Symptom guides / microwave
microwave repairs: symptom, cost, and when to replace
Every microwave fault this site covers, in one place: 2 guides, each built from a fact record with its own cited source. This is the entry point when you know which machine is failing but not yet which fault you are looking at — find the symptom that matches and follow it, because the cost on the guide is split by cause rather than averaged.
microwave: every fault this site covers
- it runs but the food comes out cold — repair $265–$527, comparable new unit $130–$1,000, diagnostic $99
- the microwave smells of burning or old grease — repair $265–$527, comparable new unit $130–$1,000, diagnostic $76–$99
Across these guides the repair band runs from $265-$527, and a comparable new unit is priced at $130-$1,000 in the records. The planning life used for the replacement decision is 10 years. Every figure is the one printed on the guide it links to, where it is tied to a named source and, where the source publishes one, a sample size.
How to read the spread
The band is the point: both ends start at the same figure, $265–$527 — not heating at the bottom and smells bad at the top — so the spread to watch is the one inside each guide rather than between them. A quote at the bottom of a band is usually a part doing its job at the end of its life, and repairing is the cheaper answer. A quote at the top is usually the part that needs the machine opened furthest — on a machine past its planning life that money is better spent on the new unit, because the next failure is already queued. The half-of-new-price rule is the shortcut; the age of the machine is the correction.
What this page is not
It is not a diagnosis and not a quote. The symptom names are the ones owners actually search with, taken from the record; the table cannot tell you which cause you have, only what each cause costs once it is identified. The safety notes at the top of each guide are the ones that matter before anything is opened.
Next
If you already have a quote, run it through the repair or replace calculator against the age of the machine. For the whole picture across every appliance see how long appliances last and what appliance repairs cost.
Have a quote?
Put your quote and the age of the unit into the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule, with your own numbers.