Refrigerator Air Diffuser WP2216112

I replaced the Diffuser and the Thermistor (the one in the refrigerator) at the same time. I was not sure what the problem was ahead of time except for the fact that no air was coming in from the freezer section; this is where the air diffuser is. I probably only needed to replace the diffuser.

I turned the circuit breaker for the refrigerator off. There was a small section of plastic covering the wires that run from the top console inside the refrigerator to the back of the refrigerator where the diffuser is. I took this off (one screw) and then the diffuser is connected in the refrigerator side with one screw. To push the diffuser from the freezer, I needed to take off a piece of plastic directing the flow of air from the freezer. I needed to move the ice maker forward a little; it moves forward easily (it sort of clips into place). Once the diffuser was visible from the freezer, I pushed it out or disconnected the four clips holding it in and it came right out. Once this is done, you simply unplug the old and plug in the new and put back in place. This took less than 15 minutes total time. Online diagrams makes ordering parts and fixing easy.

Once the new diffuser was in, I could tell I was golden because I was getting cold air. I guess this piece goes bad from time to time based on others experiences.

First off, about 5 months ago I bought a replacement diffuser but it didn't help. So, I bought the control board and another diffuser just in case.

1. I removed all items and shelves from the fridge and freezer.

2. I removed screws holding the diffuser in place and the wire guards in place in the fridge.

3. I removed the back panel in the freezer and the airflow channel to the icemaker at the top of the freezer.

4. I carefully removed the diffuser by going from the freezer side and pushing in four small retainer brackets in the air channel to the diffuser.

5. I replaced the diffuser and plugged it into the wiring, and then put the little thermostat back into the housing and then moved on to the control unit.

6. I removed screws holding the control unit in place, and lowered it down to get a look. I removed three screws holding a retaining plastic barrier in place, so that I could see the circuit board.

7. I carefully unplugged all of the connections, then moved the plastic clips to remove the circuit board.

8. Then I installed the new circuit board and hooked up the wires, and then put the plastic cover back on.

9. Then I put everything back together with the correct screws, and made sure everything was in place.

10. I put three cups of water in the fridge, one on top shelf, one on the middle, one on the bottom.

11. Set the controls for 4 which was the default setting. Then I closed up the fridge for 3 days. The water in the cups did not freeze.

12. My wife was happy, I only spent about $300 or so including overnight shipping, and I did the repair myself. No problem.

13. One thing that helped was taking pictures with my digital camera as I went along so that I would remember how to put things back together, just in case the scotch made the memory foggy.

Thank you Partselect!

First of all, you must remove two screws in the fridge compartment, and then remove the back panel in the freezer compartment which snaps off easily.

Then, you must push the four clips on the back of the diffuser together from the freezer side so that it slips out the fridge side.

Make sure to remember the parts as they come out, and re-connect them as needed to complete the repair.

This repair did not fix my fridge and so I'm drinking bourbon and trying to figure out how to fix this giant Kitchenaid piece of crap that freezes my beer.

Damn.

This was a very simple piece of kit to replace. We are not electricians but commonsense helped. Follow the man's advice below me but you don't need to empty the whole refridgerator just the top shelf. Very, very simple. Thank you the man below.

One screw inside the refrigerator removed the cover exposing the diffuser assembly. I had to also remove the cover inside the freezer compartment in order to free the diffuser assemble bracket that protruded in from the refrigerator compartment directly on the other side. Once the diffuser was freed, the assembly came off in my hand. The new one just snapped back in place. Done.

I followed the instructions of other people on this website. First, removing the plastic guard that covered the wires leading to the diffuser. Then I removed the screw that held in the diffuser. I should have done this next part first--it would have ben easier! Anyway, next I removed the plastic cover at the back-top of the freezer. It looks like it guides air into the freezer. After that, there is another plastic air guide, that connects into the diffuser. I had to pull this out. There was no screw. I did use a flat head to wedge in, and pop it out. Then I just popped out the old diffuser and disconnected the wires. To install the new diffuser I just reversed all these directions. I took about 30 minutes. If I had had more experience with this sort of thing, I could have done it in 10. My fridge is now perfect! I used a thermometer to test.

First I removed the two screws that hold the element in place. I then pulled the element out about 3 inches and disconnected the two wires. I had to get to the other side of the diffuser on the freezer side to unhook the diffuser. Access was a bit difficult.

First, let me say that PS was unbelievably fast in getting the part to me ... Extraordinary, in fact. Unfortunately the new part was not the same dimension as the old one ... the four plastic arms that extend through the wall from the refrigerator side to the freezer side and secure the part in place measured a full 1/4 inch shorter than those on the original part ... Even with much effort and a few choice words, it was impossible to get the arms to clip into place ... It wasn't,t even close. So, we used our fine-toothed Swedish saw to take off 1/4 inch of the large part of the styrofoam "housing" so that the arms would extend farther into the freezer side ... Even then, it was difficult to get the arms clipped into place. If the part had been the proper dimension, it would have been a 15 minute job - just remove top two shelves from both sides and move ice maker out of the way ... Just need a nut driver to remove two screws from fridge side to get the two cover plates off and one screw from ice maker ... Push part from freezer side to fridge side, pull wire plug off old unit, plug into new unit, push unit in place on fridge side until arms click in place, replace ice maker, cover pieces in fridge, and shelves. Unfortunately, we didn't get a part that fit. Unfortunately, after all of that agony, our problem remains. We had replaced the bimetal defroster first, which also was delivered quickly. It was different from the original, but it fit and was easy to replace. Next we'll try the thermistor! Incidentally, I agree with an earlier reviewer ... Kitchenaid is junk - not the same since Whirlpool acquired it ... Same with Maytag, in my opinion. Thank goodness for Partselect.com!

followed instruction that came with part but didn't need to remove ice maker mechanism just contorted a bit