RVM1435WK01 Hotpoint Microwave - Instructions

A great place to start is to reveiw the posting from "Marla From Arlington TX" posted on 8-3-09. It provides an excellent description of the process that you will need to follow. The only additional thing that I would add is to check the contacts on the switches. In my case I found that all three of the switches had a small build-up of corrosion. I used sandpaper to clean the contacts. Because none of the switches had a "soft" click to them, it was hard to identify the bad one. I basically picked the worse looking one and then cleaned the contacts of the other two. I'm not sure if I actually even had a bad switch or if they all just needed cleaning. Whatever the case, it worked. I would suggest checking the contacts first. You may get away with not having to replace any of the switches. And in my case what makes me think that it may have just simply been dirty contacts is that the heating mechanism would engage every now and then. It wasn't dead 100 percent of the time. It's worth a try anyway.

There are 4 thermostats (aka TCO = Thermal Cut Out) in the GE JVM1440BH04
The schematic is under the cover in a black envelope to the top left of the unit if you face the door.

Check the fuse first. You can remove the front grate, then the numpad on the right. The fuse is right behind it. It's a 250V 20A Class F fuse.

There are four (4) TCOs or Thermal Cut Out thermostats in this puppy:

1) There is a thermostat behind the button panel to the left, facing down. If blown, it breaks the power coming into the unit and will cause a no power situation.

2) There is another TCO or thermostat near the top lamp, to the left, in a small cavity. That one also breaks power to the unit and will cause a no power situation. It's a 100 C / 0 C thermostat. This was the one that blew on me after I left the stove running (for heating in a black-out) under the microwave.


"Cavity TCO" or "Thermostat" part number 61 on the schematics, part number PS239319


3) There is yet another power-breaking TCO or thermostat in the cavity behind the fan that cools the microwave coils. You have to remove the sheet metal on the right of the microwave to access it. This one also breaks power and will cause a no power situation.

1), 2) and 3) should test out to be 0 Ohms with a resistance meter (Digital Multimeter) if working correctly.

4) There is a thermostat which normally does not let current through it. It is mounted in a vertical position to the back wall behind the front panel on the right. This one is used for the sensor reheat function apparently and will close when the temperature in the microwave reaches approx. 60 C.

4) should have infinite resistance with a resistance meter under normal circumstances.

Remove the 2 Torx-15 screws at left of control panel. Work the control panel out by pulling slightly to the left first - it is engaged to the slotted holes to the right.

Remove the door's upper switch by lifting the tab and pulling out the switch carefully. To install the new switch, you may have to remove 2 philips screws holding the plastic assembly where the switches are mounted to the metal frame.

Diagrams on the website are misleading b/c the switch shown up on top of the other 2 switches is the switch w/ the NC (upper) terminal while you'll need the NO (lower) terminal for this repair (symptoms are: turntable won't move, no heat -but light and fan ok). I should have called before ordering the part (had to pay shipping twice)...

Once I got the right part, it works just like before.

The old fuse is perfectly good. The new ones arrived within a day.

After reading some of the comments that others wrote, I decided to order the light sockets along with the replacement bulbs. As predicted, the old light bulbs broke when I tried to remove them - the bulb separated from the base which was still screwed in the socket. After removing the screws that held the bottom panel, I was able to remove the socket assemblies with ease. After inspection of the old sockets, I was glad I ordered new sockets - the old sockets were burned in some spots and very brittle. The parts arrived within a day and a half after I ordered them, but when the parts arrived, one of the bulbs was broken (happened during shipping). I called the office phone number and talked to a really pleasant technician who refunded me the price of the broken bulb and placed an order for a replacement. That was the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving Day. I got the replacement bulb yesterday (Tuesday) morning - still really quick considering the Thanksgiving holiday. All of the parts are installed and are working excellent. I am definately going to keep their WEBsite for future use, and I'll be letting my friends know about them. Thanks PartSelect, you've earned my business.

We purchased our Microhood oven about 4 years ago along with the extended warranty package offered thru home depot. Within one year, the problems began. Each year the secondary switch would go bad rendering the microwave useless. If you have 3 small children like we do, you tend to use it a lot. We sure take the microwave for granted.

Each time G.E. would fix the problem at no charge. Ths time - the warranty had expired and GE wanted to charge us $80.00 for service call plus parts and labor. We estimated the cost to run at least $150.00 or more.

To top it all off, GE was going to have a service tech avail for over 2 weeks. This is poor customer service and completely unaccceptable.

Because this was a recurring problem, I figured it was the same part that had being going bad since we purchased the appliance. I decided to order the part "secondary switch" myself and attempt to fix the microwave on my own.

I ordered the part last Tuesday, the part arrived last Friday. Within 10 minutes I had the microwave apart, replaced the part and had the microwave back in working order.

PartSelect saved me over $100.00.

We are very satified with PartsSelect, I would recommend them to anyone

The microwave had been working fine until one day when the timer counted down but the heating motor (or whatever you call it) would not come on. So the timer would count down but nothing inside would get hot. I did not know what it was for sure but decided to take it apart and look. Once I had the control panal off, I found three small wired switches inside. One of these switches appeared to have shorted out. So I searched online and found Partselect.com. I found a matching switch , ordered it (arrived in couple days), put it in, and VOILA it works! Thanks Partselect.com.

1. turned off electricity -- unplugged the unit 2. removed 3 screws on top of top vent, removed vent screen then I located the little white cylindrical fuse and popped it out with a table knife. Then I popped in the new fuse. Replaced the vent screen and screws -- plugged in the appliance and it is working again.

I've been fixing and taking things apart since I was a kid. I hoped that it was a bad switch in the door. Got out my test meter and check the 3 different switches. All 3 tested good, but one was a bit hit and miss. It would work if the microwave was on its side and wouldn't when it was set flat. I found the switch online and installed it. Took care of the problem.It was a whole lot cheaper than buying a new microwave. Thanks! Bill Brown, Fridley, MN

I ended up breaking one bulb trying to remove a burnt bulb for replacement. We then tried removing the other bulb and it wouldn't come out either. I googled the problem and found PartSelect and an explaination of the problem. Heat from either the stove or the bulbs had fused the bulbs into the sockets. Comments on the problem explained that you just remove the bottome pannel (we had seven screws), unplug the old sockets, insert the new and new bulbs and reattach the panel. It was quick and no problems to correct. We did discover the microwave was on its own breaker, make sure to disconnect or cutoff power to the microwave before you start.

This was a super easy repair job. I couldn't figure out how the lens that covered the light bulb would have cracked and realized it must have been from my contractor when he replaced my stove. I can't prove it, of course, so I am left doing the repairs. The website was very easy to order from and confirm that I had the correct parts as the model numbers tend to change over time.

Loosen screw holding glass cover plate in place over bulb. Glass cover plate will swing down. Unscrew bad bulb, replace with good bulb, reset glass cover and tighten screw.

This did not fix my problem. I've ordered a new microwave.

First off, UNPLUG THE MICROWAVE.

The fuse is located under the plastic grill at the top of the microwave. It's held on by two screws. Once you've removed the screws and taken off the plastic grill, you go to the right side of the microwave and remove another screw that holds a small metal grill in place. Removing the small metal grill is probably the toughest part of this repair. You kind of have to rock it back and forth a bit to get it to release. Once that's off, you can get to the fuse. I removed the burnt out one with a pair of needle nose pliers. I also put a small piece of cardboard under the fuse when I did this so I didn't accidentally drop it into the innards of the microwave. I did the same thing when I replaced the new fuse. I then plugged the appliance back in and made sure it worked. Once that was confirmed, I replaced both grills.

The switches are not the problem! The problem is in the tolerences of the latch housing. I have ordered two new housings (Upper & Lower) and will see if the tolerences are closer. If not I will try epoxying a shim to the plate that operates the microswitches. The other option is to file the mounting slots of the housing to allow adjustment, which would be iffy,keeping them from moving with use. The exploded drawings really need to be clarified. The scale is way too small. It was extremely difficult to pick out the individual parts of the mechanisiam.

Went to onlin source, found a couple youtube videos then went to the GE site which had a not-too-easy that find trouble shooting guide. It was extremely helpful as it described a fuse as a fix 80% of the time for touch paid failure. I really didn't believe it would b a fuse, but it was the cheapest fix, $8. I got the fuse and was surprised to fine there are two of them on this model. I took a guess and replaced the top one ( neither fuse was black or burned to indicate a failure but the top one was a bit mor greyish). put it all back together and it works fine.