I have a GE Spacemaker XL1400 that just turned 10 years old. It just stopped heating food. No extra noises, but a slight burn smell. I've searched through this forum and read about bad magnetrons and pitted waveguides. I can't figure out where this waveguide is and I can't find it on a parts diagrams (at least, not with my novice eyes!).

I removed the plastic round cover in the ceiling and there's nothing remarkable, not even dirty in there (though the inside of the microwave has seen better days! :o But that's nothing new!). I see a thin metal round peice with a post, then through the hole in the ceiling is some sort of metal covered in white paint. It all looks like new.

Where exactly is this magnetron and the waveguide? If this is gonna cost more than $50 in parts, I'd just assume buy another microwave. But if it's lower, I'll try my hand at fixing it.

Thoughts? :)

Well, from the looks of this forum, GE certainly wasn't well made! ;) It's the most popular brand here for repairs, followed by kenmore.

I went hunting and it looks like I'd have to remove the entire thing in order to repair it anyway, so I decided to get a slightly used non-GE or kenmore unit for less than $100 on craig's list. :)