86871 (P1113702W) Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

After unplugging the appliance I needed to thaw a large ice buildup off the evaporator cover panel before I could even remove the panel. The freezer being on the lower part of the appliance has the evaporator mounted vertically and it was 100% encapsulated in rock hard ice. It took over an hour to thaw the ice and collect all the water with a shop vacuum, since the condensate pan began to overflow.
One thawed, I checked all wiring for good connection, checked heater, defrost thermostat, timer unit with multimeter. The defrost thermostat checked out fine after putting it into another freezer for a 15 minute cooldown, but I noticed a crack in the seal and suspected internal moisture and decided to replace that part. A simple plug in of two leads to the new part after clipping it to the evaporator, replacement of the panel, and the appliance was up and running problem free.
A workbench disection of the old part confirmed my assessment, it had internal rust and water and had failed causing the defrost cycle failure.

I simply removed the old switch by gently pulling down on the old switch with a screwdriver. When it was about half way out I just gently pulled down on the old switch and it popped out... I removed the two connectors attached to the old switch by pulling on the connectors with a pliers...I tried using my fingers but wasn't able to pull the connectors off so I used pliers. It worked perfectly.. When pulling off the old connectors, make sure you attach the new switch to the same tabs on the new switch... It was very easy to do and took under 5 mins.....The light switch works perfect....P.S. You should unplug the frig while making the connection just in case....Safety first....!!!

inserted a knife between the switch and the plastic interior in order to pop the switch out.
then took off the 2 wires on the old switch put them on the new switch and reinserted the switch into the plastic interior.

I took a chance and ordered a switch that is next to the top of the door. looked for how to remove it easily done in ten minutes works fine last long time.

The refrig seemed warm so I checked the temp of some liquid with a thermometer. Readings were above 60 degrees and I knew food would spoil soon. I vacuumed the dog fur off the cooling coils underneath the machine to see if that would help. Nope. I realized cold air from the freezer was not reaching the refrig. The fan was working but no cold air was coming out. I figured a blockage either in the air duct from the refrig or in the return duct to the freezer. I didn’t see any blockage in the refrig section. I took everything out of the freezer and removed the back wall. The cooling coils were completely frozen solid with frost. Being a frost free machine, I knew there were heaters that were controlled by a timer that melted this frost away periodically and that this cycle was no longer working. I found a schematic on the web, maybe your site, and educated myself on the heater circuit. The circuit consisted of a timer, thermostat near the coils, and a cal rod heater all wired in series. The timer was easy to get to and being a mechanical device I figured it must be the culprit. I ordered one online. I checked its operation and it worked fine. Realizing time was short, I hot wired the cal rod around the thermostat and rotated the timer to its heat position. The frost melted quickly and I put the freezer back together and ordered a thermostat. I canceled the timer order. When it arrived, I installed the new thermostat and it has worked fine for the past month. A little colder than usual as I don’t yet have the settings back to where they were. I have checked the operation of the old thermostat. It’s supposed to close at 30 degrees and open at 45. I have done a continuity check on it by putting it in the freezer, letting it cool down, take it out, let it warm up and it seems to work fine. So I have doubts if I really solved the problem. Wire connections were tight and not corroded. Maybe the timer was hung up on debris that I freed by cycling it. I don’t think this is the end of the story.

Removed the ice brucket,
Removed the light shield by releasing one screw using a nutdriver.
Replacing the bulb and reinstalled the light shield.

Your web site is one of the best and most helpfull service sites I ever used. Just wish that in the future you will ship parts overseas.

Very simple fix, remove 3 screws, two connectors to the old switch

I removed the switch housing (4 screws), replacing the switch in the housing was a snap. It took 5 minutes, cost $8 and light works like new!

Why didn't I order this part and do the repair earlier? Very simple.

The light rocker switch wasnt working. I found the part on the web site. It was so easy. I used a screw driver to pop out the old one and pop the new one in. It took 5 min. Thanks!!!

It's self-explanatory. The procedure is obvious; it's just a little difficult. The only hard part is attaching the mounting brackets to the fan. If you can't tighten the mounting bolts, loosen them and reposition the brackets. You might end up mispositioning them at first, because they are hard to reach.

Pop off six mounting screws and the ground screw. Remove the fan blade and reattach. Reinstall. Save yourself big bucks.

1- Remove food from freezer and store in ice chest
2- Turn off refrigerator
3- Remove freezer drawers, 2 drawers, no fastener
4- Remove freezer slide out drawer front , 2 screws
5- Remove ice cube tray holder, 2 screws
6- De-ice back panel with hair dryer / blower
7- Remove back panel in freezer, 8 screws
8- Defrost refrig coil with hair dryer / blower
9- Unplug Bimetal Thermostat, 2 wires, orang / brn
10- Remove Bimetal Thermostat from coil, 1 clip
11- Install new Bimetal Thermostat
12- Re-assemble, reverse order

figured out the condenser fan was kaput. Tried WD, worked for several days then gave out completely. Took off back of fridge and trained small fan on compressor while I ordered new condenser fan. The swap was easy, undid the housing bolts, stripped off the connector, reconnected and voila! works perfect.

First I removed all the screws from the back cover.
2nd removed fan nut and fan blade
3rd removed fan bracket
4th I traced wire to the condenser and disconnected wires from wire nuts.
Installed existing fan brackets to new motor kit
then reconnected wire nuts to new motor cord
Reinstalled fan nut and blade,
reinstalled cover, plugged it in and BAM .WORKS PERF!

I got the product very quickly. (thank you) Looked at online instructions that were quite vague. Pulled plug.Removed the holder for the fan motor slid it out to see what I had. Removed the mounting screws (3) and slid the motor an fan blade out. I made a cut between the wires and marked the "top" wire to motor to be sure to spin in right direction. Removing fan blade hold down clamp was NOT explained at all but I noted that the shaft on the motor was threaded, so I used pliars and held the shaft white un-screwing clamp. I cleaned the fan blades with degreaser and scraped edges of opening on holder opening. Make sure to use ALL the NEW parts included with this kit when re-installing. They send them for a reason. When slpicing and connecting wires it is a 50/50 shot if you don't mark before cutting. You can connect and try plugging fridge back for moment and make sure it is blowing OUT. Put everything back together and after turning DOWN the thermostats twice, fridge is back to usual. Ice maker is cranking out ice and outside case is cool to the touch.

Note: This can be a DIRTY job especially with 4 dogs in house. Fir and grease don't mix well