Do-It-Yourself Story

14 year old GE Profile microwave wouldn't heat, but had power. Read reviews here. Ordered triumvirate of magnetron, capacitor, & diode. Was hoping not to need the capacitor as this was an expensive part; and if not needed to return to AppliancePartsPros, which has been SOP. After watching a couple YouTube videos of microwave capacitors being shorted, I made a capacitor discharge tool ordering 24W 100K Ohm resistor and high voltage test wires w/ alligator clips from amazon. At the same time, make sure to order tamper proof star key, T-15 size (I think) or a set. I have a lot of tools, and saw other reviews that torx was needed, which I have a full set and then some of. But these are torx-security screws - different from a standard torx. When I went to remove the cover, I found the torx-security screws and had to order again from amazon, delaying repair two more days. Once cover's off, repair is easy. As others suggested, use smart phone to take photo of wires' original connections before disassembly. Pull connectors from capacitor and discharge (for safety). Swapped magnitron and diode, and microwave was back in business. Wait til all four screws are threaded on the magnitron before snugging any down. The four screws are through a flange that runs the magnitron's perimeter. Tightening the screws deflects the flange a bit, which can make threading and seating other screws difficult, if done one at a time. Also replaced bulb while cover was off, which had gone out a couple months previously (14 year life span, pretty darn good). Can see why owners are irritated with bulb replacement. Cheap part and easy to replace (don't have to do anything with high voltage components) with just one mounting screw and connector, but have to have torx-security driver to remove cover. Close up. And get thanks from wife.