HMG2499D47D (BM9L71A) Admiral Refrigerator - Instructions

First did the easy part, removed and replaced the defrost timer. Didn't correct the problem.

Then got into the defrost heaters. Big job, because the factory didn't provide for repairs. Had to remove the ice maker because there was one screw holding on the cover panel behind it. The factory installed defrost heaters were run behind the freezer coils so I had to cut them out. Then I had to bend the light aluminum sides with heavy pliers to slip the burned out defrost heaters out and replace them with the new defrost heaters. Didn't use the defrost timer, because I was taking it one step at a time.

Now the refrigerator fresh food side maintains 39 degrees and runs 1/10 the time it was running. My wife says it's better than new! Saved $ 2,400 (the replacement she had picked out).

Well first I noticed the back of the freezer compartment freezing up and the ice not freezing. I moved all the contents of the freezer to another freezer. I waited and noticed even when pluged in and everything defrosted the fan didn't kick on on the condensing unit! After a few minutes it did kick on and I took a guess that the defrost timer was probally ok without checking it. I took eight screws out of the back plate and noticed the defrosting tube on the lower part of the coil was broke in half. I knew I had found the problem. It took maybe 10 minutes to remove and about 10 minutes to order the part. Three days later it was at my door. I took my time installing it which only took maybe 30 minutes. It took longer for me to wipe everything down and clean the inside of both compartments than it did to insall the part. Pluged it in and fired it up and problem solved. Thanks Part Select!

Removed everything from inside freezer compartment (food and shelves) Removed inside backpanel that covered the coils. At the top of the coils is where the thermostat was attached. Removed old one and installed new. Has been working since.

Unloading the freezer and removing the back panel were the most time consuming aspect of this repair. Many models only have 4 screws, but this one has 9, and being a side by side it was a tight fit to reach them. Once defrosted we tested the thermostat, found it "dead", and ordered a new one. The part came within 3 business days. Installing it took minutes, since we had not permanently screwed in the back panel again. We didn't want to reload everything until we knew things worked properly, so we didn't put everything back right away. We thought we had further problems as the freezer got really cold but the frig still didn't get down to temp. Turns out we just needed to reinstall the fan shield which we'd taken off along with other parts to access and check the vents. The fan shield must be in place to direct the cold air into the vent to the refrigerator. Duh! It was an oversight that once caught made total sense! Now all works fine on this 20 year old Maytag side by side!