EV171NYMQ04 Whirlpool Freezer - Instructions

The replacement of the gasket is straightforward. Remove screws, remove old gasket, fit new gasket, replace screws. The tricky part is when the folds in the gasket from shipping prevent a tight fit against the refrigerator body. It was necessary to wedge something against the door to force the gasket flat for a couple of days until the rubber was "trained". Now it fits fine.

Just replaced the switch, but unfortunately that was not the problem; nor was it the bulb....so I am back to square one.
But Parts Select is a great place to order from. Thank you.

It was so easy!

Thanks for the rush to my home on the part.

I just unscrewed the plate that locks in the light switch (screwdriver) and unplugged the old faulty part and plugged in the new switch, screwed the cover back on and I was done!

Easy!

And I am not Mr. Fix-it!

Used a screw driver to pull old switch. Pulled one wire at a time, only two wires. After wires instlled to new switch push new one back in place where the old one was.

When we discovered that the freezer was not holding temperature we quickly moved everything we could to the freezer compartment of our refrigerator. I then removed the shelves and basket from the freezer.
I used a Philips screwdriver and removed the 4 screws from the panel at the rear of the freezer. I discovered that 1 of the 4 fan blades had broken off and was laying in the bottom of the freezer. I plugged the freezer in and found that the motor was not running. I removed the bracket which holds the fan and motor with a socket wrench.

When I received the fan and new motor I installed both by reversing the process.

The only issue I had to deal with was that the auto-defrost wire had to be carefully removed from the old motor plug and inserted in the new plug. Once that was accomplished everything was simple.

Removed the door and removed the inside cover and replaced the old gasket with the new one.

I simply removed the old switch using 2 small screwdrivers and the old switch case popped out. I then upluged the wires from the old switch and reversed the process. Didn't take longer than 5 minutes begining to end! Thank you for the great service! Duncan quaid

The defrost circuit is relatively simple. Just three components and interconnecting wiring. Ensure the timer works first, then check the heater element for continuity. Lastly i jumpered around the temp switch to eliminate interconnecting wiring. You can test the switch by cooling it to see if it opens, but some do not open like the one in this particular Whirlpool until they are well below freezing so you’ll need to take that into account in your troubleshooting. Replacing the switch itself is very simple, it’s two wires and it just clips to the heat exchanger in the back of the freezer behind a metal cover.

Removed the 2 screws holding the light bulb shield, then the 4 uolding the metal panel. Unplugged the olw door switch and replaced.
reassembled the pieces.

I added an icemaker kit. Everything I needed was in the kit. The refrigerator was presetup for an icemaker it was just never added. The only problem I had was that the holes for attaching the water solenoid were not pre drilled so I had to drill them myself and use sheet metal screws. The icemaker is working great.

I followed the instructions They worked well, but there are two things I should mention. Once I removed the inside panel of the door (with shelving for jars, etc.) to get to the gasket I found the insulation behind it to be encased in ice. I had to replace the insulation. Then, when I had it back together and closed the door there were large gaps between the new gasket and the body of the freezer. I tried various things to fix it and finally found that by pushing hard of the door with the freezer running it pretty well sealed. After running for a while it sealed completely and has been working perfectly since.

Very easy to install

You should know that the freezer leaked for months before it warmed up. It's not connected to water (no ice maker in it) so I figured it was ice build-up that was melting and causing the leak.

When it warmed up I called a repairman who said the start relay was bad and estimated $500 to replace it. I disputed this because the compressor was running. I asked him if perhaps the freon was low, he said if it was, we should dispose of the freezer.

I even asked him to take $300 to replace that relay, but he refused so I paid him his service fee and sent him on his way. Turns out even $300 would've been a ripoff.

I watched several videos on diagnosing warm freezers. I tried contacting many online parts stores but PartsSelect.com was the only one that answered and had kind and patient techs willing to explain things to me.

I tested the evaporator fan motor, which turned out to be bad. The tech recommended other parts that might also be bad so I put them all into the shopping cart, including the overload (by accident, not sure how I got that one as I did not need the overload for this repair). I did buy the relay in case the unethical repair guy was right about the relay being bad.

The parts arrived quickly and the diagrams/video supplied by this site were very helpful. I used my cell phone to take photos of everything before I started so I could put all wires back in their proper places, etc.

EVAPORATOR FAN MOTOR:

Very easy to replace. I removed the cover panel as instructed, and removed the screws holding the motor with my nutdriver. The blades slid off the motor nice and easy--I did not have to fiddle with the clip at all, just slid them off and on.

There is a third hole in the white bracket that worried me because I didn't see a corresponding third hole in the photo online of that part. But when it arrived, it did have the hole so I was able to plug it in just fine.

I removed the middle wire from the old part's white bracket NOT by pulling on it. I removed it by gently pushing an allen wrench into the hole and then the wire came out easily so it could be plugged into the new part.

Very easy overall to replace the Evaporator Fan Motor.

BI-METAL DEFROST THERMOSTAT:

Another very easy to replace part! Find the old part, unplug it and plug in the new part! Once the panel is removed to access the fan, you can hold up the new part and use it to find the old one. In this model it was easy to find.

DEFROST TIMER:

This was on the back of my freezer, in the cavity that holds the compressor. Once I located it, it was a simple thing to replace it. I used the nut driver to unscrew the screws and unplugged it, plugged in the new one, put the screws back... super simple.

START RELAY:

This was the scariest for me but turned out to be simple. I had to lie on the ground to get close enough and position a bright light so I could see everything clearly. (I'm a 60-year-old gal with poor eyesight and creaky bones!) The cell phone came in handy here to take up close photos of the assembly.

Another difficult step: grabbing the relay to pull it out. It was difficult to gain purchase on it but I finally figured it out.

A third difficulty (only for me) was pulling off the terminals without damaging the wire. I followed the video closely here, grabbed the terminals and not the wire and worked at them to pull them off. They were on very tight, difficult but I did get them off.

Installing the new relay was easy. Attach the terminals (cell phone photo of original part helped me ensure I got the right wires to the right place) and plug it in (cell phone helped again so I could line up the pins before pushing).

The old part rattled just barely -- so perhaps it WAS on its way out, but certainly not worth a $500 repair the repairman wanted! And as you will see, it was not the only thing not working in our this freezer.

The freezer started right up -- compressor humming nicely -- but after 24 hours it was only 60 degrees. At that point I called PartsSelect.com and they spent a long time with me on the phone. We decided it might be leaking freon but they don't have parts or info on adding freon.

I researched "how to add freon to your freezer" and found a great video by Vegas Romaniac on youtube.



Turns out you need to make sure your gauge has a DVA-1 adapter; the link in the youtube video sends you to an old-style gauge, so if you buy that one you'll need to go to Walmart for a DVA-1 adapter ($3).

Another issue: the green gasket in that gauge prevented it from seating properly, it took me a very long time before it finally seated and pierced the can...

Referencing the info/schematics you have on your website, I unscrewed/unattached top-front panel (carefully), from behind the panel you have to detach the wires (2) from the switch, pushed "in" the switch to remove, put in new switch and attach wires to test BEFORE remounting panel. Tada!! Thank you PartSelect! You saved me at least $80...would have been at least $100 to have a repair person come to the house!

My brother repaired it but he said it was easy. Freezer works great again. Thanks guys