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GE Spacemaker Microwave Oven

Turntable in GE microwave stopped turning.

chrisfan11 on Jan 04, 2009

" "

I assume the small drive motor needs replacing. How do I change the drive motor and / or troubleshoot the problem?

Best Solution

posted on Jan 04, 2009

MicrowaveSvc

Rank: Guru

GE Expert
Rating: 88%, 4456 votes

On some GE models, the turntable motor and stirrer motor are powered off a tap on the internal cooling fan motor and in such cases they will be marked "21V AC".

When I say internal cooling fan, I do not mean the hood vent exhaust fan which you can turn on and off manually.

I'm instead talking about the internal fan which comes on automatically whenever you microwave.

It is vital that the cooling fan runs, or the turntable and stirrer won't work, and magnetron will soon be destroyed.

A quick test is to remove the stirrer cover in the ceiling of the oven. The owner's manual tells you how, and you can download that here.

Then run the oven for several seconds with a cup of water inside while watching the stirrer blade in the top. It should turn very slowly.

If it does not turn or is jerky, it or the cooling fan is not working.

Also, we have a sound clip of what a microwave should sound like when the cooling fan and everything else is working here. The cooling fan's absence will be notable after you hear the clip.

The turntable system otherwise consists of the motor, the coupler, the turntable support with rollers, and the tray.

You can see and hear a video of how a turntable motor should sound when you rotate it by hand.

If the cooling fan is good, but yours won't rotate or it sounds like it's grinding, etc., you may have a bad motor or plastic coupler.

To replace either, you need to unplug power, then remove the bottom cover of the oven.

There should be a "mini-manual" (tech sheet) hidden inside the unit behind the control panel or hidden on the left side behind the grille, which is very helpful when troubleshooting, testing, and locating components.

At our Web site, we have a video available showing how to remove a typical over the range control panel assembly in under 5 minutes.

You can usually find helpful exploded view diagrams and order parts by entering your full model number here.

Accessing some parts may require you to pull the oven from thew wall and remove the cover.

If so, the installation instructions are very handy, and it's best to have two people since the microwave can be heavy and awkward.

You can download GE owner's manuals and installation instructions here.

We're happy to help you with free advice and we'd appreciate your thoughtful rating of our answer.

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