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I have a Panasonic microwave oven, model no. NN-K453BBPQ, serial no. U44060625. Although old, it worked perfectly until the hook on the door latch head broke, so the door wouldn’t close. I opened the front panel and repaired the door latch, so it now opens and closes perfectly. However, when connected to electricity the light inside stays on and although the keypad responds, ie I can set time and power, nothing happens when I press the start button. Any help to rectify this problem would be much appreciated 🙂
the door latch operates switches inside. if the switches are not depressed the unit wont function
what went wrong with the latch and how did you repair it ?
Dave
Hi Dave, thanks for your reply.
The small plastic hook on the bottom end of the latch that attaches to the spring had snapped off. I reattached the spring to the latch with some strong but fine wire that didn’t interefere with the movement of the latch, ensuring the spring was still in tension. The latch moves up and down and the action of opening and closing the door has the same ‘feel’ as before.
take cover off and make sure the microswitches on the door are being depressed
there should be 3 of them but the ones you are interested in are the ones depressed by the hook end
it goes without saying to remove the plug before you try this
Dave
I spent hours trying to undo the screws holding the cover on without success, then this morning I thought I’d have another go using WD40, still without success. Whilst it was out, I thought I may as well try the WD40 on the door mechanism as there seemed to be nothing else I could do and bingo! When I plugged the microwave back in the light was out and it now works, so thank you very much Dave – without your suggestion I wouldn’t now have a working microwave 🙂
I spoke too soon 🙁
I thought the microwave was working because the light went off until it was programmed and then the light came on and it made the usual humming sound for the correct amount of time, BUT when I put something in to heat up I noticed the turntable wasn’t revolving and the food came out cold! The oven was working perfectly before the latch repair.
well you need to take the lid off now
a lot of the time they use security screws to stop people getting in easily. you can buy them but you might have to get a set from Amazon as i am not sure screwfix will let you have them but you could try
there is an internal fuse that may have gone but more likely the latch is not engaging properly
check you repair make sure the latch is going all the way down
Dave
There’s no way I can open the cover. The screws won’t budge at all, so I think they must be security screws.
The latch seems to go up and down properly exactly as it did before, but I will open the front panel again and see if I can increase the tension in the spring, as there’s not much else I can do without opening the cover 🙁
Thanks Dave, I tried to attach a photo of the screw, but got the message: “Upload failed. You have exceeded your usergroup’s upload quota of 19.5 KB by 120.0 KB”. However, the problem does seem to be with the latch engagement.
I increased tension in the spring and tested the oven before replacing the front panel. It worked as normal and heated a cup of water, but when I replaced the panel it wouldn’t work. After much experimentation, I found that the oven only works with the panel removed despite the door closing exactly the same way with it in place. Although the wire used to repair the latch does not appear to interfere with the close fitting of the panel or the latch mechanism, it must do. Would it be safe to use the oven without the panel in place?
no is the short answer. any alteration to the door may cause a leakage of microwaves and thats not safe
did some digging and this one may be correct
you need to do some reseach yourself. they seem to be in the uk so they may be able to confirm
Dave
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