Refrigerator Shield Light Fz WR17X11446

For several years, had problem with water accumulating in the bottom of the refrigerator...took out the "custom cool" drawer and assigned my kids the responsibility to dry it out daily after supper (about a fourth of cup of water daily)...the water was condensing and dripping down the left side of the refrigerator... NOT coming from the refregerator evaporator drip pan area. Then the refrigerator and freeezer had erratic cooling...paid 4 grand for this GE stainless steel on the front/sides frig about 5 years ago... then my wife said she wanted a new refrigerator...what the heck...went on to numerous websites and finally decided to do my own "overall"...had nothing to lose except the price of the parts. A helpful web site is the GE technician site at...www.manualinstruction.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ge-sidebyside.pdf. I ordered the four thermisters, a new freezer defroster (the old one was probably OK...the freezer coils were not "iced Up"), and a new defroster thermonmeter. While I was at it, I ordered a new refrigerator evaporator drip pan that was rusting a bit. As per other instructions in this website, just spliced in the new thermisters,used wire twist caps and eletrical tape to seal them. The GE site is a bit more elaborate on the "correct" way to do this. The refrigerator evaporator coil is a bit tricky...see the above ge site...but I just cut the rubber thermister holder down the middle and then tracked the thermister through the holder and stuck it in the block and taped the holder back together...(removed the block first ) and then zip-lined the block back to the coil like it was originally. It was about 3 hours to do everything...and guess what...temp in the freezer is -5...temp in the frig is 36...and NO MORE WATER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE REFRIGERATOR, NO MORE WATER DRIPPING DOWN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE REFRIGERATOR...what will my kids do...I feel like the refrigerator guru now. Wish I had done this several years ago. The parts I ordered came in 3 days. I'm lovin my refrigerator now and my wife is lovin me. It's really easier than I thought it would be...the GE tech website has some "diagnostic" info to isolate different problems... but I just decided to replace "everything" since the parts were not that expensive and it was going to be a "do or die" on getting a new refrigerator.

I had some trouble removing the broken switch because a lot of the frame was missing due to the damage from the dropped can. I tried a screwdriver first and then switched to a small putty knife, which someone else had suggested.
Once the switch was loose and wires were accessible, I also had some trouble disconnecting them but they finally turned loose. After that the new switch was easily connected and popped back into the opening.
Definitely take photos as you disconnect!