85161 Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

I took a chance and ordered a switch that is next to the top of the door. looked for how to remove it easily done in ten minutes works fine last long time.

Pull refrigerator out from wall to shut off water and power. Remove ice bin, pulling front down then out. Remove screw at bottom of icemaker, then pull down to release two clips, Pull out a couple inches to get hand behind icemaker to release wiring harness connector. (squeeze top and bottom to release clips). Remove unit. Remove wiring harness and wire bail from old unit and install on new unit. Reverse steps to install new unit. Make sure ice bin is fully inserted, or unit will not function.

After removing the old ice maker, I pulled off the wiring harness and plugged it into the new unit. The new unit went in place of the old with 3 screws. This was the only repairs needed. It started talking to the frig and we had our first batch of ice in minutes.

After checking the water valves ordered new ice maker. received the part three days after ordering! Clearing out food, removing the old one and installing the new unit took under 15 minutes. Everything went fine.

inserted a knife between the switch and the plastic interior in order to pop the switch out.
then took off the 2 wires on the old switch put them on the new switch and reinserted the switch into the plastic interior.

Despite a long delay due to a lack of stock on hand, the correct part arrived and matched in color. It came without the little rectangular plastic cap or cover for the bottom bolt, so it was good to have kept the old handle and plastic cap on hand. I imagine other owners might have thrown out a broken part, bolts and cap in the meantime. Strictly the handle arrived, but it was easy to install. I'm grateful for a part I wasn't sure could be found.

The refrig seemed warm so I checked the temp of some liquid with a thermometer. Readings were above 60 degrees and I knew food would spoil soon. I vacuumed the dog fur off the cooling coils underneath the machine to see if that would help. Nope. I realized cold air from the freezer was not reaching the refrig. The fan was working but no cold air was coming out. I figured a blockage either in the air duct from the refrig or in the return duct to the freezer. I didn’t see any blockage in the refrig section. I took everything out of the freezer and removed the back wall. The cooling coils were completely frozen solid with frost. Being a frost free machine, I knew there were heaters that were controlled by a timer that melted this frost away periodically and that this cycle was no longer working. I found a schematic on the web, maybe your site, and educated myself on the heater circuit. The circuit consisted of a timer, thermostat near the coils, and a cal rod heater all wired in series. The timer was easy to get to and being a mechanical device I figured it must be the culprit. I ordered one online. I checked its operation and it worked fine. Realizing time was short, I hot wired the cal rod around the thermostat and rotated the timer to its heat position. The frost melted quickly and I put the freezer back together and ordered a thermostat. I canceled the timer order. When it arrived, I installed the new thermostat and it has worked fine for the past month. A little colder than usual as I don’t yet have the settings back to where they were. I have checked the operation of the old thermostat. It’s supposed to close at 30 degrees and open at 45. I have done a continuity check on it by putting it in the freezer, letting it cool down, take it out, let it warm up and it seems to work fine. So I have doubts if I really solved the problem. Wire connections were tight and not corroded. Maybe the timer was hung up on debris that I freed by cycling it. I don’t think this is the end of the story.

Part received was what I needed. There was one issue--the 'feed' opening to receive water and direct it into the ice tray was a side feed and what I needed was a back feed. That means I had to do some exchanging of parts to make it work. That exercise took more time that the actual installation.

After unplugging the appliance I needed to thaw a large ice buildup off the evaporator cover panel before I could even remove the panel. The freezer being on the lower part of the appliance has the evaporator mounted vertically and it was 100% encapsulated in rock hard ice. It took over an hour to thaw the ice and collect all the water with a shop vacuum, since the condensate pan began to overflow.
One thawed, I checked all wiring for good connection, checked heater, defrost thermostat, timer unit with multimeter. The defrost thermostat checked out fine after putting it into another freezer for a 15 minute cooldown, but I noticed a crack in the seal and suspected internal moisture and decided to replace that part. A simple plug in of two leads to the new part after clipping it to the evaporator, replacement of the panel, and the appliance was up and running problem free.
A workbench disection of the old part confirmed my assessment, it had internal rust and water and had failed causing the defrost cycle failure.

Removed the old handle, did a little clean-up of the refrigerator door, inserted the new handle and used the old screws to secure it. The fit was perfect.

Removed the ice brucket,
Removed the light shield by releasing one screw using a nutdriver.
Replacing the bulb and reinstalled the light shield.

Your web site is one of the best and most helpfull service sites I ever used. Just wish that in the future you will ship parts overseas.

Very simple fix, remove 3 screws, two connectors to the old switch

remove 3 screws,rotate assembly,depress lock on wire harnass connector,un plug harnass.remove old assembly,remove and transfer side cover and steel wire at front of assembly,connect harnass to new assembly,rotate into place,aling screw holes and install 3 screws.flip front steel wire down and wait for about 1 hour,first tray of ice will fall..all done.

to easy to describe, remove 3 screws and a wire plug then install new unite.
Works great
Thanks

easy repair and looks great!!!
Thank you from a single Mom:-)