Amana Side by Side - refrigerator side began to not cool, freezer side froze up
Problem led to 3 possible problem parts, defrost thermostat, defrost heater or defrost control board. Defrost heater ohmed out to 31 ohms, so seemed good. Defrost thermostat was open when warm but was open after running refrigerator to get freezer side cold enough for thermostat to close, it did not I thought. So I ordered thermostat. Once part came in, I cut up a couple inches on orange and brown wires, stripped off enough to work with. I soldered new one in and heat shrunk the wires. I turned on and it seem to work and all night. Working fine right now.
Remove two screws from top door hinge. Remove door from unit Remove old broken plastic cam 1 screw Replace new door cam tighten 1 screw Reinstall door and top hinge screws.
Super easy - emptied door of all food, unscrewed bracket from top of door, lifted door off and set aside. Broken cam removed, new one screwed in, and lubed with some Vaseline. Set door back in new cam, screwed bracket into the top, and good to go. I was kinda worried about shopping from PartSelect since I had never heard about them, but the part was here in less than 2 days. Pretty awesome little company.
Removed the door by taking 3 screws out of the top and lifting straight up, then replaced with the new parts and very easily replaced the door, worked ike a charm, if i didn't know any better it was like factory new
The door made a loud noise on opening and closing.
Emptied the door. Removed the door, top bolts first. Lifted out the door. Installed new cam at the bottom. Set the door back in place. Bolted the top hinge back on. Smooth!
The part came quickly and was the right one. You can't imagine how many outfits lose it here. Well done and thanks.
Removed top hinge cover and socketed out hinge nuts. Lifted door off bottom hinge. Socketed out broken bottom cam and replaced with new. Reset door with someone lifting and the other guiding. Reattached top hinge and cover. Voila.
Popped off the control panel at the top behind the door. Found the thermistor and replaced it, cutting the wires and splicing the new one in. Immediately the warm section of the refrigerator was getting below freezing temperature readings, so the cooling vent was not opening. I put the old one back on and the temperature readings went back to being accurate. So this was not the problem. I believe now that the fan somehow is not blowing enough cold air up. So now I'll probably buy a fan motor and maybe a blade and try that. Otherwise the computer module I priced at $500 so I hope it isn't that. I replace the fan motor a few years ago already.
My son (who does HVAC, but not appliance repair) did some investigating by taking front and back panels off and determined that the evaporator coil was freezing over because the defrost wire was not heating up. He and his girlfriend did some real-time internet searching for diagnostic info because NO control diagram was included with the refrigerator. He determined the problem was most likely the electronic control board. Ordered and installed a new board and the refrigerator is back to working fine. Took about 2 hours to diagnose the problem and 1/4 hour to actually install the control board. Kind of disappointing that this control board failed when the refrigerator was less that 4 years old.
