The old switch was hard to remove. Thinking that I may have to loosen the wires I used a socket wrench to remove a clamp. This was unnecessary. In the end the switch did come out using a large size screwdriver. The problem was that the expanding plastic tongue is not visible from the ouside so you have to try to feel your way around. If i had ordered the replacement before and not afterwards I would have seen this before hand.
After replacing the light bulb and still no light I manually pushed the light switch button. Intermittently the light would come on then go out. I removed the power plug from the power source then replaced the light switch. I plugged the refrigerator back in and now I open the door the light comes on and stays on until the door is closed.
I found instructions on the web about how to do this repair, so I ordered the part with confidence. But the instructions simply said "pull out the old switchlight". That was actually somewhat difficult as the clip on the side intended to hold the part in was stubborn. I eventually used a utility to slice off the clip. From that point, it was just a matter of plugging in the new switchlight , which was very simple.
I watched the video online, followed the instructions and within minutes had the part installed. The frig light was working once again! I will say the original switch was very snug and I had to do some very minor scraping of the plastic to get the new part to slide in.
Turned off the breaker to the fridge because I couldn't reach the power plug to unplug it . Use small flat head screwdriver to pop out the piece, disconnected the rubber prong connectors, inserted the new piece into the rubber prongs snapped it back into place. Flipped the breaker back on and prayed it worked. It did and I saved myself $120 service call.
Extremely easy repair, the hardest part was getting the old switch out. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to squeeze the tabs in and it came right out.
Well, first I tried with replacing the temp sensor, a simple little connecting inside the box, but it didn't work. I then shut it down, removed all food and took the inside cover off exposing the controls in the back of the freezer, only needed an electric screw driver with a variety of bits. I located the "cold control" part and dismantled it making sure I kept notes on how to reassemble it. I ordered the replacement, with concurrence from a nice lady with Parts Select that it would no doubt fix my problem. She was right. After 4 months no problem with it turning itself off. I used a few electrical nut connectors and I needed some plumbers putty where the electric lines exit to insulate the cold control device, there was some of the original putty but it fell apart when I disassembled the unit. I guess it boils down to the old process of elimination, but getting advise here will be my future first move if anything goes wrong.
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