The odor is like a bad ballast and the exhaust fan did not run when on a microwave setting (works when on fan only). I can't quite determine by sight/smell whether its the transformer (which I suspect) or if the magnetron can do that also when going bad.

But first things first - discharging the capacitor > the tag inside says short the negative terminal to the chassis ground > so simply stick a screwdriver into the neg terminal (white), and hit the frame? let the sparks fly? Does it need to be plugged in to discharge to the house wiring, or is that instead recharging the capacitor, and should it be done when unplugged?