Microwave Oven Door Alignment

Microwave Repair
1

The microwave oven door on my Whirlpool GM8131XEB0 microwave/convection oven would not open. I was able to remove the outer housing and release the door by removing the upper “Latch board #3”.

I quickly saw that there was a problem with the door latches and proceeded to remove the door from the oven. I did this by removing the hinges (#5) on the base plate and the oven cavity. :mad: Yes, I now know that this was not the best way to do this, and that it wasn’t necessary to do this either.

After removing the “choke cover #5” from the door it was easy to identify that the bottom latch (#13) needed to be replaced. I have ordered those parts.

Two Questions:

  1. In removing the choke cover #5, I managed to crack it in one spot. This part appears to be purely cosmetic and I believe that I should be able to reassemble this and not have to replace it, with the option of glueing it at the point where it cracked. Would you agree?

  2. When I put the door back on I will have to align the door properly. I believe that a good test for this would be to close the door on a strip of paper, and then pull the paper out. I expect that I should feel a slight degree of resistence as I pull it out. I would then repeat this all the way around the door after making any adjustments. Would you agree with this procedure, or could you offer any advise on what I should do when I put the hinges and door back onto the oven again to obtain proper alignment.

Thank you!!

2

  1. Probably you were right and this part is mostly cosmetic.

  2. No, this is wrong. The most important is to have all door switches to engage properly when the door is closed.

While you will do it, remove the control panel to have access to the door switches. Replace the control panel after you done with the door.

Good luck.
Gene.