Poped out with screwdriver the old swithch and unplugged the two wires. Plugged in the wires to the new swithch and pushed it back in the hole where the old switch was before.
Turned off the refridgerator. Took everything out of the freezer compartment & put into ice chest with pleanty of ice on top. Removed 2 screws holding the ice maker in place & placed ice maker aside. Removed shelf. Removed one screw on back plate, pushed up on the holding tabs at the top of the back plate & removed the back plate. Removed 3 screws holding the motor bracket in place along with the 3 wires. Installed new motor & used the wire extensions provided due to the electrical connections on the new motor being on the opposite side. Had to bend one wire tab down to clear the motor bracket. Turned refridgerator back on to ensure correct rotation on the fan. Reinstalled back plate & ice maker & shelf. Waited 30 minutes before putting food items back in freezer compartment.
Switch failed on which kept the refrigerator warm due to heat generatered by light bulbs.
While the switch did last for 9 years, the design is poor due to the failure mode. The failure should be to fail off or not able to turn on the lights which would be inconvenient but would not warm the refrigerator contents. Arcing at the contacts eventually caused the switch to "weld" closed. It is not obvious that this is occurring so it took some time to recognize why the temp inside the ref was high while the freezer was OK. Replacing the switch was easy once it was recognized as the problem. All that was required to replace the switch was to remove the screws holding a fiber cover and then pulling off the aluminum cap which covered the switches. Unplug the switch an squeeze the keeper on the switch to release it and pull down. Pop the replacement switch in place and plug the wires harness back in. All in all it took much less time to replace than it has to write this up. T Pope
My husband did the repair, and even though our refrigerator is roughly 20+ years old, he was able to adapt it to work in all the right spots and we now have ice cubes! I'm very happy we did not have to spend $2000 on a comparable refrigerator.
The existing light switch was very hard to remove. I ended up having to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. Once it was out, it was very easy to put in the replacement and it seems to be working fine.
First I replaced the double valve because the ice maker was not filling with water. It still did not work. Then I replaced the ice maker itself. This worked and was relatively easy to replace. I had to use the water fill "slide" from the old ice maker. The new one was too narrow and it leaked water into the freezer.
easy as 1.2.3 remove and replace before even thinking. just to let you know i also do this for a living but it is one of the most difficult thing when you have to stop and fix your own
Turned off power, removed cover from Ice maker, checked resistance across thermostat for zero (read open), all other switches read proper value (when activated). Ordered and received thermostat. Removed Ice Maker from freezer, removed two screws holding ice tray to Control Assembly. Removed Thermostat and replaced with new one. Applied Silicone Sealant to face of Thermostat for adhesion to ice tray when assembled. Remounted Ice Tray to Control Assembly and remounted in freezer. Works Great...
First I turned the refrigerator and water line off. Then moved to the freezer section, followed the directions, removed the two screws. Directions state to not remove them but I had to in this case. Unplugged the ice maker and removed it from the freezer. I installed the two mounting screws then tried to plug the electrical connection back in but had to use the adaptor cord furnished in the kit. The cord was a little long but I tucked it in and mounted the ice maker. Turned it on then turned the refrigerator and water back on and in a few hours had ice! Very easy to do!
Moving the frig out and cleaning was the hardest part of this job - lots of dust collected over the 17 years the frig was in place. Once all the cleaning was done, with the frig out and back cover off (10 -12 screws taken off with nutdriver),I plugged the frig in and observed the the problem was a noisy fan motor. The motor is at the very back of the frig with easy access to the 3 brackets holding it in place. Pull off the electrical clip. Remove the screw holding the bracket to the frame on the front bracket, leaving the bracket attacked to the fan. The other two screws remove from the fan, leaving the brackets in place. Reverse the procedure when you receive the new part from PartSelect(great company to deal with)!
as described, I used a thin screwdriver to wedge in and pull down existing, broken switch. I was able to pull it down about a 1/4 inch, but wasn't quit able to disegage it until I gripped it with pliers. I then pulled it out, unplugged the old switch, plugged in the new switch, and carefully tucked the wires back into the fridge and snapped the new switch into place.