AB2026LEKS Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

Having seen this problem before in other equipment so I had an idea where to look. Problem: the automatic defrost function was not operating. Looking through openings in the back panel of the freezer compartment, you could see the evaporator coils and fins were a solid chuck of ice. There are three logical components to check. Heater element, thermostat (located just above the evaporator) and a relay on the control board (located in the fridge control panel). Checked the heater with an ohm meter -- OK. The thermostat closes the circuit at around 20 degrees and opens at around 32 degrees. Pulled out the thermostat, wiring, fan unit. Everything unplugs, unscrews, and unclips, don't cut wires. Put the whole assembly in a friends freezer for an hour or so to see if the thermostat closes -- OK. Problem had to be with the control board. Replaced control board, reprogrammed it per included instruction. Everything is working again.

The hard part for me was figuring out which part was causing the problem. I read what others had done and followed their test methods. I checked the defroster heater for continuity and the defroster thermostat to make sure it was closing. the defroster termostat has to be cold to check it. You will need to check it while it is in ice or take it out and put it in another freezer for 30 mins and then check it for continuity. Those items checked out ok so it had to be the control board. The control board is a 5 min job to replace but making sure that is your problem is the hard part. I think the control board was bad due to a power surge we had when the power went out and came back on. It might be a good idea to put a surge protector on your home to protect your fridge and all your other electronic stuff. Our refrigerator is now working like new again. Thank you for all your help, Jim

First thing to do is take two screws off where the door closes.I removed the light sheild off by pushing it to back of refrig.The most hardest part is removing the complete panel,I took a small flat blade scraper to ply down to get small access than you need to put alot of pressure to start getting the panel to start coming off there are alot of pegs to free,the back panel has two hinges that slide towards the front.Once the panel drops remove the connectors and take entire unit out,very easy to replace the control board at this point.Installation is easy slide the two hinges on back in place and put pressure on unit to snap entire unit in place.Program unit with paperwork that came with part very easy to do.Frig is working great now.Just a note the paperwork on refrig is located in the front right corner the mf hids it ,this information will allow you to check all problems with refrig using the key pads for freezer/refrig.Good luck.

I removed the ice maker from the refrigerator, by removing one screw on the underside bracket and loosening the two screws at the top side, then lifting the ice maker off the loosened screws. I then unplugged the electrical harness that supplies power from the refrigerator to the ice maker. I then disassembled the ice maker by removing the front cover which is snapped in place, then removing two recessed screws at the front. I removed the broken part, I then reassembled the ice maker with the new part. I replaced the two recessed screws at the front and snapped on the cover. Then I reinstalled the ice maker in the refrigator by plugging in the harness, slipping the ice maker over the loosened screws in the refrigerator and replacing the screw that was removed from the underside bracket. Tightening all the screws completed the project.

I used a flat-head screwdriver to pop out the old light rocker switch. Then, I unplugged the wires, plugged them into the new light rocker switch, and then popped the new switch into the hole. That's it! Lights began working again.

Removed shelf drawer. Then removed plastic coverings from back panel of freezer. Squeezed tabs of ice maker connector to push it behind the back panel. With nut driver, removed the four screws holding the panel and removed the panel. Used a hair dryer to remove frost from upper right area that contains the defrost thermostat. Cut out the thermostat and removed the connector on the right from the defrost heater. Removed brown wire from a few of the clips. Attached orange wire from new thermostat to orange wire leading to connector removed from defrost heater and the brown wires to each other using the pliers and supplied crimpable wire nuts. Wrapped the connections with self fusing tape. Reconnected the wiring to the defrost heater and clipped the new defrost thermostat to where the defective one was removed. Used the hair dryer to melt the ice that was covering the drain, then a turkey baster to unclogg the drain. Put everything back together.

replaced control board

Removed two screws that held cover plate. remove cover plate. Remove water hose, and clamp, by compressing clamp with pliers. Remove fill tube by pulling HARD, from back.

Replace fill tube, check to be sure that it entered ice maker properly. Replace hose and clamp.
Replace cover and screws.

I used a flat screwdriver and released the lock tab on the bottom of the light switch, and pried the switch out, being careful to not damage the plastic around the mounting place of the switch, unplugged wiring from old switch, plugged in the new one and pushed the new switch into place. Job finished light switch now working.

An easy job for smaller hands. Removed the two bolts holding the light cover. Removed two electrical connections from the old switch by pinching the retaining clip,removed the switch, snapped in the new one and re-attached the connectors. Your online illustrations helped me to know that the plastic housing for the light switch would only swing down so far and was not intended to be removed. Saved me from breaking that plastic cover's tabs. This home repair saved me more than 5 times the cost of hiring a professional to do it. Very happy homeowner.

The lid that covers the front of the lower meat / produce drawer hinges upward on two small ( easily broken) plasic pins, one on each side of the drawer. One pin is moulded into each "END CAP" that also supports the drawer glides and glass shelf above. The entire end cap must be replaced to repair the hinge. The left side is easy (it's the only one I had to replace); the right side might be more difficult because the right end cap includes a temperature control.
1) Remove the two produce drawers above the lower drawer.
2) Lift off the front glass shelf support, the glass shelf, and the rear glass shelf support from below the two produce drawers.
3) Slide the lower drawer half way out. Remove the drawer lid by disengaging it from the remaining undamaged hinge pin on the OK end cap. Careful not to break the good one.
4) Slide the lower drawer all the way out, then lift up and towards you to remove it from its glides.
5) Using a 1/4" nutdriver or socket, remove the three recessed screws. Leave the drawer glide alone for now.
6) Pull the front of the end cap up and towards you about 3/4" to disengage it from a small retainig button at the top front. Pull the end cap toward you to disengage the two rear retaining fingers.
7) Using a small Phillips screwdriver, remove the drawer glide from the broken end cap and attach it to the replacement end cap. Note which end is the front before removing it.
8) Reassemble in reverse order. Again, be careful with the hinge pins.

The tiny piece of plastic that holds the wire that shuts off the icemaker, broke early on with our fridge (after just a few months.) We superglued it, but last week it bit the dust for good.

Once I got this part, I removed the freezer door and trays, and pulled the icemaker out by removing 3 flathead screws and unplugging the cables. Laying in the freezer on the floor was a bit unconfortable, but not too bad.

Then I inspected the icemaker. There was no obvious way to remove the part without disassembling the front of the unit (where the motor is) to release the spindle and free the part, so I did that - 3 or 4 nuts was all that held it together. Once that was out, I removed the spindle, swapped out the part, and put it all back together and back in the freezer. Plugged it in and waited.

It took a while to start making ice. Like 5 hours. Now it's going pretty slow (much slower than before.) Haven't had time to look into it, but my suspicion is the rubber hose that feeds water into the icemaker is blocked with ice or kinked. In any case, we have ice now (but not a lot), and the unit shuts itself off properly. However, we went from having too much ice (thing never shut off) to too little (thing makes ice too slow), so I need to shoot for somewhere in the middle ;)

Once I saw the replacement part I understood how to pry out the switch with a small screwdriver. Then just unplug the old one, plug in the new one and pop it into place.

The PartSelect site made it easy to correctly identify the correct part, it was inexpensive, and the shipping was fast.

I'm very pleased!

Turn water and refrigerator off, use hair to thaw the ice maker filler tube, then remove the filler tube inside the freezer. Next remove the water supply line cover plate in back of the refrigerator. Now remove the speed clip at the white pvc elbow and pull out the supply line. Next, grasp the pvc elbow with pliers and pull hard to remove. The new filler tube is a 1 piece design (filler tube and elbow combined) and needs to be cut to the proper length. Mark it inside the freezer, remove it and cut to length. Now coat the outside flange with caulk or PU glue and snap into the opening. Put the speed clip on the elbow first and center it. Ensure that the spreader insert is in place in the plastic tube, then slide the supply line into the elbow untill completely engaged. Replace cover.

Remove the light cover. Use a flat head screw driver to push in the tabs on the back of the program mount and pull down to expose the computer board. The Thermistor is clipped on under the vent holes on the right side. Cut both wires to remove the old thermistor strip a 1/4 inch off the remaning wires and the new thermistor wires twist both ends together crimp on the wire caps snap in the new thermistor reinstall the program board until the retainer clips snap into place, slide the light cover back on.