GSC278PJQ3 Whirlpool Microwave Oven Combo - Instructions

Took out the 2 screws and removed 2 wires connected to old element, put on new one. Did this all in about 5-10 minutes. Hubby didn't even have to help!

unscrewed the top glass protector off and took the old bulb out and put the new bulb in. very easy - less than 5 minutes.

There are hinges on the door that need to be lifted up to take the entire oven door off the appliance. The screws are taken off of the door to get to the interior glass. The cracked oven door was simply taken off and replaced by the new one and the screws were put back and the door was placed by hooking it onto the appliance and the hinges were dropped down. Simple as that!

First, I'll say this website made it easy to find and order the part, it arrived quickly and reading others' reviews helped with installation. My Dad and I did the repair together, which really helped - my Dad is an fantastic handyman! We removed the door by lifting it up out of the hinges - a little difficult to get the right angle, but we succeeded with a little wiggling. We disassembled each later of glass/door, keeping each layer in order with screws so we could retrace our steps. I cleaned each layer thoroughly, which added to the time. Unfortunately, just as we were putting the last part on (exterior door with glass), the glass shattered as I tightened the screw! Ack! My Dad said it's because the glass was old and easy to shatter. Maybe I tightened the screw too much? So, back to the website I go to order the next part. We expect it to arrive soon. The bad news: another Christmas without an oven. The good news: my oven is now clean as new (I even removed the back fan cover to clean the fan - couldn't have done that without removing the door) and the parts added up to a fraction of the cost of a new oven.

Removed double oven from cabinet after removing the doors, placing it on a milk crate, needs two people, turned it slightly to access the rear panels, removed panels and lower of the 2 motors and installed new motor, replaced all panels. I now have to check to make sure it is turned on it is so quiet! We lived with this noise so long because the appliance repair people said it was very expensive, about $400.00 to replace the motor, we did it for under $100.00 !!

Removed oven from the wall. Take off back panel. Removed thermal overload thermostat. Replaced with new part and works great.

Like others said, the trick was getting the oven door off. If you don't have the instructions, here's how: Open the door all the way. Shine a flashlight on the hinge, and you will see an open hole about 3/16" diameter below the hingepin and toward the oven. With the door open, put a 5/32" allen wrench or any other comparably-sized metal pin into the hole in each hinge. With the pins in place, close the door as far as it will go, which is almost but not quite fully closed. Put one hand under the door handle, the other hand under the bottom of the door, and pull the bottom of the door down and out. With maybe a little wiggling, it will come right out. That's really all there is to it! Taking out all the glass layers is straightforward; you don't need any instructions to see how to do it.

Ordered a new cooking tray and it was shipped within two hours. Packaging was excellent and well protected.

I followed the step-by-step instructions from Steve on the part select videos posted on Youtube.

replace thermal safety switch on back of oven

PartSelect service was quick and good and the price was about 35% of having the appliance store replace the hinges. We have two wall ovens - one a Whirlpool and the other a Kitchen-Aid - and strangely enough both use the same hinges. The oven door hinges are the weakest part of the ovens and we have had to have them replaced before. After paying over a $175 each for the repairs I was shocked to see how quickly they failed. Within 8 months one had to be propped closed with a broom handle and the other with a stool just to keep the doors closed so my wife could use the ovens .. and keep the oven light from staying on all the time.
My wife was ready to call the service people again when I said let me see if I can replace the hinges. I looked at the YouTube videos on oven door hinge replacement and it looked easy enough. I found PartSelect had the replacement hinges so I decided to start with one oven to see if I could do the replacement. It took almost three hours to get the oven door off and the hinges changed. Why? Every demo video on YouTube showed opening the door all the way and flipping over a lock that stopped the door closing at that almost closed point. This allows you lift up on the oven door releasing the hinge arm from the catch so you could slide the oven door away from the body of the oven. Guess what! These hinges didn’t have that little flip over lock!
I finally managed to get the door off using a screw driver to help me disengage one of the hinges from the oven itself. The rest of the hinge replacement went exactly like the demo videos described. Now I had to get the door back on the oven.
I held the door as shown on the videos and it slipped right in, but when I tried to close the door the whole thing was too high and bound. Messing with it I finally heard something drop out and onto the floor. I picked up this little apx. 1/8th inch diameters by ¼ inch long pin with a flared crimp on one end. I looked carefully at both hinges with a flashlight and saw that there was a pin like that on one side and not on the other. I slipped the second pin out of the remaining side and suddenly the door closed perfectly. It was then that I realized that the pins acted like the flip over lock! The problem was the new hinges had the pin and the old one did not, and you should not remove the pin from the new ones before you put the door back as it holds the hinge in a tension needed need to fit the door back on (and that tension is strong).
So there is a trick. You will need something to function as those pins, like a 16p finish nail, when you remove the oven door.
I immediately ordered hinges from PartSelect for the second oven .. saving the pins from the first hinge replacement. The second set of hinges arrived two days later and I opened the second oven door and put in the two saved pins – the door lifted off perfectly and 15 minutes later it was back on with new hinges. By the way, I saved the now four little pins in a zip-lock bag and put them with our file of appliance manuals. If I have to replace the hinges again I will have the pins I will need for removing the door.
One other thing I learned was why I believe the original hinges worked for several years while the ones installed by the service guy failed in months! On each of the ovens the service guy had replaced only one of the hinges. You could see the grime on the 4 or 5 year old ones that wasn’t there on the months old ones. I wish I could show you the pictures I took of both hinges (which this site won’t let me add), but the two hinges placed side by side had slightly different length and shaped locking arms (that part that slides into the body of the oven). On that first door I struggled with I couldn’t understand why one side just slid out while the other I had to force out. Looking back it was the old hinge that slid out and I don’t believe it was ever engaged as the locking arm was slightly shorter and a different sha

I went to the source of power on the stove and noticed one of the terminals had come loose from the terminal block and had shorted out against the cover of the terminal junction. After prying the loose terminal off cover I ordered new terminal block and received it the 2nd day. I removed the old terminal block and replaced the part in about 10 minutes..Thank you Parts Select for your easy to find diagrams and quick delivery.

Unscrewed the old thermostat took off the conectors then replaced with new one, and screwed it back on.

Had to screw off old terminal block & screw on new one

I found several posts about Whirlpool/KitchenAid ovens having this problem and most of the time this required a replacement of the thermal fuse. Other than the large number of screws to remove the oven and the sheet metal coverings, replacing the fuse was mostly about waiting to get the part. If I had a local dealer with the fuse, I probably could have been baking Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake that same evening. Even so, this particular repair should be left to those familiar with doing moderate-level handyman type repairs. You have to make sure the breaker is off and beware of the sharp edges on sheet metal. Fortunately, the fuse was easy to find using online documentation for my model. Part Select was very helpful when my original order did not arrive. Their customer service was great!