CTN1511GEW Magic Chef Refrigerator - Instructions

Removed the one and only screw inserted vertically up to hold the control console to the top of the fresh food compartment. Disconnected the electrical connectors ( two ) and laid console on work bench. Studied the temperature control installation first, then removed wire connections. Installed the new control same as old one, and reinstalled the console in the fresh food compartment of the refrigerator. Service from Part Select was excellent ! Great diagrams, pictures, etc. Great help to locating part ! Ordered part, and bam, here it was in few days ! Great customer support ! Five stars !

Diagnosis: Defrost timer tested fine for continuity. Removed relay/capacitor unit from compressor (carefully). Tested compressor connections for continuity (OK). I tested the connection paths from timer to compressor and they were fine. At this point, I figured it could only be two things: [1]bad compressor or [2] bad relay/capacitor. I put the odds on the relay and bet the $70 on the part. Before installation, I marked the timer position with a sharpie. It's located on the ceiling of the refrigerator compartment. After the part installation, the compressor kicked in, purring quietly. Condenser coils warm, Evaporator coils cold. After a few hours I had ice in the freezer. I checked the timer markings with a compact mirror. It had advanced over a half turn, assuring that the timer motor functions. . Next, I went to the grocery store.

Thanks to previously posted PartSelect stories, I had a good idea on how to proceed. This component, as others have suggested, is clearly a piece of junk. This is the third time it has been replaced, once under warranty, again in a service call for $160 and now by me, with a PartSelect unit for $52.
The circuit board, with integral relay, resides in the extreme upper right hand corner of the fresh food compartment.
Remove upper shelf.
Remove white plastic control cover through which the lights illuminate the compartment. Finger grips at both sides at rear. Slide forward about an inch to clear the tabs visible at the rear, then tilt down and off. The owners' manual describes this at "Changing the Light Bulbs". It also gets the lightbulb description wrong, but ..........
Now remove the hex head screw facing you at the rear center. Then get its two cousins which are vertically positioned to hold the front of this housing up into the roof. They're left and right, just rearwards of the ends of the control setting dial.
These three tapping screws which you now have in hand are about 1 1/4" long.
Next, there are two Phillips head screws, also into the roof, whice are just to the rear of the two light sockets. Removing these, and the left one is awkward, frees up the control totally except for the wiring harness, which restrains it at the rear.
No matter, just tilt the unit down so that the front lip is pointed down towards you.
The piece-o-crap board is at the right rear.
Pop off the connector, takes some force, and put in your new module.
Order another one now, you will need it.
The service tech who changed out my next-to-last one left a circuit diagram back there with the new control, like saying "I'll be back."

I called a repair man from a pretty large name to come out and take a look. He found out in about 10 minutes that it was a bad capacitor. The quote he gave me was $75 for the part and $175 labor. I tried my best not to laugh and tell him no thank you. He did have to charge me for him to show up, which was only $98.
So I used what he told(minus the "scrap it") and opened it back up. Although he had left wires everywhere and the broken pieces laying inside, I thought it was enough for me to order the part. PartSelect was very easy to navigate and ordering was a breeze. Took about 4 days to get the part and I ordered in the X-mas craze. Fixed it in about 15 minutes.

Just replaced the switch, but unfortunately that was not the problem; nor was it the bulb....so I am back to square one.
But Parts Select is a great place to order from. Thank you.

First I hired a repairman to fix it who charged $125 to defrost the cooling coils then said the defrost heater would need to be replaced for $125+labor. He had the wrong part and was going to charge me >3x the price it would have been from Partselect.com too. I figure I saved a minimum of $250 vs having him do the work then charge me yet again for the right part.

Should have just done this myself from the start and saved another $125. Information about the cause, how to test and what parts would be needed were all easy to find online once I actually searched.

Unplugged fridge.

Using diagrams from PartSelect.com and other information online anb defrosted coils with hair-dryer. (This requires removing two screws in back of freezer compartment using nut-driver to remove the panels covering coils... literally a two minute job to expose coils!)

Then found and tested defrost heater.
Defrost heater was fine. Per information online problem then had to be Adaptive Frost Control (ADA) circuit board.

In refrigerator compartment:
1) Removed top housing cover (covers lights, temp controls, etc.) This required removing a single screw (with nut-driver) attaching it to back and depressing two locking tabs near the back on either side. Slide it forward and down. The only tricky part of this repair is getting the locking tabs positioned correctly to get the plastic cover off. I did break the left one although it cover is still firmly in place in this case.)

2) Removed entire assembly from roof of fridge. involves loosening two large headed screws above lights and removing two hex-head screws with nut-driver above either side of temp controls. Next slide slightly to the right to disengage the two large-headed screws (or remove them completely... it seemed easier to just leave them in place.) Dropped front end of control assembly down.

3) Opened plastic box surrounding ADA and pried open locking tab holding it to wiring. Connected new board and set ADA assembly back in place.

4) Put everything back together.

Plugged fridge in and all was well. Exposed the coils again a few days later and they were not frosted up at all.

Total time to replace the ADA was about 20 minutes. Total time for everything including defrosting coils, testing, replacing parts, etc. was an hour max.

Chronically faulty electronic board in upper right rear of refrigerator compartment - in Maytag and Jenn-Air. Unplug unit. Remove freezer food to ice chest. Remove baskets and shelves, ice hopper and rear lower panel to expose evaporater fins. Defrost with hair dryer and allow all moisture to dry. Then in refrigerator, remove top shelf food. Carefully remove the upper assembly cover by working the plastic down and slide forward to unhook from rear slide attachments - one on each side. This is the hard part of repair.

Then remove screws from rear wall and just behind the lamps to release the whole control assembly. In the rear right corner is the bad board. Unplug and replace with new board. Reassemble the fridge and freezer. Replug unit.

Confirmed the condenser fan was the problem when I noted it was not running when the compressor was on. Removed 3 mounting screws, unpluggede the fan. Removed and replaced the mounted flange(3 screws) and remounted. Plugged in fan and it started running.

Thanks for the diagrams and quick delivery. This is the second repair on appliances I have made with your parts and probably saved $300-400 in service calls.

UNPLUG YOUR FRIDGE BEFORE YOU START> First I removed the shroud covering the lights and controls in the top of the refrigerator side. This was the hardest part, actually. Their are two indentations on the back of the cover and it is really hard to pull that cover off. Anyhow, once you do that, their are two screws, one by each light bulb in the top of the fridge that need to be removed. Their are also three hex head screws that need to be removed, two in the front corners of the assembly, one in the center, back of the fridge. Take those out and the whole assembly drops down. In the back right had corner of the assembly is the adaptive defrost control. Unplug it and set it aside. Plug the new one in. Put everything back together and you are back in business.

I don't know anything about repairing a refrigerator - I'm a computer tech. I noticed that the outside of the fridge was warm to the touch and the inside was not getting as cold as it should. I took the lower back panel behind the fridge off and noticed that the fan was not spinning. The local parts dealers did not have the condenser fan motor that was needed but they did say that they do go bad. I decided to order one from PartSelect.com and do it myself. Using a 1/4 inch nut driver and a flat head screw driver to pry the old motor out of the casing, I got the job done in about an hour or so. It's a relativly easy job. Besides the ouside panel screws, there's 3 screws on the inside near the fan blades you have to reach in to get. Pop out the whole assembly, unscrew the nut that holds the blades on and pry out the old motor and replace.. Try it yourself and save a couple hundred bucks!

My frig was cycling between upper 30's to 60 degrees, the freezer would make ice one day then be melting the next. I started by replacing the CONDENSER FAN MOTOR, relatively easy, unplug the motor, ratchet off the three supporting screws, splice the wires together, attach the ground wire and reinstall. That didn't seem to fix my problem.

I then ordered the Defrost Thermostat and Defrost Timer, based on past advice these were frequently replaced parts. Both installs were easy, the DEFROST TIMER was installed first, one screw holds the housing in the fridge, just unplug and unclip and install the new one. Very easy. This didn't seem to correct the problem overnight. I then installed the DEFROST THERMOSTAT, which was a couple of screws in the back of the freezer and uncip and install the new one. Very easy. This seemed to help the freezer maintain temperature, but the frig was still cycling up and down in temp on a daily basis and I had the temp knob all the way to 7 when it would normally work at 4.

I ordered the TEMPERATURE CONTROL ASSEMBLY. Easy to install, in the same housing as the Defrost timer, unhook some wires, reinstall and run the coiled part toward the back of the housing. This fixed the problem and has maintained my temp in the mid to lower 40's at the setting of 4.

I removed the plastic housing inside the top of the rerigerator. Next I removed one hex head screw on the right side that screwed into the back wall using a 1/4 inch nut driver and I removed four hex head screws that screwed up through the temperature control unit into the top. There were two phillips head screws that had to be loosened, but not removed, that also scewed up through the assembly. After the hex head screws were removed, the whole assembly pulls out about an inch then drops down. Once it's down you can remove the adaptive defrost circuit board in the right rear corner of the unit. It's fixed! Thanks

slid new end caps onto bar and snaped back in to door. It took less than 1 minute.

It was so easy!

Thanks for the rush to my home on the part.

I just unscrewed the plate that locks in the light switch (screwdriver) and unplugged the old faulty part and plugged in the new switch, screwed the cover back on and I was done!

Easy!

And I am not Mr. Fix-it!

Thanks to someone else who had shared their repair story, we followed what she said she had done. Of course, we cut the power first, disconnected the ice maker, took the back off of the freezer compartment (from the inside), disconnected the defective fan motor. The fan blade just pulls off, you don't need a new one just because you need a new motor. Although the new motor came with a plug, there did not seem to be anyplace to plug it in. It was broken once before (5-6 year old name brand frig shouldn't have broken once, let alone twice....I anticipate more motors in my future, but at least I know how to fix it and where to get the part from), and the repairman had put the wires together and taped them up with electrical tape. My husband had no choice but to strip the wires and do the same, the wires are colored, so it is easy to connect them back again. It worked instantly. It works beautifully now. I have to add, in spite of the fact that I chose the most economical delivery choice, my part still arrived the very next day (a.m., at that!). I will say that I am very happy with PartSelect service and the information provided on their site which enabled me (my husband) to fix our refrigerator at a fraction of the cost of the last time it needed repair. Absolutely would refer to anyone, and use again myself (although, hope I don't need to!!)