CST20KABAAD Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

Removed guard at bottomof frig. Located timer & performed tests. Manually rotated timer motor until defrost cycle start. Watched timer for several hours. Timer did not come out of defrost.. Rotated timer more until compressor started. Cooled fine several days then started to get warm again. Manually defrosted and started compressor again. Ordered part. Followed wiring diagram on timer for push on lugs. Frig now back to normal operation.

The refrigerator was no longer cooling and it was suggested by my father that it could be our defrost timer as he has owned many Hotpoint refrigerators in his lifetime and he said the defrost timer was always the problem he had with them when they were not cooling properly. I removed the cover and unplugged the defrost timer, ordered a new timer through this website and installed it by plugging it where the old timer was, replaced the cover and plugged the refrigerator back in. The refrigerator is now cooling again and just in time for Christmas.

put the gratefruit knife behind the old switch pooped it out pluged the new one in piece of cake 5min.even vacumed the dust off the coil

installed 3 of 4 shipped parts. ended up with 2 upper right hand slide rails, even though ones package said upper left.

I knew that the compressor was cooling because the freezer was half-working. The back wall was frozen-up and found that the iced-up coils where blocking the air circulation. So even if the fan was running, there was no air circulation. Hence the deforst cycle was not working.

First I removed the top hinge of the refrigerator door and then lifted it off the bottom assembly. I had to turn the door on its side to work on the bottom where the broken part was located. I unscrewed the bottom assembly and replaced the broken part with the new door cam. Put it all back together and now the door closes but must be manually pushed to close. When the door was working properly it would shut automatically when released from any position. I think I need to install an additional part - maybe a shim? to make it close automatically. That will be another story.
This was a fairly simple jog to do but since I did not have the proper tools it did take me longer than usual to remove the bolts. I'm happy I did it myself and saved a big repair bill! Thanks to the people at PartSelect.com.

I took the glass plate off the top of the drawer, then removed the draw. I then removed the two screws holding the slide rail. I put the new slide rail in place, put the screws back in it, slide the drawer back in place and replaced the glass top. nothing to it.

Removed the top hinge cover held by one screw. Removed the top hinge held by two screws and them lifted the door up and off the bottom hinge. Laid the door on the floor and replaced the cam piece from the kit on the bottome of the door. That required removing one screw and losening another. Removed the lower hinge (two screws) and replaced it with the new one in the kit. The lower hinge includes the other cam piece. Lifted the door onto the lower hinge and then replaced the top hinge and cover.

I removed the drawer and glass shelf, removed 2 screws and replaced with new drawer slide in reverse order. I removed the contents of the door, the top hinge, and then laid the door down. On the bottom of the door, I replaced the pivot piece (provided) and then I replaced the hinge on the lower right side of the refrigerator box (2 screws with a nut driver bit). I now reversed the order to re-assemble the door and finally re-aligned the top hinge to adjust the door fit. Less than 30 minutes total. EASY!

It seems my refrigerator was old enough [1987] that the spacing on the holes for the bracket were different than the part that is currently sold. The holes on the new bracket were 30 mm apart on center, but on the old bracket they were 20 mm apart on center.

Clamped the old and new brackets together in a vise to use the old bracket for spacing and drilled a new hole through the 4mm of steel.

After which it was a snap installing the new hinge assembly.

Unplugged fridge.Removed 2 screws holding a panel. After panel removed took off old fan and inserted new. Quite simple.

First i removed the lower cover below doors . Then placed a 4x4 under the door to be fixed to keep it in place. Removed screws from hinge support on unit to remove cam Removed outside screw on door and loosened other to allow other cam to be removed . Always buy two cams if one is broken the other cant be in very good shape .The door will work like new with two .

At first, I noticed the refrigerator door didn't close at the same level of the freezer door. I started to adjust the hinges and noticed a chewed up black 'washer' at the base of the door hinge. Ppartselect.com was awesome, in that I easily found the schematic of my fridge, and the part I needed. Ordering was a snap, and it came to the house pretty quickly.
Installation, first raise the door up as high as you can, then scotch it with wood blocks (closed door). This takes the pressure off the bottom hinge you must remove.
Taking the hinge off is a snap, but then the problem presented itself. The old door closing cam was riveted to the hinge. I couldn’t get the old one off! I ended up taking it to the garage and breaking out the Dremmel tool with the abrasive cutter (the one that will cut through nails. I ended up cutting off the rivet. This was a pain.
I then found a small nut/bolt and put the new piece on, then put it back into place and removed the blocks. Works good as new. The toughest part by far was getting the old cam off… but there may be some easier way to get the rivet out that I’m not aware of.
Good luck.

I removed the door from the bottom hinge assembly by removing the top hinge assembly.
1. Installed the cam to the bottom of the door.
2. Installed hinge and bottom pin & cam to the refrigerator.
3. Reinstalled door and adjusted front roller height to make door close better.

Read the how to's AFTER ordering the part. 2 things....1) I wish I had read the comments first and 2) it was much easier than the comments led me to believe.

Had I read the comments first, I would have known to order BOTH the upper and lower cam....though there not a problem with the operation of the door. It would just have been a tad better if I had both. I'm not wanting to have to pay shipping for an additional part when the door works satisfactorily as it is.

As to the comments on how to do it....I took none of them. I (instead) removed the top hinge, and lifted to door off. I did have to have assistance to get the hole in the door aligned with the post, but that was rather easily done.

Would I do it again.....in a heart beat. I feel that I've save on the repair man making a call at the house, and experience has had me charged $60-$100 for virtually the same amount of service. My cost...shipping and all was under $20.00