Maytag Microwave Repair

Maytag Microwave Repair Guide

Whether you need a Maytag microwave door handle or door latch repair, microwave keypad repair, or your microwave oven isn't heating, we can help you. We’ve been working on these microwaves for years now, and we’ve seen just about every problem they can throw at us.

In the thousands of Maytag microwave repairs that we’ve completed, we’ve notice common failures that we’ll share with you here.

Microwave Runs But No Heat

Press the button, hear the fan, see the light and the turntable spins -- but your food comes out cold as ice. This is a frustrating problem that happens relatively often with Maytag microwaves.

A bad magnetron is usually the culprit. That's the part that actually makes the microwaves that heat your food. They don't last forever. After a bunch of years, they just wear out. You'll sometimes hear a buzzing or humming noise when they're going bad. Replacing one isn't cheap. You’ve got to decide if it's worth fixing the microwave or just getting a new unit.

The high voltage diode could be shot too. It converts the electricity to the right kind of power the magnetron needs. When it fails, you get all the noise but no heat. Testing these takes special equipment. Not something to mess with yourself unless you really know what you're doing.

When your Maytag microwave runs but won’t heat, it best be call in a microwave repair pro from Sears Home Services to fix the problem.

Door Switch Problems

Door switches fail pretty often. The microwave won't run at all if it thinks the door is open. But sometimes they fail halfway - enough to let the microwave turn on but not enough to activate the heating circuit. This failure is tricky to diagnose without the right tools.

Switches get worn out from opening and closing the door thousands of times. Sometimes they get gunked up with food splatter that seeps into the mechanism. Clean them if you can, have an appliance repair technician replace them if cleaning doesn't work.

Sparking Inside

Sparks flying around inside your microwave? Shut it off right away. This issue is not normal and often not safe.

• Damaged rack supports cause most sparking issues in Maytag microwaves. Little metal pieces inside the cabinet get chipped or bent. When metal gets too close to the walls, electricity arcs across the gap. Like lightning in your microwave.
• Paint chipping off the interior walls does the same thing. The metal underneath gets exposed and creates arcing points. Some older Maytag microwaves used a paint that wasn't as durable as it should be. The paint wears off after years of cleaning.
• Metal trim on dishes causes sparking too. Check your containers. Anything with gold or silver decoration shouldn't go in the microwave. Neither should metal twist-ties that sneak into the cavity.

Controls Not Working Right

Punching buttons but nothing happens? Some buttons work and others don't or the display shows nonsense? Control panels act up relatively often on Maytag microwaves.

• The membrane switch behind the buttons wears out. It's just thin layers of plastic with circuits printed on them. After thousands of presses, they stop making good contact. Control panel replacement typically fixes this problem.
• Control boards fail from power surges. Microwaves pull a lot of electricity. When the power flickers or surges, these boards take a beating. Lightning storms kill more microwaves than you'd think.
• Steam damages control panels too. All that moisture from heating soup and vegetables seeps into the electronics over time. Slowly corrodes the connections until they stop working. Newer models have better seals, but it still happens.

Turntable Won't Spin

Food heating unevenly? It might be because the turntable stopped spinning. The mechanism wears out after years of turning that heavy glass tray.

• Drive couplers break all the time. It's just a little plastic piece that connects the motor to the turntable. It gets brittle from heat and age and breaks easily if you overload the tray with heavy dishes. It’s an inexpensive part, usually easy to replace on your own.
• Support wheels under the tray get gunked up with food spills. They jam up and stop turning smoothly. Sometimes cleaning them helps, sometimes they need replacement.
• Sometimes the turntable motor wears out and needs replacing. This is typically a repair that should be completed by a microwave repair technician.

Strange Noises

Microwaves make all kinds of weird sounds when they're having problems. Different noises mean different things going wrong.

• Loud buzzing usually means the magnetron's on its way out. Or maybe the cooling fan's hitting something. Either way, not good.
• Grinding noises point to the turntable. Something's keeping it from spinning freely. Could be food debris under the roller guide, or the motor straining to turn.
• Clicking repeatedly generally means a relay problem. The part that turns the high voltage on and off isn't working right. Sometimes it's on the control board, sometimes it's a separate component.

Burning Smells

Smells like something's burning inside? Shut it off and unplug it. It’s not worth the risk to keep using it when you smell burning odors.

Wiring gets hot when connections come loose. Microwaves vibrate when they run. Over time, that vibration can work screws and connectors loose. This creates resistance, which creates heat. Heat creates burning smells and eventually fires if you ignore it.

Food buildup causes burning smells too. All those little splats and spatters add up. When they heat over and over, eventually they can smoke or burn. Regular cleaning prevents this, but who cleans their microwave as often as they should?

The vent motor seizes up on over-the-range models. It runs hot and starts to smoke. You'll smell burning plastic or rubber. The fan makes strange noises before it fails completely. This is a common problem on Maytag over-the-range units.

Microwave Shuts Off Too Soon

Program it for 3 minutes but it stops after 30 seconds. Or it runs fine for short times but shuts down during longer cooking.

• The thermal cutout switch probably tripped. It's a safety feature that kills power if the microwave gets too hot inside. It could be from blocked vents or a cooling fan failure. Some reset themselves when they cool down, others need replacement.
• Sensor cooking malfunctions happen a lot. The humidity sensor thinks your food is done before it really is. It gets confused by steam patterns or just fails from age. Most Maytag models let you override the sensor and use timed cooking instead.
• Control board timer circuits fail too. The microwave just loses track of how long it's supposed to run. Replacing the board usually fixes it, but that's not cheap.

When To Call In The Pros

Some microwave issues you can handle yourself. Cleaning, replacing light bulbs, maybe even swapping out the charcoal filter if you're comfortable taking the grille off.

But anything involving the high voltage components is risky business. Microwaves store electricity in capacitors even when the power cord is unplugged. One wrong move and you could get a serious shock. Not worth the risk.

Plus, diagnosing microwave problems takes specialized knowledge and tools. What seems like a simple problem might have a completely different cause than you'd guess.

We've fixed thousands of Maytag microwaves over the years. Our appliance repair techs know these units inside and out. Factory trained, right tools, right parts on the truck. And we guarantee our work.

Give us a call when your Maytag needs more than a simple fix. We'll get your kitchen back to normal without the safety risks of DIY microwave repair.

Heating food shouldn't be complicated - we'll make sure it isn't.