JES831W General Electric Microwave - Instructions

I ordered on tuesday right before Thanksgiving and was sick my tray plate broke with a house full of company comming for the holiday and no microwave low and behold i ordered on tuesday and it was at my door on wednesday what a shock i will forever be a loyal customer thanks part select!!!

Just placed the new tray in the microwave. Simple as that.

It was easy. went to GE website and click onto parts replacement. Placed my order and within three business days the new glass tray arrived. How easy was that....

Replaced High Voltage Diode. Very carfully due to the extream danger of a electrical shock.

found fuse blown and heat damage to TCO sensor.

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.

To get to the switches you need to remove the metal cover/housing of the microwave, by first removing several screws that hold it in place, and then sliding the cover towards the back of the unit. You'll find the switches in some plastic holders above the door-open button, and it's its easy to see how the mechanism engages/disengages the switches when the door is opened and closed.

If it is not obvious which switch is bad, in our case the bad switch felt "soft" when we pressed the switch button with our fingers. A good switch has a firm "click" when pressed.

The switches are easy to replace - pop out the old switch (no tools required) and pull off the electrical connectors. Then pop in the new switch and reattach the connectors.

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.

Removed microwave from enclosure and removed cover, hoping it was as simple as a blown fuse. Found extremely helpful diagnostic sheet thoughtfully provided by manufacturer in an envelope affixed to top of cavity. Fuse was fine, but tracing the power feed into the machine revealed that the oven cavity thermostat was open--no continuity across it, and the diagnostic sheet indicated that it was non-resettable. Verified the issue by temporarily by-passing the blown thermostat to ascertain that the front panel display got power. It took longer to get the screws for the cover and enclosure back on than it did to replace the thermostat, once I received the replacement part. Microwave works just fine now, thanks!

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

1. Opened door to remove glass dish and plastic rotating wheel.
2. Turned breaker "off" to appliance at main electrical panel.
3. Removed two "star" screws located on side of front control panel.
4. Removed four screws (two top and bottom) from front bezel around the wall mount microwave unit.
5. With bezel removed; removed four screws (two top and bottom) from the frame seecuring the microwave above the conventional oven directly below.
6. Using an inverted laundry basket; slide the microwave unit out approx. 14-16 inches and balance the extended weight on the inverted laundry basket. I opened the oven door and placed the laundry basket on it.....was a good fit!
7. With the side sheet metal now exposed; remove four hex nut screws (black) from unit.
8. Also, swing front control panel open; notice two sheetmetal tabs securing side panel. bend each up to help release side panel.
9. NOTE: The sheet metal enclosure is a shield for the microwave unit. It interlocks around the side cover preventing accidental removal.
10. By removing the four hex screws, you will notice two philips screws toward the rear of the unit. Remove both of these screws and the side panel should come out exposing the magnatron.
11. Uplug the magnatron and light. The light is in a white plastic cover and the magnetron is the main device in the unit. There was a schematic in my unit that helps illustrate each of the locations.
12. NOTE: There are capacitors toward the lower rear of the unit that will remain charged although power is off. Safely dscharge these capacitors or don't service this unit on your own.
13. Remove the magnatron by removing the four philips screws attaching it to the side enclosure.
14. Remove the plastic cover encasing the light by removing three philips screws.
15. NOTE: The replacement magnetron does not include the thermal sensor secured to its case. You must remove this from the old unit or buy a new one. There are two small philips screws securing this in place.
16. Reverse order to install new units.
17. NOTE: there is a gasket on the magnetron (around the hole where the rotating head projects into the cooking chamber. Ensure gasket is properly installed to prevent microwave leakage.
18. Once everything is reinstalled; place glass of water in unit to test. Set controls properly and turn on. Water should be hot per setting.

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

First, I waste $65 by calling some "REPAIR" service. They showed at home and charge me that just to tell me
Second, I researched on the web and ordered a part, which was not the issue. I waste abnother $72
Third, I found Part-Select and got the right answer: the Diode was the problem. Ordered the part form Part-Select and it FIxed it !!!

Note: I did not buy a new microwave because this one is mounted on the wall and it will cost me +$800 just the lowest price.

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.