Philips head screws on top and pulling off. This exposed the Philips head screw which holds control panel in place. After removing screw I pushed up on panel and it came off to expose fuse. With needle nose pliers I removed old fuse and again with pliers held new fuse in position. With the help of a bladed screwdriver, I pushed new fuse into holder, then replaced panel, screw and grill. This took less than 15 minutes even as one of the wires on control panel pulled out of connection and took some time to locate where to reconnect, otherwise was an easy fix
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The hard part was trying to find the light bulb locally. The locally sold light bulbs were either too long, not dual element or not powerful enough. So I ordered the light bulb straight from PartSelect. When it came time to install the new light bulb I carefully removed the screw holding the plate in position so as not to loose it in my gas stove. I needed the mirror to line up the light bulb and screw it in. Once it was in I verified operation and closed up the plate being careful not to drop the screw into my gas stove. Problem solved.

First removed the door then pryed out the inside cover of the door. Next removed 1 screw and removed the rest of the door panels until I was able to reach the two screws for the door handle. After attaching the new handle I just put everything back in place in reverse order.
This site is the only site I could find on the internet which sold the part I needed.

I removed the unit from the wall. Took the cover off. Set the unit on its side. It revealed the working parts. Removed the old micro switches. Put in the new oness. Presto, it worked. Very easy for me.
The parts was delivered almost before my notice they were shipped.

took cover off, installed bulb.
lost the owners manual,
part select's schematics were very helpful
thanks

Nothing to it.

Had to remove door. Next pop off the plastic trim around door. Remove spring holding latch place new latch and afix it to the door frame

Replaced bulb by: 1 pulling plug on microwave to make sure not hot - no power; 2 used needle nose pliers with head part about same size that fit inside of socket; 3 opened pliers and held firm against broken metal part; keeping pressure of pliers against broken metal part of light bulb, slowly unscrewed the broken part from socket using firmly held opened pliers. The rest was a cinch...just screwed in new light bulb, plugged in microwave and viola - there was light once again.