RT216MCD0 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.

I watched the video online where it described the troubleshooting tips for this type of symptom. So I knew exactly what the problem was which is the defrost timer. After the part came in I just unscrewed (4 screws) the box which houses the thermostat and the defrost timer from top ceiling of the refrigerator section. Then I just unscrewed and unhooked the old defrost timer and replaced it with the new one. After finishing the installation I turned the fridge on. At first nothing happened. So I turned the dial on the defrost timer with a flathead screw until it clicked and the fridge came alive. I waited for an hour or so. The cooling cycle completed and the fridge stopped as expected. When I opened the door I noticed the interior is much colder than before and right after closing the door the fridge hummed back into life again. So I know my fridge is working again. Thanks to PartSelect for providing the right part for my refrigerator. I will definitely buy from them again if anything goes wrong.

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.

Watched the video once. Removed four 1/4 inch screws with a nut driver unplugged the unit, took out two screws securing the timer. Replaced did all of this in about 10 minutes. It was "exactly" as the video showed and it's worked perfectly since the replacement of the faulty timer. I saved a $75.00 service call minimum and the part was more than likely cheaper from Part Select than from the repair facility. Although I'm a pretty good handy man, you would not need any experience to make this repair. The instructions are precise and the part fit perfectly.

tested the thermostat, cleaned the coils, checked seals all clean. defrost timer did not cycle so replaced it but issue not resolved. even though freezer was working while refrigerator was problematic, proceeded to open freezer panel. discovered that fan was not pushing cold air into refrigerator compartment due to ice build up in connecting tubes. cleaned ice and replaced panels to positive result

I first thought the defroster heater broke - took the back wall of the freezer off and cooling fins were fine. Then took the defroster timer out and opened it up. The contacts were badly burnt so the compressor and fan ran during only part of the cooling cycle. Replacing the timer took less than 5 minutes - turn off the power, remove one screw to take out the control box, cut the ground wire (new timer housing is plastic and does not have a ground connection), remove two screws to unmount the timer, unplug the old timer, plug in the new timer, fasten with two screws, put the control unit in and fasten with one screw, turn power back on.

Looked up troubleshooting info on your web site. Decided to replace the defrost timer. Ordered it using Paypal. Received the Shipment in about 1.5 days in Rural NC. Watched Your Video, cut off power to the fridge, removed the top self and unbolted the panel, removed the defective defrost timer, installed the new one and re-installed the panel and top shelf. Set the timer to defrost to check the operation (looked inside the freezer to see that the defroster was glowing red - it was) waited about twenty minutes to ensure that the fridge started cooling again. Fixed!

Diagnosis: used wiring diagram attached to frig and determined cause could be wiring, heater element, thermostat or timer. After completely defrosting the frig (turned it off) I removed the rear cover in the freezer and looked for an obvious problem. None seen. Removed temperature select pod from the frig box and looked for obvious problems. None seen but defrost timer appeared poorly made. Repair: Since I had no practical way of checking the defrost cycle in operation, I checked probable failures on the Part Select website and saw defrost timer as most probable. I ordered the timer. Installed it. Waited a few days to make sure the frig went through a few defrost cycles then removed the freezer rear cover. There was no excessive frost buildup so I'm reasonably sure the repair was successful.

Just followed the online instruction video .It was very easy.

You guys at Partselect are the best!!! Went to your site, typed in my appliance symptoms, and received possible fixes. Ordered the suggested parts (under $50) on a Sunday night and got em Tuesday am. Installed the easiest one first and Voila!!!! Frig is working great. Thanks Bob S

Remove 4 screws that hold up overhead controls, this is also the part that holds the light. Unplug the timer and replace. Super simple and runs great now. After you plug it in it may take a few minutes to kick on the compressor but it will. Also I was pleased it was a factory Frigidare part. Price was right.

You just slide off the broken part and replace it with a new part. I had to make a slight adjustment to the end of the shelf rail to allow the new piece to properly mate with the old shelf rail.

Followed instruction vedeo from partselect. THANKS!!!!!

Unplugged the frig. Removed temp control module from frig, 1 screw with nut driver. Activated defrost timer by rotating adjustment until 2 clicks are heard. Removed two timer mounting screws, unpluged timer, plugged in the new timer, mounted it to the control module with 2 mounting screws. Replaced control module with the 1 mounting screw. Closed door and plugged it up.

pulled down the thermostat cover and unpluged the timer control and replaced it with the new part. total time to repair was about 15 min. there was a vidio on how to replace the new part that just informed me that I did it right!!!!very easy site to find what you are looking for!!!!