Refrigerator was freezing up and not cooling fresh food compartment
The repair was easy, I removed the cover on the top front of the fresh food compartment. It housed the defrost timer which was easy to identify and replace. Just removed a screw, unplugged the wires and replaced with the new part. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem. I also had to replace the defrost element that the timer sent power to. While I was at it, I replaced the defroster thermostat. The entire repair took under an hour, diagnosing the problem took the most time and effort.
latch end of track broke when too full jammed drawer was forced
PartsSelect diagrams at their website made it easy to find and order the right part at a reasonable price. I removed the lower glass shelf and frame that supports it. I removed broken track and slipped in the new track and snapped it in place with the orifice at the rear of the track over small peg in the back of the frame. If I had called a regular refrigerator repair man, i'll bet this job would have cost me at least 70 or 80 dollars,
The bent hinge caused a bad seal which let in air into the freezer, so there was a ton of frost build up. I ordered the parts, and they came in 2 days! I figured what tools I needed, got my wife to help hold things, and in 20 minutes it was like new.
Original drawer handle had cracked and the crack spread down to the body of the crisper unit.
Took out the old, cracked, crisper unit and removed the white trim piece on the handle so that we could re-use it on the new crisper unit (which, in spite of the $90+ price tag did not come with new trim). The whole thing took 3 minutes to do.
Freezer made lots of Ice and Refrigerator didn't cool
The Defrost Timer is located in Refrigerator section (not the freezer) where your temperture guages are. Move panel and replace the non working Defrost Timer with the new one. It took my husband about 30-40 mins to fix. This was about 2 weeks ago and my Freezer and Refrigerator are working like new. I bought this Kenmore Reftigerator brand new in 1996 and I lost the manuel to it. Thanks to my daughter who found the Defrost Timer on the Internet, I thought I was going to have to buy a new one. This was real easy to fix. The instructions that came with the part was easy to understand and very self explanatory. It also had very good diagrams to follow.
After searching online to diagnose the issue with my refrigerator being warm and the freezer being cold and not shutting off to defrost I decided to get the defrost timer kit. The kit arrived within 2 day. With the directions included, after unplugging the appliance for safety, I installed it relatively quickly with only a screwdriver . I then plugged it back in and it immediately went to defrost. I thought, wow I have it fixed. Well unbeknownst to me it still didn't cool in the fridge area. After doing more internet research I found a suggestion to unplug the fridge for 24 hours to unthaw ice that may be lodged between the freezer and fridge that is blocking the distribution of cold air into the fridge. After doing this, it now works like a charm.
I pulled the socket out and unplugged the wires. I replaced the light socket by plugging in the wires and snapping the light socket into place. A very simple fix.
freezer and refrigerator compartments not cold enough
Used the suggested problem list here to narrow down that the repair was most likely the run capacitor. Poped the new one in and I now have better control of my compartment ranges. I have a temperature gauge in each compartment. Check them every opening of the doors.
Removed the access panel on back of unit located the Run Capacitor on the compressor and removed the bad one and put the new one on and pugged refrigerator back in and it started up and works fine now
Gasket had several tears in it at the corners and was leaking air into the fresh food compartment
Removed the old gasket and ran the hard edged lip into the opening behind the door liner. Concerned that the gasket does not seem to be attaching itself to the door well. First put it on the side of the refigerator and it would not adhere enough to support itself. While it closes it just doesn't seem to attach with the magnets in the gasket. These magnetic strips have a weak magnet side and a strong magnet side. I wonder if they put the wrong side facing the door when they assembled it. Counter this with a new gasket for an upright freezer which was twice the length and attached itself firmly to the side wall of the freezer and did not slide down.