Defrost Heater with Thermostat WR51X442

Fridge was not really cold. Fan was working at back of freezer. Romoved the drawers and back panel of freezer compartment. Melted ice with a blow dryer and collected water with a towel so that it would not overflow the drip pan. Installed the new defroster units with 4 screws and the easy plug in wiring harness. Bingo! Defrost timer was probably OK but new one is easy to do.

Fixed in one day vs waiting for service call & payng $$$.

Disconnected the power to the refrigerator/freezer. Removed the shelving in the freezer. Had to remove the light cover (1 screw in center top of light, slide to left and cover is removed) located in the top of freezer to obtain access to the screw in the back panel. Removed the back panel (using nut driver). Four screws (2 at the top and 2 at the bottom). Used a heat gun to defrost the coils enough to remove the screws and wiring harness. I started at the bottom unit by removing 2 screws with a #2 phillip screwdriver to remove the lower defrosting element. Carefully pulling the wiring forward from the sides of the cooling coils until I reached the next defrost coil. Repeat removing 2 screws to remove the next defrost element. Continue to carefully pull wiring harness toward yourself. Remove the Thermostat (just clipped on the upper left side of coil. Remove the plug. Carefully reverse the process to complete the process.

Had to use a hair dryer to manually defrost the refrigerator before I could replace the heater assembly . I had to remove the aluminum mounting brackets and reverse them before mounting the assembly so that the wiring would run the same as the old assembly . Overall time spent from start to finish, including manual defrost was about 2 hours.
Thanks for the timer troubleshooting tips, they helped to narrow down the problem.

Couldn't find schematic or repair manual
Finally found your site which showed the location and part numbers of the timer and heaters.
I ordered them; they came immediately.
I replaced only the timer, since it was the easiest and took only a few minutes. Defrosting the frezer coils with a hair dryer took about an hour.
Rerigerator froze over again in about two weeks.
I then replaced the heaters. One of the heaters was 'open circuit'.

Troubleshooting was easy - others had the same problem - coils freeze over and frost blocks air flow to refrigerator - part identification made easier by online picture - many parts look the same so you may want to call and confirm before you order (there were variations to this model number) - To repair: take off five screws that hold the metal panel on the back of the freezer - remove the panel - use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt ice from the coils (put a towel at the bottom to soak up the water) - unplug the kit at the top of the freezer and carefully pull off the thermostat clipped to the coil - remove the four screws that hold the heater kit to the back of the freezer - install the new kit where the old one was then re-install the panel to the back of the freezer - next, make time to clean the condenser coils under the refrigerator/freezer

The job was fairly easy. Removed 4 screws and removed panel. Disconnected cable assembly, removed 4 more screws holding heater coils. Reconnected cable assembly and replaced screws & panel. Partselect was quick to ship and would do business with them again.

pretty straight forward,removed threw screws to replace the defrost timer and reverse the procedure. To replace the defrost unit 1st removed metal back plate in freezer. Step 2 defrost freezer. step 3 remove four screws that hold defrost elements in freezer compartment. Step 4 install new defrost elements and secure back in place with four screws. step 5 optional read old defrost heaters with ohm meter to confirm the defective part. step 6 plug back in frig and enjoy a cool brewski ahhhhh. By the way only one defrost element was bad (open) but as mentioned in literature which came with new derost elements I replaced both of them. Thanks again for all the help on this, saved me $2000 on a new frig.

It was easy after finding PartSelect online. It wasn't obvious at first that my evaporator core(in back of freezer side) was frosting over, (since I have a flat white panel that is about 8 x 30 inches covering it), until I reached inside and ran my fingers over the cover and noticed a thin layer of frost on it. At this point I told my buddies to go get ice for our beer cuz I was fixin to do a lock out/tag out on the Fridge. Seriously, Do disconnect the electrical power before taking it apart. After taking the 9 screws (6-1/4" hex heads & 3-#2 phillips)out and removing the panel, I saw that the evaporator core was completely frosted over. I then put a large towel in the bottom and let it thaw for a day. Next day after getting the old Defrost Heater Kit with Thermostat out (4-#2 phillips, plug-in electrical connection, thermostat snap on clip) , I noticed it was burnt inside the filaments and did not pass the continuity test. I then ordered my part from PartSelect and took the oppurtunity to clean my fridge spotless. 3 business days later, I received my part, installed it, and now have a "like new" refrigertor. Actual repair time - 30 minutes, Overall down time - 4 days, Saving the cost of a new Fridge - a heck of lot more beer!

Removed the 4 screws holding the back panel in freezer compartment and then removed panel. Removed the 4 screws holding defrost heater and removed it. The replacement parts fit perfect , plug the new part in and bingo my frig is operating like a new one. Took about 15 minutes to make the repair. Took longer to defrost the ice buildup on the coils ( 1hr ) than to do the repair (15 min). I can't believe i would have been paying an appliance repairman to hold a hair dryer for an hour. Your diagrams showing where the various parts are located on the appliance are invaluable. Would recommend PartsSelect to anyone and I am sure that I will be ordering parts for my other appliances as needed. Thanks

Unplugged the refrigerator. I took all the food items out of the freezer, took out the ice bin and shelves. Then I unscrewed the back panel and removed it. The freezer coils were frozen over with ice. Then I used a large fan to thaw the ice and cleaned up the water with towels.
I unscrewed the old defrost heater at the bottom of the coil section, removed it and screwed the new defrost heater part in. I ended up using some dikes to cut the wiring midway up . ( I was going to use the new plastic plug that came with the new part, but it wasn't correct ). I spliced the wires together ( the color scheme was the same - pink to pink, blue to blue, etc), capped them , taped them with electrical tape, and I covered them with a corner from a sandwich bag and taped them a bit more to keep moisture out. Then I tucked the wiring up away from the coil section. I also spliced this little cylindrical part into the existing wiring harness and clipped it onto the copper tubing. ( I suspect this is the defrost timer, but I'm not sure ). After I removed the the old cylindrical little part, I noticed the cap was popped out of it. (it looked like it was damaged a bit ). Once I got all wiring tucked away and back in place, I put the back panel back on, plugged it back in. Voila'. Easy as pie. It's been running fine ( about a week now) ever since. I replaced the thermostat sensor first since that was the cheapest part, but it wasn't the problem. So I moved on to the defrost heater and that ended up being the bad part. I repaired my refrigerator for less than $100.00. Thanks PartSelect. You rock!