Freezer made lots of Ice and Refrigerator didn't cool
The Defrost Timer is located in Refrigerator section (not the freezer) where your temperture guages are. Move panel and replace the non working Defrost Timer with the new one. It took my husband about 30-40 mins to fix. This was about 2 weeks ago and my Freezer and Refrigerator are working like new. I bought this Kenmore Reftigerator brand new in 1996 and I lost the manuel to it. Thanks to my daughter who found the Defrost Timer on the Internet, I thought I was going to have to buy a new one. This was real easy to fix. The instructions that came with the part was easy to understand and very self explanatory. It also had very good diagrams to follow.
After searching online to diagnose the issue with my refrigerator being warm and the freezer being cold and not shutting off to defrost I decided to get the defrost timer kit. The kit arrived within 2 day. With the directions included, after unplugging the appliance for safety, I installed it relatively quickly with only a screwdriver . I then plugged it back in and it immediately went to defrost. I thought, wow I have it fixed. Well unbeknownst to me it still didn't cool in the fridge area. After doing more internet research I found a suggestion to unplug the fridge for 24 hours to unthaw ice that may be lodged between the freezer and fridge that is blocking the distribution of cold air into the fridge. After doing this, it now works like a charm.
I pulled the socket out and unplugged the wires. I replaced the light socket by plugging in the wires and snapping the light socket into place. A very simple fix.
I looked it up on the site per Refrigerator Model #. I wanted a confirmation from an expert at this site that I was ordering the right drawer. The part # the expert gave me was different than what I was going to order per my Model #. I'm really glad I waited for the expert reply and ordered that drawer. This is for a rental property, and we are a few hours away from the property. It was less than a minute to pull out the old crisper drawer and slide in the new. Thank You!!!!!
Reviewed Youtube video as a reference. Unplugged refrigerator. Removed old defrost timer. Matched the color of the wiring harness to the diagram that came with the part. Attach new part to wiring harness.
Original door gasket split from age, no longer sealing snugly to refrig.
Inserted scraper behind gasket breaking it free from door, permitting a hand hold. While putting tension on gasket, slid scraper around door gently removing old gasket. Replaced gasket starting at top gradually working around door. No need to remove door.
Our refrigerator was no longer emitting cold air and clicking every 5 minutes in what sounded like a "starter" click and then a few minutes later an ending/"shutoff" click. Nothing else would happen between the clicks and we could still hear the freezer fan running in the freezer.
Frequent clicks meant that the starter relay was broken and that the condenser was not failing to start thus failing to cool.
I found very useful videos showing this process on Youtube but here are instructions:
Unplug the refrigerator and open up the back panel on the bottom. The condenser is a black round metal sphere in the center. To the right is the condenser coil which is a flat coil. Attached on the left side of the condenser is a plastic casing with wires coming out from the bottom, that is the relay housing.
Pull the plastic casing off, it is held by a metal clamp. Underneath the plastic casing is the relay. it is attached to the condenser with a straight long pin.
Pull the relay straight out, away from the condenser. You may use a flathead for leverage but I used some elbow grease and slowly wiggled it out.
Look at the relay. For my Admiral, the relay has a little headpiece that sits on the relay and connects to the pin. Otherwise you will have pulled out the relay piece and there will be wires connecting to terminals on the relay.
Remove the wires connecting to the terminals, noting which wires connect to which terminals. Take a picture on your phone if you need to. You may want to use pliers to maintain the terminal connectors on the wires and it may take some elbow grease.
Once all the wires are disconnected from the old relay, discard the old relay. You will know if it's faulty if you shake it and it sounds like it's full of broken glass. A new relay will not make that sound.
Connect the wire connectors to the new relay in the correct terminals.
Reconnect the new relay to the condenser by pushing it back onto the pin all the way.
Replace the plastic cover with the metal clamp.
Clean the dust off the condenser coils while you have the chance.
Replace the back panel and plug in the refrigerator. You should not hear any more clicking and you should feel the air from the freezer become cooler pretty quickly.
Gasket had several tears in it at the corners and was leaking air into the fresh food compartment
Removed the old gasket and ran the hard edged lip into the opening behind the door liner. Concerned that the gasket does not seem to be attaching itself to the door well. First put it on the side of the refigerator and it would not adhere enough to support itself. While it closes it just doesn't seem to attach with the magnets in the gasket. These magnetic strips have a weak magnet side and a strong magnet side. I wonder if they put the wrong side facing the door when they assembled it. Counter this with a new gasket for an upright freezer which was twice the length and attached itself firmly to the side wall of the freezer and did not slide down.
