A microwave is built so it won’t heat unless its door switches report the door shut. When a switch or sensor wears out, the symptom can look like a dead turntable, a dead magnetron or nothing at all. In our microwave notes, door switches and door sensors came up again and again.
That is why this page splits its jobs three ways: door at fault, door innocent, and the two that never got repaired. Every entry is a finished job with its city, month, finding and outcome. Every price is the full bill, rounded to a multiple of $5, and the $85 diagnostic sits inside it.
The door
It looked like something else. It was the door.
Four different complaints here: a turntable that stopped, a drawer that heated only now and then, a microwave that lit up but didn’t hum, and one booked simply as broken. Each came down to the door sensor.
Arcadia · September 2026 · GE microwave above a wall oven, model JKP85, label dated February 2001
A 25-year-old combination that ran with the door open
Reported
Turntable not turning while cooking; ran now and then with the door open
Found
Faulty door sensor
Done
Door sensor replaced
Bill
$435
The owner booked online and did half the diagnosis in the booking: the turntable wouldn’t run during cooking, and over the previous few months the microwave had sometimes run with the door open. Their request was to check the interlock switches “and other alignment.” The fault was the door sensor, and it was replaced.
The white GE combination: microwave on top, lit, with a bowl on the turntable; oven below.Its rating label: General Electric, model JKP85, manufactured February 2001.
Malibu · October 2026 · Sharp microwave drawer, model SMD2470AS, made October 2021
A five-year-old drawer that heated only some of the time
Reported
Heats only sometimes
Found
Faulty door sensor
Done
Door sensor replaced
Bill
$480
A drawer has no swinging door, but it still has to register as closed before it will heat. On this Sharp, our technician traced the on-and-off heating to a faulty door sensor and replaced it.
The Sharp label: microwave oven drawer, model SMD2470AS, 950 W output, manufactured October 2021.The drawer’s control strip along the top edge, with the Open/Close key beside the clock.
San MarinoNovember 2026 · LG built-inThe owner wrote that it lit up when they pressed heat, but the plate didn’t turn and there was none of the usual humming. What our technician replaced was the door sensor.$295
PasadenaNovember 2026 · microwave above the stoveBooked with one line: the microwave above the stove is broken. Our technician found the door sensor at fault and repaired it.$290
Lights on, nothing turning, no hum?
Put those details in the booking note so the technician knows where to start.
A shorted keypad, a capacitor fuse, and a noise that needed only an adjustment. Here the bills spanned $125 to $1,660.
West Hollywood · July–August 2026 · JennAir built-in microwave over a wall oven, model JMW3430IM02, made July 2019
Error F2E1: the microwave locked itself out
Screen showed
“Can no longer be used”
Found
Display showing F2E1, “Stuck / Shorted Key”
Done
Keypad assembly replaced
Bill
$1,660
The screen named the fault itself: F2E1, a stuck or shorted key, with a message that the product could no longer be used. A key that reads as permanently pressed is enough for the control to shut the microwave down. The keypad assembly was replaced, and the job closed nine days after the quote. It’s the largest microwave bill on this page.
The JennAir label: model JMW3430IM02, built-in combo oven, manufactured July 2019.
Granada HillsJuly 2026 · over-the-range, brand not recordedStopped working in the middle of cooking, and the outlet seemed fine. Our technician replaced the capacitor fuse.$425
Oak ParkOctober 2026 · GEBooked for a strange sound on start-up. The technician’s note records only an adjustment.$125
Stop
Two microwaves that never got repaired.
One microwave we told the owner to stop using. On the other, the owner weighed our estimate and bought a new one.
Valencia · November 2024 · GE Profile microwave above a wall oven, model PT7800SH1SS, made September 2014
A smell we couldn’t clean out
Reported
The microwave/oven smells
Found
Oil spread through the cavity and inner compartment, down to the high-voltage transformer
Done
Nothing repaired; advised to stop using it
Bill
$90
Oil had worked its way through the microwave’s cavity and into the compartment behind it, giving off a chemical-like odor. It sat where it couldn’t be reached for cleaning, and it had seeped into inner parts including the high-voltage transformer. Cleaning it would have risked electrical damage, and the note flags a risk to any food heated in it. We advised the owner to stop using the microwave. The visit cost the diagnostic and nothing more.
The GE Profile stack in dark wood cabinets, microwave above the oven.Its label on the frame inside the door: model PT7800SH1SS, manufactured September 2014.Cover off the same microwave: magnetron (2M246), high-voltage capacitor, transformer and turntable motor.
Highland ParkOctober 2025 · microwave, checked on a refrigerator visitWe were there for the refrigerator (a defrost timer) and looked at the microwave too, at no extra charge. Its control board was faulty. We gave an estimate for a new board; the owner decided to buy a new microwave instead.—
“No power” is the commonest microwave complaint we see, far more than for other appliances, and “runs but doesn’t heat” is about one in four. As the jobs above show, a microwave that seems dead can be a fuse, a keypad lockout or a door sensor, so it’s worth testing before writing it off.
Roughly one microwave job in four was booked alongside a different appliance, most often a refrigerator, sometimes a dishwasher or a washer and dryer, as in Highland Park above. Tickets pairing the microwave with an oven are left out of that share, because many of them are a single combination unit.
A stopped turntable is a good example of why we test rather than guess. In Arcadia and in San Marino the owners described a plate that wouldn’t turn, and in both the part replaced was the door sensor, not the turntable motor.
Basis: completed jobs from July 2024 to November 2026, every city we serve. The median bill and its range use microwave-only invoices over $100. For the complaint bars, only jobs with a written-down fault are counted, and for the brand bars, only jobs whose brand is on file. “All appliances” uses the same rules for everything else we repair.
One review, matched to a microwave job record
Most microwave reviews we have are either too old to match to a job record, or about another appliance fixed on the same visit. This one was posted on the day a Thermador microwave job in Los Angeles was completed.
Snap the model label, add a few words on what it does (dead, no heat, noise, error code), and we come prepared. On the GE Profile above, the label was on the frame inside the door.
