ABL2 Refrigerator - Instructions

First I removed the 14.3 tons of freezer contents, closed the water valve, shut off the juice, and removed the freezer bins, the freezer door and the three screws that held the element in place. After bringing in 397 hand tools from my garage inventory, I loosened the unit and, after extensive evaluation, I finally disconnected the wiring ... Read more connector from its freezer rear wall connector counterpart. You ain't gonna believe the rest of my story--of total ineptitude by an experienced fix-it-yourself dummy.

I searched the internet for a replacement ice maker and found it at partselect.com. I called Sears to ask if I could add my refrigerator to my existing appliance repair account. Sears said sure--it would cost me only one arm, three toes and one grandchild. I abruptly declined their magnanimous offer—I don’t give up my arms and toes so easily.

I visited the local Maytag repair parts and service retailer, who advised they didn't do parts anymore. Expecting their repair price would be greater than Sears, I resorted to partselect.com. I called them to be assured what I was buying was not mistakenly a 747 Landing Gear. On the afternoon (West Coast) of 4/28/10, I ordered (via internet) one PS21215123 Ice Maker Assy. Much to my pleasant surprise, it arrived via FedEX on 4/30/10 (no freight charges to me).

My repair/replacement efforts were hampered by the effects of my right rotator cuff surgery a few months before and major left wrist surgery two months ago to remove fractured bones and torn ligaments.

Undaunted by my physical handicaps, I forged forward. After re-installing the unit, I turned the water supply and electricity back on. It was graveyard dead. I wisely then bought two bags of ice as an interim solution to the severe needs of my wife and me for our daily chilled evening cocktails. I removed the unit, checked it out and re-installed it. I bought two more bags of ice. All the while, I turned the water and electricity off and on as required by reasonable safety standards. High tediousness!

Several more home maintenance tasks then arose for Sergeant Super Fixer, but I returned to the ice maker problem on 4/8/10. Last chance--remove the device and insure there was no frozen ice in the inlet tube--or call the local partsless repairman. No ice found, but I did learn the wiring connector to the unit was awry--no contact! While explaining that to my wife, I realized the two upper mounting screws were intended to be partially installed into the freezer wall to accommodate the unit's slotted mounting holes! Then, tighten the screws. Oh my God! During my 143 installations and removals, I had installed those screws blindly--using the (handicapped) skills of my right and left hands without any benefit of direct eyesight.

I returned to my challenging project this morning (4/9/10), fully utilizing all the expertise I had gained yesterday. Fifteen minutes of amusing effort! Turn on the juice! Turn on the water!Two hours later, ice cubes were dropping into the bin like rhinoceros bisquits in the jungle.

Hallelujah! I now am free for the next challenge!

HINT: Put a bed pillow (an old one, or your wife's) in the freezer compartment to soften the harshness of its cold metal on your back, if you use the "crawl in on your back" approach.

I just opened up the fridge back panel accessed the old relay/capacitor, pulled it out, replaced with the new one, snapped it back into place, tested it (compressor came on), replaced the back panel and went on my way. Really, really easy repair.

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.

removed old rail,lifted glass panel above and inserted new rail-voila!!done.

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 ... Read more 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 ... Read more 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.

Perhaps a helpful hint:

When aI received the hose adapter/connector, I inserted the 2 hose ends only to have water drip from the connection.
I used a utility knife to remove an inch from each side, then reinserted the hoses. That made the differnce. Dry as a bone.

LG

(FYI, Amana model is re-labeled Maytag with similar model number)I earlier replaced the defrost timer but that didn't solve the problem, so I purchased a new thermostat and evaporator heater. The hardest part was figuring out how to remove the slide out freezer door to access the back panel. Simple once figured out: There is one small ... Read more screw on each slide rail, facing outward, near the door. Remove each screw and the door section will pivot up and disconnect from the rail.

The next thing you have to do is remove one of the slide rail supports so you can remove the back panel. Slide the track all the way out and you will see three small machine screws securing the track to the side of the freezer wall. Remove. Then push in the plastic clasp (near the back of the compartment) and slide the plastic assembly forward and out of the compartment. Now you can unscrew and remove the back panel to access the thermostat and heater.

I checked the resistance of the existing heater and measured 300 ohms (it would have been an open circuit if it was burned out). When I saw the resistance was OK on the heater, I left it in place and only changed out the thermostat. The defrost has worked fine since. Good luck.

Ordered a new filter cover, received in 2 days and installed it in about 5 minutes. Worked perfectly.

Through out broken plastic, replace with new one
to be replaced in a few years.

First I looked at new replacement part, saw what held the part to the frig. Then removed the crisper drawers and vegie drawers and related support pieces. Used socket wrench to take out three screws and started so remove endcap. Realized endcap was attached to a piece that controls air flow to drawer, located supporting screw, removed ... Read more and entire assembly came right out. I fumbled my way through the linking mechanism being very careful not to force and break anything. Once I figured out how all this worked, it went back together in a few minutes. Replaced the four screws that held the 2 pieces (endcap and airflow) to frig, replace drawer slid, replaced all draws. Done 30 minutes, start to finish. I found Customer Service VERY helpful while ordering piece, couldn't believe it was under $10 and fit exactly! Thanks PartSelect.com!

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 c ... Read more ables. 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 ;)

This was a very easy repair job! I just needed to remove the drawers and shelving, put the new ladder hook on, and repace the shelving and drawers. It took longer to remove the items from the fridge, then it did to replace the ladder hook.

Removed screws from cover tested for power to motor found power was on to motor but motor did not work. I went to your web site was able to locate part in about 5 minutes . Even with over night shipping the part came to about $50,00, far cheaper tha a service call would have been.

Thanks John Paulsell

The initial problem was that the ice maker was not working. I had the unit repaired at a local store and they assured me that it worked fine in their workshop. I believed that the valve was the next logical part to replace. The installation was very easy. I unplug the refrigerator and turned off the water. Removed two, easily reached, scr ... Read more ews and pulled the unit out. Disconnected the wire harness (you may want to mark the top of the wire harness before removing for immedite alignment on reassembly) and tubing. Notice a spot in the tubing that had been kinked, so cut that out. Reassemble and turned everything back on. Installation went perfectly. Unfortunately, I still do not have ice and will be doing some additional trouble shooting to determine the next course of action. I may be in touch.