40 year old refrigerator brittle light switch fell apart
with a jewelry screwdriver I pried the lock tab in and pulled switch down carefully, the hardest part was that the power wire connector was stuck on good but the pliers and the jewelry screwdriver was its match for a bout 5 minute for one connection a simple pull off prong connection. After the wire connected back to switch it popped back in SNAPP
This actually was a part of a thermostat problem. I bought a thermostat one week earlier and that fixed the problem. I bought the thermostat thinking that was part of the warming of the fresh food and freezer section. I installed the defrost timer anyway with the thermostat and it is working well. I didn't know that the freezer got above 15 degrees on the defrost cycle every 16 hours. One 1/4 hex screw at the top of the housing removes the entire assembly. Be careful not to damage the foam on the left side removing the housing. There is a tab on the bottom right on the back panel that lifts up to remove. Unplug that whole assembly from the fridge wiring harness and the rest is obvious.
first i entered the symptoms into your site and the culprit was gonna be the defrost timer or defrost heater-thermostat. I ordered the parts and they arrived the next day even though I didn't pay for next day. Defrosting the freezer was what took the time.After it was thawed it only took about 15 minutes to install the heater and timer. Am happy to say I have all the ice I need and your diagnosis was right on.
I first googled the problem, then narrowed down the parts that could cause the problem (if failed), then took out the parts and determined that they had indeed failed. I then ordered said parts and installed them. It was easy because they are "plug and play" parts. The hardest part was removing (and then replacing) the back panel inside the freezer just because it was awkward to reach the screws.
The part arrived very fast, I had read other posts about emptying the door etc so that all made it go really fast. I changed the part out in about 10 min. but the shelf removal etc all added up to about 20 - 25 min.
Remove the hinge cap on top, the loosen the bolts, remove the hinge. Pick up the door from the lower hinge, lay it down and place the cam riser on the lower hinge. Replace the door, install the top hinge and check the alignment and you are done.
I removed the top hinge, lifted the door off the bottom hinge, rmoved and replaced the bottom hinge assembly, and reinstalled the door. I then aligned the door and reinstalled the upper hinge. The fridge works just like new!
