85278 (P1109010W) Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

I have a side by side Amana fridge about 12 years old. One day I noticed everything was not cold anymore. I checked the temp with my infrared thermometer and it was about 70 in the top of the fridge, 40-50 in the bottom, and freezer was the same! So after pulling out the two baskets in the bottom of the freezer and the side rails that hold the baskets, I used a 1/4 nut driver to remove the back lower panel. After looking at the electrical schematic on the back of the fridge, I jumpered around the defrost thermostat, a little cylinder with two wires coming out of it. Bingo, the fan turned on. Well after a few days of running fine with it jumpered my new one arrived. I never really tested my old one with a meter so I did that and it tested fine, so I plugged the old one back in and it worked fine for a few days. Then one day I noticed that fan wasn't running again so I just put the new one in. I had to cut one of the connectors off as it was female instead of male and crimp cap it together, but besides that it went fine. So after connecting it I noticed the fan motor was buzzing but not spinning. I wiggled wires around and determined the connector going into the fan motor had to be a certain way to make the connection. I unplugged it, it wasn't corroded or anything but if pulled down on, it would not make connection. So pulling up on the connector proved that it would make good connection, so a ziptie keeping the wires tight in the up direction proved to be the solution. I'm pretty sure my old defrost thermostat was not the problem. So that's my story. Hope it helped.

I removed the old grille toe plate and snapped the new one in it's place.

Unplug fridge, unpluged fan motor from plug socket, removed bracket screws, removed fan retainer clip from shaft. removed screws holding fan to bracket

inst said,"50 pct of the time this calls for new capacitor," so we changed the capacitor. Same prob. It also said,"25 pct of the time it's the bi-metal thermostat" So we ordered it. We removed the plastic rear panel from inside the freezer comp. using small nut driver. Here we found much ICE surrounding the defrost unit, three inches thick. We thawed the whole mess. and the freezer has worked fine ever since. I think my habit of getting ice cubes from the inside container rather than from the ice cube dispenser, had kep t the freezer door open too much, interfering with the normal defrost cycle and allowing ice to build up over time so that it finally defeated the system. My new rule, "get ice cubes only from the front."

Eased the putty knife under the edge of the switch housing and pried it off. Pulled two wires off the old terminals and hooked them onto the new one and reinstalled into the refrigerator body.

Was told capacitor was problem 90% of the time.Capacior was not the problem.Bad start relay.

Once I removed the contents of the freezer I found ice on the inside back panel Removing the panel I found ice on the cooling coils and the defrost thermostat was bulged out where the wires were attached.I removed the panel with the nutdriver as shown in the video. I removed the ice maker connection and removed the panel from the freezer section. I then had to manually defrost the area with a heat gun. The ice had actually covered the Defrost Thermostat - which was bulging where the wires were attached.. The defrosting took the majority of the repair time - the actual Defrost Thermostat replacement only took about 20 minutes once I could get to it. I spliced the wire with a crimping tool as discussed in the video. Once all was defrosted I reversed the operation.Overall, a very simple part change out. The video was extremely helpful - if nothing else to mentally prepare me for the task.

Pull refrigerator out to access back, unplug unit and remove the 3 .25" screws cut the power leads to motor and install new with easy to understand instructions provided with new motor. Plug refrigerator back in and enjoy your cold beverages once more. EASIEST REPAIR EVER.

bulbs were not burnt out. received the new switch in a few days. watch the short video, was good to see how it comes out. used a putty knife to release the defective switch, removed wires put them on the new one and posed the new switch back in. Not bad Part cost $11.00 7 dollars shipping so for 17 bucks it works great. nice to see what is inside the refer!

Like you video

Not so good that was not the problem. Fan is not seized and all the lights work and display is not on but lights up as well. No start once plugged back in after 15 minutes of being unplugged. Nothing same no change.

We looked up the problem online with the model number of the refrigerator. We ordered the part and followed the video installation that was sent with the order and was found online prior to purchasing

Unplug refrigerator.
Pry switch out with putty knife
Remove two wires from switch
Attach wires to new switch
Push new switch into slot

The instruction sheet supplied with the new motor described the steps to take very good. Replaced the rubber grommets for the three motor mounts also. A flashlight or light source was needed or was very helpful.

I just popped out the old switch with a flat head screwdriver. Removed the connections and then installed new switch by reversing steps. Popped in back in and the light went on.