I recently purchased my house and when I went to turn on the furnace it did go on, now that its getting cold I went to turn it on again... it didn't go on. There's a switch which I thought was the light switch for the closet in which the furnace is in and I kept switching it on and off... im a little ditz sometimes! I figured the pilot went out since the heater won't go on. I followed the directions on the panel that you remove but I have no clue how to do number 7. Remove pilot access panel located below and behind gas control unit. At first I was going to stick the lighter through that hole but I didn't know if it was correct. Here's some photos of my furnace...

I called a handyman ut he wanted to charge me 60$! I cannot afford that, any help would be appreciated!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/ibreakaces/furnace.jpg?t=1223915726

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/ibreakaces/1-2.jpg?t=1223915798

I see no problem with leaving that panel in place as long as you can get the flame to the pilot. Just use one of those long lighters or a fireplace match and you should be fine. $60.00 just to light the pilot is a bit ridiculous.

Mark is right. No need to remove cover. Just get a flame up in there and it should light.

As far as the $60 dollar charge. It is most likely not a charge just to light the pilot(how can he be sure that this is all he has to do) it is a probably a minimum service charge. It would be the same if all he had to do was change the filter.

On a personal note, it sounds like he is charging an hour for his minimum rate(should only charge half hour $30-35) for a job as simple as this.

I have a Trane XE60 and the pilot will not stay lit even after holding the button down for more than a minute. What are the chances it's the thermocoupler and if so how hard is it to take out the old one and replace it?

Odd are pretty good it is just a bad thermocouple. Good place to start. Not to hard to change out if you are mechanically inclined.