My fridge door gasket is blown out at the bottom - the magnetic strip is just hanging out, leaving a gap there…
I can easily get the replacement part but it’s not at all obvious how to remove the old one… don’t want to just rip it off, that’s probably not the approach.
Many thanks for any/all advice.
DL
If you open the door and roll the inner must part of the seal away from the inner door panel, You will find a metal strip held in place with a LOT of screws!!! LOOSEN all of the screws and slide the gasket out from under the edge, take your time, its NOT an easy job the first time around!!!
As it turns out, it was even easier than that, I just pulled the corner of the gasket and it peels right out. It has a stiff plastic triangular ridge on the back side that goes all the way around and fits into a metal clip extending the perimeter of the door. I did not have to loosen any screws (the only screws are in the center of the metal clip, so you have to take the gasket out to get to them anyway, I figured that couldn’t be right).
Then, the new gasket just snaps into the clip, you have to go all the way around and make sure it’s seated. Seems fine. Now I really DO hope that’s the way it was intended to work!
Regards,
DL
It is done the way you did it
OK I replaced the main door gasket and still the freezer is building up frost like no tomorrow. Any other ideas?
Thx,
DL
Sounds like a defrost porblem.
Check Continuity on the heater if it shows continuity replace thermostat defros part # [COLOR=#0000ff]AP2071285[/COLOR]
The other way to check the heater if by manual advancing the timer to defrost and the observe the heater go on.
Thanks Eddie365. Now for the next dumb questions,
According to my indoor outdoor thermometer, it is about -25F in there.
The little freezer temp adjuster in the main fridge compartment is jammed with ice and can’t be moved. I’ve turned off the fridge entirely in the hopes I can free this up.
How do I check the defroster?
How do I access the timer?
Is it in the lower rear near the compressor or in some other mysterious location?
Thanks!
DL
Hi, Here is the part # [COLOR=#0000ff]AP2061721[/COLOR] for the timer, get a flat screw driver start turning
the timer until the fridge stop, which is in defrost and check your heater to see if comes on. if it doesn’t change the defrost assembly part # [COLOR=#0000ff]AP2071285[/COLOR] , heater part number [COLOR=#800080]AP2071406[/COLOR]
OK, well I located the defrost thermostat, behind the rear panel in the freezer. Is it supposed to have continuity when it’s too cold, or, uhh… room temp?
I figured out the “defrost control” is what I would call the “temperature setting” at the rear of the main fridge compartment.
No idea where the timer is.
Couldn’t locate it in this diagram:
There’s a thing called a “heater mullion” part #219, but from the diagram, I can’t exactly deduce where the heck it is?
Thanks for any insight.
defrost ts. location 648 [COLOR=#0000ff]Defrost control[/COLOR] heater is under the evaporator
coil but you probably dont see it becasue is cover with ice.
using you link to the parts breakdown, the defrost timer is Item 648 in the “Compartment Separator Parts” section.
Eddie365 has give you a photo so you will know what it looks like
The following link should be helpful
http://www.applianceaid.com/refrigerator.html
Thanks for the link DenMan,
Well, yesterday I thawed out the right hand side, found a wooly mammoth and Frankenstein monster embedded in the ice 
, but there’s still a block on the left hand side, which might contain some important part.
I didn’t replace the shelf or ice tray but I put everything back on the bottom of the freezer section, anticipating the need to go back in… and what’s weird is that it seems much better. Interior temp as measured by my indoor/outdoor thermometer is about -6 to -8F as opposed to between -20F to -30 F previously.
I did see the thermostat clipped onto a tube and just unclipped it and put it back on as I didn’t see any way to test its continuity without stripping the insulation.
So, as a result of doing nearly nothing, it seems a lot better. Does this make any sense? And if so what should be done to prevent the problem in the future? As the fridge is about 12 years old, and this is the first time anything like this has happened, I was pretty sure something has broken.
Thanks,
DL
You did do something, by the sound of it you partially defrosted the unit so it will work until it ices up again. Only time will tell.
Frost on the evaporator coils is normal, heavy ice is not.
The usual first symptom of no defrost is the fresh food section’s temperature rises. This is because the evaporator coils are clogged with ice and the fan can no longer circulate air over them. Eventually the freezer section rises for the same reason.
Thanks Denman.
To be more clear, the coils themselves were not covered in solid ice, rather the spaces to the lower left and right where there are some wires and whatnot.
Well I will just continue through with removing all the solid ice I can and hope for the best!