FPE21TCA0 Frigidaire Refrigerator - Instructions

First I removed the inner door which was easy and used a drill with a hex head driver to undo all of the screws behind the gasket. Trying to fit the new gasket on was a fidely nightmare. It's not too bad to get the sides on but the corners are very difficult. At first I had left the door on the fridge after an hours worth of swearing I took the door right off and laid it flat on a table. When I finally got the gasket all on, with a couple od small tears, I hit it with a heat gun and got most but not all of the wrinkels out. When I put the door back on the fridge it wouldn't close properly - gaps in the gasket. I leaned some weights against the door and it the gasket with the heat gun again. Gradually over 2 days it fit fairley well.

Emptied freezer, removed fan motor cover (2 screws), removed fan and motor (2 screws), removed old motor from bracket and reassembled with new motor, transferred fan blade from old motor to new), re-installed new fan/motor (2 screws) and reinstalled cover...

The old drain pan had a 1 ½” tall bushing attached to the center of the pan. The new pan did not have this bushing which was great. I had to cut about 1 inch off the bushing to remove the old pan. Also after cutting the bushing I had to screw the bushing off after cutting the old pan from the bushing. I installed new pan onto the ½” of threads that was left on the top of the compressor. Checked repair two days later all was great.

1. Unplug the refrigerator.2. Remove the storage rack and back panel in the freezer. 3. Locate the thermostat. 4. Defrost the freezer coils , i used a hair dryer. 5. Remove the thermostat from the cooling coil and then clip the connecting wires close to the unit. 6. Strip the ends of these wires and connect these wires to the wires of the replacement unit using the supplied wire connectors. 6. Heat seal with a lighter the connections using the water shield sleeves provided and further wrap connections with electrical tape. 7. Reconnect the thermostat to the cooling coil at the location it was removed from. 8. Replace the freezer back panel removed earlierand the storage rack if you have one. 9. Plug the freezer back in. My refrigerator has been working ever since the repair. There are several YouTube videos available that walk you through the diagnoses and repair process. They are very good.

Unplug the refrigerator. You will ultimately need to remove the back panel of the freezer. But first, you will need to unscrew 2 screws on a small vertical fan vent and unscrew two screws on the fan. Maneuver the fan out of the round hole in the back panel and unplug the 3 prong wire connection. Then remove the fan. Unscrew the 4 remaining visible screwson the back pannel and remove the panel. This will expose the freon coils. On this model, the heater has two connections at the top of the coils. Unplug those wire connections. The heater extends down each side of the coils and along the bottom of the coils. Unhook two aluminum ties that connect the heater element to the coils. These ties stabilize the heater element and also prevents any current from flowing along the element because of the touching of two different metalic parts. Maneuver the heater element out of the coils. To install the new heater, reverse the above process beginning with installing the new heater element. If it hasn't already been done, it is good idea to test the old heater element with an ohm meter to make sure that the element is actually bad. The circuit should be open. This is the second heater element that I had to replace on this refrigerator, and it was actually burned in half both times, so I knew for sure the element was bad. Then test the new element to make sure it is good, and start the installation..