After shopping all over town trying to find a new tray I discovered PartSelect.com, I called and ordered the tray and received it the next afternoon. It couldn't have gone smoother.
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
Microwave worked intermittently depending on how door was closed
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!
The metal screen in the door of my microwave was rusting and making my "window" look nasty. I was able to take apart the door w/o removing the microwave, peel off the old plastic seal and clean the nasty parts of the glass door. The rust still remains and may be a future problem. But for now, the cleaning was what the door needed and applying the new film was a simple as putting stickers on a gift bag.
FIrst I removed the glass bulb cover, old bulbs, and old filters. Then I removed the 6 screws that held the lower cover in place, and bulb sockets. Then washed all parts an reassembled with new bulbs and filters.
It was a piece of cake....slid filters down and out, replace with new filters, slid down filter openings slightly and pulled filter up in to place. Done in less than one minute.
electrical arching on metal disk on interior ceiling
Appearently, food splaters and cleaning corroded and/or removed the metalized film on original part, causing the arching (of ions, I think). Two plastic push pins are all that hold disk in place. Since microwave worked w/o part I decided to replace only the part (rather than the entire microwave). Push pins come apart easily and are re-used to secure new 9" disk. Simply pry gently under the round, broad, and flat pin head to release pin. Push pins are tiny and consist of two parts: a male center pin and a female grummet-like round part with a center hole. When the pin is seated it puts pressure in all directions (laterally) in the grummet. Because the disk is light weight, this is sufficient to hold disk in place. Having a picture of the original part (cover-stir disk), on scaled gragh paper made it easy to calculate size and be assured that this was the correct part. Even Sears didn't have a clear drawing or photo of their replacement part. Kudos to PartsSelect. I much preferred buying a $50. part over $250. to replace and landfill the unit. Also, the name Cover-Stir (or Stir-Cover), relates to the part function with ventilation.