CST25GRZBWW Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

This is a sibe-by-side refrigerator/freezer that needed a new lower hinge set for the fridge door.

First I removed everything from inside the fridge door, closed it, then loosened the top hinge bolts with an 8mm socket on a 1/4-inch ratchet. Using an 8mm nutdriver, I removed one bolt and loosed the other just far enough to be able to lift the hinge and swing it out of the way. (These bolts are long. The nutdriver is faster than the ratchet but you need a ratchet or a wrench to first break them loose.) Then I just lifted the door off the bottom hinge and set it aside.

The plastic lower front grill was covering the lower hinge but that grill is just held at the ends by spring clamps -- popped off easily so I could get to the hinge bolts. Again, 8mm bolts, just remove & replace hinge. I also had to replace the upper half of the door closer cam, which is screwed to the bottom of the door, being careful that the holes lined up: cam, shim, door holes.

Now the tricky part was lifitng the door back on the lower hinge. (It helps to have an assistant at the bottom to locate the hole for you.) Once the door was up, I swung the top hinge over, ran the two bolts in finger tight with my nutdriver, checked & adjusted the spacing* of the fridge door and tightened the bolts. This was all very easy! (*^_^*)

*On a side-by-side, you'll want the door to be straight up & down with a consistent gap top to bottom with the freezer door. The hinge has some slack for adjustment by positioning the door, then tightening the bolts. You'll see what I mean.

The icemaker's valve is easy to inspect and test. First, gently pull the refrigerator away from the wall, and unplug it. Turn off the water supply to the icemaker by closing the shut-off valve in the copper waterline leading to the valve. Use a screwdriver or nutdriver to remove the rear lower access panel from the refrigerator's back.

Next, remove the fill tubing from the water valve. Use a wrench to loosen the flare nut on the brass fitting on the inlet side of the valve (above). Place a container or towel under the valve to catch the small amount of water that will spill from the valve and tubing.

Now use a screwdriver or a nutdriver to remove the screw holding the valve's mounting bracket to the refrigerator cabinet. Pull the valve out of the compartment and remove the tube (or tubes if both water dispenser & ice maker) on the valve's outlet. If plastic tubes don't come out with pliers and assuming there is enough extra tubing, then cut the plastic tubing with a even straight cut edge razor. Then, remove the solenoid's electrical contacts.

Push the plastic water and ice tubes int he appropriate holes in the new valve outlet, reconnect solenoids and remount new water valve.

Before installing the back panel on the refrigerator cabinet, test run the icemaker. Look for leaks, and tighten any leaky connections. If necessary, use Teflon tape or a similar product to ensure tight connections. Discard the first ice cubes that are produced because they are likely to have sediment in them.

I removed the shelf, unscrewed the slide rails and replaced them with new ones. I replaced the shelf, put the food back in and I was done. Thanks, john bowers

First pried off front panel, then removed 4 screws that hold dispensing unit in place, then rotated top of dispensing unit out, then pulled off electrical connector, then removed screw that holds switch in place and removed switch. Installed new switch by reversing above procedure. Only thing switch wasn't the problem. No ice problem was resolved later by replacing control printed circuit board which is located in the same area.

New ice maker only used 2 screws and the old one had 3. This was no problem. The old ice maker had already been removed. Just loosen the 3 screws and unplug the cord to ice maker. Only problem with ice maker was with the cord, which I had to use the supplied adapter. It was too long and in the way when reinstalling the ice bin. The ice bin had a small notch area on the bottom left. I used a plastic tie to bundle the cord into the notch. Carefully placed ice bin and no problem. The first part I received was damaged and was replaced 2 days later by a brand new part. Customer service charged for the replacement part but said they would credit my charge card within 2 to 3 weeks for the damaged part. Its been a week and if they follow thru like the said I woild give Part Select 5 Stars for service and Parts.

First unplug the refrigerator!

Removed the top shelf of the refrigerator. Pulled off the knobs from the temp slider controls. Popped the cover off of the light and temp control section. This Hotpoint model has both
thermostat and defrost timer easily accessible in the refrigerator compartment. Used a socket set
driver to loosen the screws and remove the
temp control section and unplugged the wire connectors. This freed the whole temp control
section. On the workbench removed the old
thermostat by unscrewing the screws with a socket driver. Unplugged the wires from the old thermostat then put the new one in. Then put the
new one in the same holes, reconnected the
wires and reassembled the everything. Then
simply put this temp control box back in the
original place (and reconnect the wire plugs)
and put the screws back in . The hardest part is re-aligning the holes and the control levers, but this is not too bad.

Plugged it back in and so far it has been turning
on and off normally. (The old thermostat contacts
were oxidized so I think this was the problem).

Poped out with screwdriver the old swithch and unplugged the two wires. Plugged in the wires to the new swithch and pushed it back in the hole where the old switch was before.

Got part overnight. Unscrewed cover plate at top of regerator compartment, disconnected old part, connected new part. Screwed back plate. Voila!

I saved a bunch of money!

bought an push in, in line connector and a new 5/16 plastic hose. I just replaces 2 feet of plastic hose from the selonid up an splices the hose using the connector. Worked perfect.

The comments from customers experiences gave me the confidence that the defrost timer was the problem since the compressor was still working and it went just as they all said, four 1/4' hex head screws and I had access to the old timer, unplugged the old ,plugged in the new and put the four screws back in. Nothing happened so after a while I looked a bit harder at the accessable part of the timer after intallation and saw what looked like a dial. I turned the dialclockwise and immediatly the compressor turned on. I have not found any information as to how much or little to turn this dial which obviously is an adjustable cycle setting so I just turned it all the way, so far everything is working alright.

Pulled off cracked grille and inserted new in grille holders

Followed previous instructions from a previous post. Inserted small screwdriver in the 2 outer holes up under the face plate to remove it then removed 4 screws holding the inner assembly which allowed access to the flapper assembly. Replaced it and reassembled everything. Problem solved

We couldn't get the other connector loose from one end of the tubing so he said just cut it and so we did and attached the connector. I now have water again in my fridge and took the sticky note down "don't use the water" as it had leaked for a year...... Thanks!

While the switch did last for 9 years, the design is poor due to the failure mode. The failure should be to fail off or not able to turn on the lights which would be inconvenient but would not warm the refrigerator contents. Arcing at the contacts eventually caused the switch to "weld" closed. It is not obvious that this is occurring so it took some time to recognize why the temp inside the ref was high while the freezer was OK. Replacing the switch was easy once it was recognized as the problem. All that was required to replace the switch was to remove the screws holding a fiber cover and then pulling off the aluminum cap which covered the switches. Unplug the switch an squeeze the keeper on the switch to release it and pull down. Pop the replacement switch in place and plug the wires harness back in. All in all it took much less time to replace than it has to write this up. T Pope

Replace the old water valve (wr57x11) with the new one (wr57x10051: make sure you unplug the 110 ac power . And close the water come to the refrig. First 1. Open the paper panel on the back with screw driver. 2 Use a small adj. Wrench to take the old valve of. 3. Label the connector and its terminals in a proper number to identify their connector. 4. Unscrew 2 water hoses - one to the drinking one to the ice maker. They are in diff. Sizes - make sure to mark where the hoses connected in case you need to use it again. 5. Cut of the thread section on the hose end - you do not need thread any more on the new water valve. 6. Make sure the new valve is in the same position as the old one. Then plug the water hoses to the valve - and connector terminals. There are 2 new terminal adapter in your new package. These new adapter will be fit to the old hardness for connecting to the new valve. 7. Secure the valve onto the refig frame then plug in the water hose to make sure no leak at the valve. The new valve has new type of self-lock plug ( not thread ) to the 2 water hoses. Make sure to press hard so the hoses are fit in to these new water . Valves. Turn on the water and power on on the refrig. That's all. Very simple save $300 for hiring the service man. Good luck to all.