25368882012 Kenmore Refrigerator - Overview

No instructions included, so it took a little bit of staring at the new part to figure out how it works. The barbed ridge on the gasket fits into a slot on the door. The flat face of the gasket has an internal magnetic strip that helps keep the seal tight against the steel face of the refrigerator. Installation requires no tools. This is ... Read more the basic process:
1) Unbox the new gasket and get it ready to install so you don't have to leave the fridge open too long.
2) Open the door and grab the old gasket at one of the corners and pull away. This will unseat the barbed ridge I mentioned above. Work your way around the door until the whole gasket is free.
3) Set aside the old gasket
4) Grab a moistened paper towel and wipe down the (now exposed) sealing surface of the fridge and door.
5) Align the new gasket in the door and start pushing the barb into place. I found that the new gasket seemed slightly oversize compared to the original, so it took a little tweaking. What worked for me was to get all the corners seated, then work my way around the door making sure the gasket is fully seated.
6) Once you have the new gasket installed, close the door to make sure everything fits OK.
7) Open the door again and run your finger along the inside edge of the gasket seal. What you want to do is fold the edge of the gasket down so it lays flat against the outer wall of the door.
8) Shut the door and look from the sides and top to try to spot any gaps. You should be able to poke the gasket from the side and get the magnet strips to click into place. It seems like after a day or so the gasket 'relaxed' and I didn't have to worry about this anymore.
9) Dispose of the old gasket. I was able to pull the gasket into four pieces (separating at the corners) so it would fit in my city trash can...

This was the second part I tried. The defrost timer was first, but that did not fix it. To do this I had to remove the ice maker and the back plate of the freezer. Then I defrosted the coil and cut the wires. stripped them back and installed the new thermostat. re-assembled and tested. has been working great ever since.

I unplugged the refrigerator, then opened the door and removed four screws holding the plastic electrical panel to the interior top of the main refrigerator compartment and noticed the cold control was corroded badly, apparently from moisture in the panel. I ordered a new one from partselect.com. When it arrived the next day, I then pul ... Read more led off the control knob, unclipped the cold control, unplugged the three wires to the control, then removed the styrofoam insulation blocks holding the thermocouple wire and then removed the thermocouple wire to complete the removal. I then reversed the process to install the new thermostat and control. That is repositioned the thermocouple wire, put the insulation blocks back to hold the wire, then replugged the three electrical wires, clipped the control back and pushed the control knob back on and finally screwed the panel back to the top of the main compartment and plugged the refrigerator electrical cord back in to provide current to the refrigerator. It immediately started up and ran fine. Total time - about 8 minutes.