CTF17CCBR Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

I applied some tips learned by reading other reviews. So before I started I grabbed my trusty vise grip pliers and a small screw driver. I locked onto the switch actuator, the part that the refrigerator door pushes in, with the vise grips and pulled on it just hard enough to get the screw driver inserted in the right side to push in the catch clip so the switch could be pulled out further each time the catch clip was depressed to the next detent. Then I used the screw driver on the left site to encourage the switch past the detents on the left and very quickly the switch was out of the mount. The wires from the refrigerator pulled out with the old switch. I unplugged the old switch from the wires and plugged in the new switch and shoved the new switch back into the mount, wiggled it a couple of times to make sure it was secure and the job was done. Once I applied the vise gripes at first, the whole job took less than a minute.

Removed 2 phillips head screws to remove ice maker (could have just loosened them)
Pulled fan off of shaft
Removed 2 phillips head screws on motor bracket , disconnected three motor wires & removed motor.
reversed process to install new motor & fan blade.
Space was a little tight for two hand and arms, but do-able.

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.

Turned off the refridgerator. Took everything out of the freezer compartment & put into ice chest with pleanty of ice on top. Removed 2 screws holding the ice maker in place & placed ice maker aside. Removed shelf. Removed one screw on back plate, pushed up on the holding tabs at the top of the back plate & removed the back plate. Removed 3 screws holding the motor bracket in place along with the 3 wires. Installed new motor & used the wire extensions provided due to the electrical connections on the new motor being on the opposite side. Had to bend one wire tab down to clear the motor bracket. Turned refridgerator back on to ensure correct rotation on the fan. Reinstalled back plate & ice maker & shelf. Waited 30 minutes before putting food items back in freezer compartment.

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

I removed the 3 screws that held the motor and fan. Exchanged fan blades and reinstalled the fan and new motor

I was surprised to find the motor. The refrigerator/freezer was over 28 yrs old. Works fine now

The existing light switch was very hard to remove. I ended up having to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. Once it was out, it was very easy to put in the replacement and it seems to be working fine.

Moving the frig out and cleaning was the hardest part of this job - lots of dust collected over the 17 years the frig was in place. Once all the cleaning was done, with the frig out and back cover off (10 -12 screws taken off with nutdriver),I plugged the frig in and observed the the problem was a noisy fan motor. The motor is at the very back of the frig with easy access to the 3 brackets holding it in place.
Pull off the electrical clip. Remove the screw holding the bracket to the frame on the front bracket, leaving the bracket attacked to the fan. The other two screws remove from the fan, leaving the brackets in place.
Reverse the procedure when you receive the new part from PartSelect(great company to deal with)!

as described, I used a thin screwdriver to wedge in and pull down existing, broken switch. I was able to pull it down about a 1/4 inch, but wasn't quit able to disegage it until I gripped it with pliers. I then pulled it out, unplugged the old switch, plugged in the new switch, and carefully tucked the wires back into the fridge and snapped the new switch into place.

10 minutes total.

i put a new evaporator motor in and now it works fine

Unplugged fridge removed the three screws that held fan on to fan frame unplugged condensor fan removed brackets from old fan and put them on new fan installed new fan plugged in fridge and now it works great!

UNPLUG UNIT. Open freezer compartment, top door. You may want to let it warm up a bit before beginning work. Next remove single screw from small square plastic grate at top left back of freezer compartment with phillips screw driver. Remove green ground wire connection behind removed grate with nut driver. Next remove 2 screws at top of freezer compartment holding plastic air diffuser bracket in place and holding back panel. Remove metal back panel of freezer by pulling top towards you, then angle out of compartment. Evap. fan is now exposed. I inspected and removed fan by removing two screws with nutdriver on bracket behind fan blade. I inserted nutdriver (with long socket driver)between fan blades to screws on bracket behind blade - 1 each side. After these two screws are removed, pull fan and bracket assembly out from plenum. Remove wiring from motor and remove motor to workbench. Remove round metal clamp from fan hub with needle nose pliers and slide off fan blade from motor. Also remove bracket and rubber bushing. Disgard old motor. Inspect and clean blade. Replace if necessary. Reattach rubber bushing, bracket THEN fan blade to new motor. New fan has atleast one terminal in new location and I had to use one wire extension that came with kit. Route wire behind motor and plug in new wires to back of motor. Insert fan and bracket to plenum, hold in place with one hand while reattaching screws with nutdriver between fan blades. Once fan is in place and nuts secure, I tested operation by plugging unit back in to make sure new motor ran and fan spun freely. Reattach back panel, top diffuser bracket and small grate with 3 screws. Shut door, set temp. and wait 24 hours before loading freezer. Unit good as new!

Unplugged frige, removed top shelf, pulled broken fan blade off. Replaced with fan blade just purchased from PartSelect. Very simple repair. Orderd and recieved the right part.

First I turned off the water supply. Then I removed the ice bin and the ice maker by removing 4 screws and 3 electrical connections. This allowed access to the evaporator fan which was not moving. To remove the evap fan I removed two screws that hold the fan bracket. The fan assembly now had to be pushed back and rotated to remove from hole. There are 3 electrical connections that have to be disconnected from the fan, one ground wire that also is connected to the fan bracket and 2 power connections. Installing the new fan was the reverse of the above except the power connections were in a different location and i had to use the extension wires provided with the new fan to have the length needed to make the connection.

Unplug refrig! Removed back cardboard covering (~5 screws)
(1) Cleaned all the dust out (hardest part!)
(2) Removed power wire to motor
(3) Removed 3 bolts holding motor to frame
(4) Removed motor/fan blade to the left
(5) Moveded fan blade to new motor (clean it!)
(6) Replaced motor, reinstalled 3 bolts
(7) Plugged power wire to new motor
(8) Tested it - worked fine, failed safe, drained to bilge!
Replaced back cover (had to tape it since I horked it up removing it)