ACO18 - 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 li ... Read more ght 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 direc ... Read more tions(+-). 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 a ... Read more lso 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!

The repair went well...I am so glad that I read this info before buying a new microwave....it saved me lots of money. I did have a repair man come and look at it and he told me to buy a new one but it cost alot of money when it wasn't necessary. I did the repair and I was very proud of myself.
Three men watched a woman fix this and ... Read more it was no problem...they were impressed also....

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 ... Read more 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.

Unplug the unit before servicing. Need phillips screwdriver. Open door. Use step ladder to access and remove 2 small screws from top of the room air diffuser at top of unit. Slide diffuser slightly to the left to align the diffuser's plastic tab on the left side to rotate toward you. (The wires for the front control panel are at the far l ... Read more eft side of this difuser, but difuser is slotted for easy removal). Once the difuser is removed you will see 1 screw at the top that secures the pannel cover on the left side of the unit. Remove screw and slide this panel slightly up and out. This exposes the plastic frame that holds the upper and lower door switches. To locate the door switches and observe how they work, close and open the door and watch the door (bayonets) open and close the micro switches. Do the (red) buttons on top of the switches move up and down when the door bayonets push and release? If the buttons do not "pop" up when opened the switch is defective. The switch frame is secured with 2 screws. Remove screws and rotate the unit out for easy access to the micro switch(s). The internal (spring?) on my unit that is suposed to allow the red (visible) button on top of the switch to "pop" up when the door is opened was broken. Carefully pry the switch outward while being careful to lift the plastic holder-piece that holds the switch in place. Be careful, there is a small pin on the frame, so rotate the switch OUT toward you while lifting (carefully) the plastic holder-piece (you will see it on top of the switch). You can use an ohm meter to test the continuity of the switches. But if the buttons don't "pop" they are defective. Replace switch and reassemble.

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 th ... Read more e 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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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 cat ... Read more ch enough to hold the glass plate in position and left it at that.

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 ... Read more 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 whi ... Read more ch 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.

I tried to fix the wheel but the plastic hub had worn too small. After messing with it for a month, I ordered the support ring with 3 wheels from this site. this site said it would fit many brands of microwaves. I was glad I ordered it. It was very affordable and is better than the original. The replacement part is made with heavier d ... Read more uty material than the original and it works perfect. I picked up the microwave plate and grabbed the old one and threw it in the recycle bin and put the new turntable support under the plate, put the plate back on top and closed the door!! Works perfect! Even a novice can do this repair!!

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 f ... Read more irmly held opened pliers. The rest was a cinch...just screwed in new light bulb, plugged in microwave and viola - there was light once again.