RT143NCDB Frigidaire Refrigerator - Instructions

After some troubleshooting to ensure the thermostat and heating element were working, determined that the defrost timer was the problem. With the defective part, I was able to manually advance the timer to activate the defrost cycle, but it wouldn't do so on its own. Unplugged the refrigerator from the wall. Timer is located in the refrigerator compartment at the very top. The compartment houses the cooling thermostat, the light bulb and the defrost timer. Using 1/4" nut driver, remove 4 screws holding compartment cover to top of fridge. Lower a bit to access electrical wiring. Wiring harness can be unplugged to work on the timer away from the fridge which makes it a bit easier. Timer is mounted with 2 phillips head screws. Remove screws and unplug timer from wiring. Install new timer, plug in wiring, secure with the phillips head screws and remount entire compartment.

there were three possible problems the timer, the thermostat, or the heating element.i replaced the timer first as that is the problem 65% of the time and that did not fix the problem, i replaced the thermostat and that did fix the problem. after watching the video on line from parts select i took the back off of the freezer from the inside, defrosted the coils with a hair blower and then swapped out the thermostat which pops right off and i spliced the old connectors to the new thermostat. the heat shrink tubing that came with the part was a little to big so i put a smaller peice on each side for water proofing. that is what the cigarette lighter is for to supply heat to the heat shrink tubing.now that i have fixed that problem i may tackle the ice maker next

Removed the lower trim panel from front of fridg. and loosened two screws enough to turn it about 1/4 inch so the screw heads were in the larger holes. Pulled it out disconnected the wire connector and transfered the heat shield and screws to the new clock, connected the wire connector and aligned the screws. tightened them and job done. Has worked like new sense. Thanks Roger

The repair was straightfoward. The evaporator motor I received from partselect was a different model with different wiring configurations. I cut the wires from the new motor per the instructions I received with the new motor and I did the same with the wires that connect to the fridge. Once I matched the wires and secured them with electrical caps I began to put the evaporator motor to the base and started screwing the screws the way I took them off. Once I connected the wire harness to the back of the freezer and turned it on I noticed a big difference in air flow. I was surprised at how easy it was to fix my refrigirator problem. It's been a few weeks now and the fridge is cold and working like it should. Don't be afraid of this task. it's very easy and will save you a ton of money. Thanks partselect.

Instructions from partselect were very clear and probable cause made it easy to narrow things down. I have the manual for the refrigerator that shows the location of the defrost timer. Very surprised that it turned out to be a cheap and easy fix.

Removed the timer, installed the new one. Great service from part select

I order defrost timer then replaced it but it seemed doesn't work. I order defrost thermostat again then it worked fine until now. Thanks. Part selects.

Unplug the refrigerator. Removed the right hand top shelf. Used a 1/4" nutdriver to remove rear center mounting screw for Control Housing. Used Phillips screwdriver to remove two mounting screws for timer. Unplug cable from timer and plug it into the new timer. Install the new timer and re-install the Control Housing. Plug in the refrigerator and adjust the timer to start the unit. This was a snap with the diagnostic provided by Part Select. At first I thought it was the fan rubbing but when I removed the cover (two screws) it was obvious that wasn't the problem. The diagnostic hinted that it was either the timer or the motor capacitor making the noise. Because the noise continued after turning OFF the control, I thought it was the timer...I was right.

Unplug the refrigerator unit from wall. I removed freezer rack, plastic light cover, the ice rack shelf on the right side, then removed the plastic back cover panel, (4) retaining screws, gently tilting the panel toward me, unplug the wiring harness by depressing the clips on the side of the plug, removed panel from unit, set aside. If the unit was froze up, so I defrosted the cooling coils carefully with a common hair dryer until it was thawed. Be careful not to touch or bend the coils , since they are very fragile and SHARP! I located the old thermostat unit attached to a straight length of coolant line. The new unit looked like the old one, so it was easy to locate. I cut the two wires of the old unit close to the round base to make sure I would have enough wire to reconnect. Since my new unit did not indicate a polarity(Neg or Pos), I just wired each wire I cut to one of the new unit. I used the shrink tubing provided and heated the shrink till it was fully melted. I double ck'd to see if the wires were basically waterproof and a good connect. Also, before I replaced the rear panel, I made sure that both wires I had spliced had a drip loop to it so water would not drip down into the newly spliced union. Also made sure the wires will not interfere with the colling fan on the back of the rear panel. Reverse the procedure in reassembling. Plug in unit, and wait and listen for the unit coming back on..I kept a regular thermometer in the upper and lower compartments. Allow 24 hrs. for the unit to return to normal operation. It may defrost several times till the whole operation is back in sync.

with patience

I needed to determine if the heating coil was ok. I bypassed the thermostat, rotated the defrost timer manually with a flat screwdriver until it clicked. The coil heated up and turned a glowing red. So the coil was ok. After looking at the wiring diagram located on the back, the only parts in line was the timer and the thermostat. So I ordered both, replaced them, and everything is working fine. I went online about noon on Thursday, placed the order. The shipping indicated 2-3 business days. To my surprise, they were delivered to my home on Friday, mid morning. Great service from Part Select.

Ordered new parts, removed old parts, put in new parts. Done.

Removed the control panel, removed the control knob, removed the defrost timer and installed new one, and removed temp control, installed new one. Refrigerator working great!!!!! :)

This is a top and bottom frige. I unplugged the fridge and I took off the sheld in the freezer and removed the blower fan cover and unplugged the fan to remove the back freezer panel. Be careful when moving the fan. It looks sensitive. I used a hair dryer to melt the frost to get to the screws. Because it was frosted the back panel was hard to take off. Don't force it too much, just keep melting the ice. Once it was off the radiator looking thing was completely frosted and iced over and I couldnt even see the thermostat. I started blowing it with the hair dryer and it started melting. It took an hour to get the ice melted enough to actually see and remove the thermostat. You may want to leave the fridge off for a day. I didnt have a choice because I didnt have anywhere else to place the food. I was using the freezer as the fridge. Thats how cool the freezer was. I cut the wires for the thermostat. Im sure you could check which is positive and which is negative. I just looked at the direction the wires went. This works but it is not guaranteed. Check for ground. Google it if you need to know how. I used the clamp connector things but I didnt have a clamper so I used a plier. It works but I didnt like how it clamped. The little tubing didnt work for me becuase I didnt have a solder gun to warm it up and using a match is not good. You'll burn the wire. Buy electric tape and wrap it around. Dont use regular tape. Go to home depot it costs 99 cents. Make sure all ice is melted. Go over everything with the hairdryer to melt the ice. You dont want it to start freezing and clog up the vents, expsecially the one that goes from the fan to the fridge. Before I put everything back together I changed the defrost timer because I figured its best to change it since you never know. I loosened the two screws but first I took offf the screw holding the timer panel. I changed the defrost timer and connected it back. Then I screwed everything together. Then I screwed in the back freezer panel but not the fan cover so I could see if the fan is working. I plugged in the fridge and the fan didnt work. If you look under the defrost timer panel, the timer has a round part that you can move with a flathead screwdriver. Move it lightly clockwise and the fan will start. I read that the fan goes for 8 hours and then it turns off for a half hour. Seems like a lot of time to be on but its been a week and the fridge and freezer are working real good. This website is good and the aprts are cheaper than Sears.

It was fairly easy to replace the thermostat. Unplug the refrigerator first. Then remove the refrigertor light bulb and 3 screws on the plastic cover that houses the thermostat and defrost timer. Unplug the thermostat from the wiring on the refrigerator and remove the plastic housing holding the thermostat. Remove two screws holding the thermostat and replace with the new one. Put everything back together in reverse order. Unfortunately, this did not corrrect my problem. The refrigerator is well over 30 years old and I had narrowed down the problem to the thermostat because the old one was hard to turn to adjust. About 10 years ago, I replaced the defrost heater in the rear of the freezer compartment for the same problem, and didn't think that would be the problem this time. Well, as it turned out, I checked the resistance on the defrost heater and it was was bad again. I replaced the heater this week I got from PartSelect, and the refrigerator cycles fine now. Replacing the heater is a little more work that changing the thermostat. You have to remove the freezer compartment fan, fan vent, and back inside wall of the freezer section to expose the coils and the heater element. You just need a socket screw driver. Then you have to reach inside and unplug each end of the heater to check it with your ohm meter. A bad element will show up as an open circuit. Then to replace it, you have to maneuver it around to get if away from the coils and remove a couple of clips. Anyone with some common sense can do it, but it can be a bit challenging.