Microwave squeaks like crazy

[grace2day]

Brand new coach ('16 Dynamax Force HD 37BH). The microwave sounds like a hamster wheel, squeaking incessantly. It drives us absolutely nuts. It works fine, BTW.

The coach is rock solid except for this and the bunk above the cockpit. I spike with the OEM and they said they'd happily reset it under the warranty. But before I go through that time consuming process (we live 5 hours from the closest warranty service shop), I'm trying to figure out how involved resetting an underhang microwave is. It's not in a cabinet, there is no trim.

Any thoughts or ideas?

I know squeaks come with the territory, but this thing is just maddening.

[adrianr]

we have a sharp carousel that squeaked. What I did was remove the two metal filters in the bottom and pushed apiece of cardboard up to brace the bottom of the microwave to the metal housing. Noise is gone. good luck.

[falconman]

The make and model of the oven would be helpful. Most ovens are held in place by a lip on the rear of the oven placed into a matching lip on a hidden rear bracket that was screwed to the wall. It's then rotated upward into position and then secured by very long screws. You can try to tighten up these screws to see if it helps. They are usually located on the front area on bottom of the oven and angle up towards the back wall. They may be hidden by filters, etc. There also may be other screws holding it in place, check carefully.

[MSHappyCampers]

I doubt that a reset will do the job. Sounds like the turntable needs to be lubricated. You might be able to spray some WD40 up through ventilation holes in the bottom.

[Podivin]

It could also be the little wheels under the turn table in the microware

[Bob&AnnaMari]

You need to be more specific about your "squeak". It you are talking about squeaking when you are driving down the road I probably have your answer. If you are talking about it squeaking when you are using it, that is another issue.

[tkcas01]

I also assume you mean noise while underway, not while using the micro. My sharp had a pretty bad squeak as well. Turned out it was the back, bottom edge of the box vibrating on a lip on the mounting bracket. I bit if felt shoved up in there fixed it for me years later.

[grace2day]

Thank you for your replies.

To be clear, it squeaks when underway. I'll confirm our model today, but ours allows us to remove the turntable and the rotating plate. So I know it's neither of those.

My guess is the noise is at the lip, as falconman suggests. This is why I was looking at having it reset.

I should also say it's a constant squeaking underway, like a rubbing of metal against metal.

[grace2day]

It is a Sharp R-1874-T.

All screws are tight. When I push up on the undercarriage of the unit from the metal frame (within the removed vents), I hear the metal on metal squeak.

[the trainguy]

Stow away from recent trip to Disney World!!!

[Bob&AnnaMari]

Originally Posted by grace2day

It is a Sharp R-1874-T.
All screws are tight. When I push up on the undercarriage of the unit from the metal frame (within the removed vents), I hear the metal on metal squeak.

Which is where the issue is. Now you have a dilemma; your rig is new and should be fixed under warranty by the dealer or you want it fixed right which means you have to do it yourself. The people who install these things on RVs use the same methods used for homes that never go over a bumpy road; they just hold them in place with a couple of metal screws in the front of the unit.

You are right, the squeak comes from your unit rubbing on metal in the undercarriage. After some traveling over the years, our mounting screws ended up cutting slits in the top and the front dropped about 1/2 an inch from the mounting. (I still cannot believe that I missed seeing it until the squeaking started.) The "proper" fix is to replace the simple metal screws used to mount the front of the unit with bolts and washers.

For tools, you will need a small bottle jack, some spare lumber pieces and a Dewalt right angle drill adapter and a 1/4 inch drill bit that fits the adapter. For parts, you will need two small bolts about 1 1/2 inch long (you need to measure this distance for your installation) fender washers (the large ones) for the bolts and nuts. (I used self-locking nuts.)

Place a large piece of 2x6 over the stove area so that no pressure is on the stove or the stove cover. Use the other wood to fill the gap between the top of the bottle jack and the bottom of the oven. Remove the trim strip at the top of the stove which exposes the area where you need to work. Gently pump up the bottle jack until the microwave is firm against the underside of the wood frame holding it. Fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise and then again forming a "V" shape that can be pushed into the area exposed by removing the trim. Do this for each side. (This is to keep any drill shavings from getting into the electronics of the oven.) Drill one hole on each side. (I drilled fairly close to the front of the overhead cabinet for minimal intrusion by the bolt heads.) Install the bolts from the top putting the fender washer and nut on the inside of the microwave oven.

With this mounting you will provide stability that simply cannot be accomplished with metal screws and you provide a lasting attachment that will not slit the metal microwave cover like mine did.

The people who assemble these things just want to get them out the door. And I blame the designers for not designing things to take the abuse that our current highway system dishes out to all RVs.

Hope this helps. It took about as long to type this up as it takes to do the job itself.

P.S. - I just looked up your rig on the internet. Very nice.

[grace2day]

Thanks Bob/Anna. Makes sense. Sounds more daunting than it probably is. But I'm 5 hours from a shop, so I could probably do this 10 times over in the time it takes just to get there. I'll see what I can do. Appreciate the insight.