GSC278PJS3 Whirlpool Microwave Oven Combo - Instructions

unscrewed the top glass protector off and took the old bulb out and put the new bulb in. very easy - less than 5 minutes.

Visited PartSelect.com and ordered the element. Talked to a really sweet lady who assisted me at the company by ordering the part. Received the part and my husband cut off the electricity to the stove, took off the old element, got the sockets and after pushing on the new element, and he screwed the screws back on, cut on the electricity and we cut the stove on and it was ready to go. VERY, VERY SIMPLE TO REPAIR.

After reading other repair reports and talking to a representative, I ordered the thermal overload safety thermostat. Relatively easy to install after removing the oven from the cabinet, only it did not work. After going over the wiring with a voltage meter, we discovered there was no power to the upper oven, only the lower oven was working. Took the panel off the top of the oven and found a wire which was not attached to anything. Never needed this part at all. This oven was purchased from a second-hand store and was used in a remodeling. $52 for part and $100 for serviceman to make the oven operational.

I found several posts about Whirlpool/KitchenAid ovens having this problem and most of the time this required a replacement of the thermal fuse. Other than the large number of screws to remove the oven and the sheet metal coverings, replacing the fuse was mostly about waiting to get the part. If I had a local dealer with the fuse, I probably could have been baking Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake that same evening. Even so, this particular repair should be left to those familiar with doing moderate-level handyman type repairs. You have to make sure the breaker is off and beware of the sharp edges on sheet metal. Fortunately, the fuse was easy to find using online documentation for my model. Part Select was very helpful when my original order did not arrive. Their customer service was great!

replace thermal safety switch on back of oven

I followed the step-by-step instructions from Steve on the part select videos posted on Youtube.

PartSelect service was quick and good and the price was about 35% of having the appliance store replace the hinges. We have two wall ovens - one a Whirlpool and the other a Kitchen-Aid - and strangely enough both use the same hinges. The oven door hinges are the weakest part of the ovens and we have had to have them replaced before. After paying over a $175 each for the repairs I was shocked to see how quickly they failed. Within 8 months one had to be propped closed with a broom handle and the other with a stool just to keep the doors closed so my wife could use the ovens .. and keep the oven light from staying on all the time.
My wife was ready to call the service people again when I said let me see if I can replace the hinges. I looked at the YouTube videos on oven door hinge replacement and it looked easy enough. I found PartSelect had the replacement hinges so I decided to start with one oven to see if I could do the replacement. It took almost three hours to get the oven door off and the hinges changed. Why? Every demo video on YouTube showed opening the door all the way and flipping over a lock that stopped the door closing at that almost closed point. This allows you lift up on the oven door releasing the hinge arm from the catch so you could slide the oven door away from the body of the oven. Guess what! These hinges didn’t have that little flip over lock!
I finally managed to get the door off using a screw driver to help me disengage one of the hinges from the oven itself. The rest of the hinge replacement went exactly like the demo videos described. Now I had to get the door back on the oven.
I held the door as shown on the videos and it slipped right in, but when I tried to close the door the whole thing was too high and bound. Messing with it I finally heard something drop out and onto the floor. I picked up this little apx. 1/8th inch diameters by ¼ inch long pin with a flared crimp on one end. I looked carefully at both hinges with a flashlight and saw that there was a pin like that on one side and not on the other. I slipped the second pin out of the remaining side and suddenly the door closed perfectly. It was then that I realized that the pins acted like the flip over lock! The problem was the new hinges had the pin and the old one did not, and you should not remove the pin from the new ones before you put the door back as it holds the hinge in a tension needed need to fit the door back on (and that tension is strong).
So there is a trick. You will need something to function as those pins, like a 16p finish nail, when you remove the oven door.
I immediately ordered hinges from PartSelect for the second oven .. saving the pins from the first hinge replacement. The second set of hinges arrived two days later and I opened the second oven door and put in the two saved pins – the door lifted off perfectly and 15 minutes later it was back on with new hinges. By the way, I saved the now four little pins in a zip-lock bag and put them with our file of appliance manuals. If I have to replace the hinges again I will have the pins I will need for removing the door.
One other thing I learned was why I believe the original hinges worked for several years while the ones installed by the service guy failed in months! On each of the ovens the service guy had replaced only one of the hinges. You could see the grime on the 4 or 5 year old ones that wasn’t there on the months old ones. I wish I could show you the pictures I took of both hinges (which this site won’t let me add), but the two hinges placed side by side had slightly different length and shaped locking arms (that part that slides into the body of the oven). On that first door I struggled with I couldn’t understand why one side just slid out while the other I had to force out. Looking back it was the old hinge that slid out and I don’t believe it was ever engaged as the locking arm was slightly shorter and a different sha

I am not a big do-it-yourselfer, so maybe I might have found this more difficult than expected. When I first looked at the oven before ordering the part, I saw a couple of screws and it seemed like an easy task. However, I found that I had to remove to whole door first, which was actually easy. Then I started to remove the case. Then I removed several layers of a puzzle. Oven door had 3 pieces of glass and 3 metal brackets. The installation video was for a completely different oven. Although I got out the broken glass easily, I had difficulty reassembling. The oven diagram for the parts was even deceiving. I had to involve my spouse and after an hour of cursing everything, we finally managed to get the thing back together. Whoever designed this oven must have been a deranged German scientist. However, everything is back to normal and I probably saved a couple hundred bucks for a repairman.

There are hinges on the door that need to be lifted up to take the entire oven door off the appliance. The screws are taken off of the door to get to the interior glass. The cracked oven door was simply taken off and replaced by the new one and the screws were put back and the door was placed by hooking it onto the appliance and the hinges were dropped down. Simple as that!

First, I'll say this website made it easy to find and order the part, it arrived quickly and reading others' reviews helped with installation. My Dad and I did the repair together, which really helped - my Dad is an fantastic handyman! We removed the door by lifting it up out of the hinges - a little difficult to get the right angle, but we succeeded with a little wiggling. We disassembled each later of glass/door, keeping each layer in order with screws so we could retrace our steps. I cleaned each layer thoroughly, which added to the time. Unfortunately, just as we were putting the last part on (exterior door with glass), the glass shattered as I tightened the screw! Ack! My Dad said it's because the glass was old and easy to shatter. Maybe I tightened the screw too much? So, back to the website I go to order the next part. We expect it to arrive soon. The bad news: another Christmas without an oven. The good news: my oven is now clean as new (I even removed the back fan cover to clean the fan - couldn't have done that without removing the door) and the parts added up to a fraction of the cost of a new oven.

Removing the door was the first challenge but once the door was off it was a matter of disassembling the door to get access to the interior door. If you remove all pieces and line them up in the order that they are removed you have a good chance for success.

My mother and I were having considerable trouble baking or using the wall oven due to the escape of heat because the door wouldn't close properly. She, on many occasions, rested heavy baking pans/sheets on the door which, over years, caused it to "spring". Before I started the project I took a level and saw the door was facing down at least 3/8"-1/2" more than being level. I assumed it was the Door Hinges and after much research I found PartSelect who was extremely helpful in not only advising me as to the exact problem causing the door to not close properly but also in the ordering process itself. Because of the complexity of how the door is assembled I took digital video at various stages: removal of the door, disassembly of the entire door, removal of the control panel, and various small parts of the door - all with audio description by me as I went along. Because it took a few days to order and receive the parts I had time to clean the baked-on, caked-on grease inside all the parts to include the vents on the door and under the control panel using a power-washer when possible. I obtained auto-strength grease cutter/remover and soaked every "group" of screws in separate glass jars with covers (labeled). I also taped screws to a piece of paper, traced them to make sure they went back in the same place, and washed these as I went along. At the time the parts were received they were packaged in a fantastic way - quick shipping, easy to order, and I immediately started to reassemble the door. When I found my video wasn't enough to help me get the door assembled properly I used .pdf files I found on PartSelect which were extemely helpful and with a laptop close by I referred to the video I had taken and also SmartSelect's .pdf files. Because my digital camera was - and is now defective - I lost some of the most important video and this is the reason it took me almost 5-1/2 hours to reassemble the door. I wanted it to be correct given the oven is self-cleaning plus I do not want fires in the house!! All parts were laid out across three rooms and after being like this for almost a week it was great to have the entire oven back together again. At this point the oven door, when opened, is now facing "up" at least 3/4" as opposed to hanging down as it was before this project started. I closed the door and it actually pulled itself shut - something it hadn't done in years! The hinges came with pins already inserted so I didn't have to wrestle with the hinges to insert the original pins. The gasket was the easiest part to replace - simple removal of the old, worn, charred one and pop in the new one using the little clips that came on the hinge. The hinges themselves are extremely strong and well-made. After this project I have to say the oven now looks BETTER than when purchased, my mother has used it to cook with only once and it took 1/2 to 3/4 the time given the door is now completely closed because of the new hinges. I am totally satisfied with the parts, with PartSelect, will keep this site as a reference for further replacement parts if needed, and the oven is positively GORGEOUS after it was thoroughly cleansed of built-up grease. It looks BETTER than a new oven!! THANK YOU, PARTSELECT, for all your help and perfect parts!!

Once the door was secured with hinge locking pins which I made out of cut off 16 penny nails,I removed the door , layed it on a soft padded piece of vinyl and proceeded to remove the inside top cover which was secured with phillips screws on the top and sides. I was then greeted by 2 sheets of glass before I could get to the front glass which was the one that cracked.These sheets of glass were secures with slotted metal frames which also required removing several screws and braces. I was then able to remove the cracked glass and replace it with the new glass panel. Then I had to reverse the steps to assemble the door which was fairly easy since I made a diagram of the steps when I disassembled the door (this saved me alot of aggravation since my memory isn't what it used to be. The door was fitted into the frame of the oven and once the hinges were in place I removed the pins and closed the door. It was at that point that I got a kiss from my grateful wife. End of story.

This site helped me diagnois the problem rating the suggested problem as a 99% chance cause of the problem. Ordered the thermal overload safety thermostat and it arrived in just two days. Repair was quick and easy once getting the oven removed from the cabinet. (It's very heavy so have some assistance or a sturdy stand to set it out on.)#2 Phillips scredriver and needle nose pliers were only tools needed. Overall, an easy repair for anyone.

Turned off the power/ unscrewed the oven from the cabinet and slid it out took the back off the oven and the part was right there. What I would like to know is why this happens so frequently? This is the 2nd time and it always happens after the self cleaning is done.