RT143GCVA Frigidaire Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

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!!!!

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

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.

I followed the advice of many people with the same problem, and replaced the Defrost Thermostat and Defrost Timer. Both repairs were relatively easy, and the problem appears to be solved. The replacement of the Defrost Timer is very easy (about 30 minutes), and I wish I had stopped at that step and waited 48 hours to see if that fixed the problem. But, I wanted to replace both parts that I had purchased - - In my refrigerator, access to the Defrost Thermostat is through the back of the freezer panel. Not too difficult to get to the area, but I had a bit of a problem in replacing the part, and might have been better-off to see if step 1 fixed the issue. The problem that I ran into is that I don't have a crimping tool, and crushed both of the connecting sleeves when trying to 'crimp' them with a set of wire-strippers. Rather than to invest in a crimping tool, I connected the wires and sealed with electrical tape - - Now that the issue is resolved, I will likely re-open and use a proper connecting sleeve (with a proper crimping tool). My advice is to buy both parts, and replace just the Defrost Timer first. Chances are good that it may fix your problem, and you are only out $20 for the second part, which you can leave in your junk drawer until you may need it some day! All in all, it was a great way to spend $40 and avoid a costly service call!

1st. replaced the defrost thermostat pn 5303918214 did not fix it next replaced the defrost timmer pn 215846602 that did not fix it,next replaced the defrost heater pn 5303918247 still did not fix it,has the same problem as when I started I don't know what to do next guess will call for a service tech to come out,or get a new refridgerator. Looks like I wasted my money on these parts. Refridgerators are not as easy to fix as yall make them out to be. I have to say all the parts were easy to install and your instructions and videos were great, they just did not fix my refrigerator Thanks Tom

I followed the advice posted by others at parts select website. This made the repair process easier. Everything went very well, and my refrigerator is working just fine. I definitely will use parts select in the future for any appliance parts and repairs I may need.

All I had to do was change out motors, and the fam would spin right,and the freezer was alive again. With your older models you may have to re-mount the motor bracket in the back for the fan to clear,due to the fact that the motor sits alittle lower than the old model

dismantled the top rear panel of the freezer and found I had the wrong part. Hand started the fan motor and it has been working fine since.

we removed the food from the freezer, disconnected the fridge , removed the cover, the evaporater fan was running, condeser fan was running, then we checked heater with multimeter and it was ok. next step we replaced the frostimer, and defrost thermostat . and then the refrigarater was working ok, problm was the frost thermastat damaged.

Removed screws that fastened bracket to fridge. Next, I replaced the motor and carefully lined the brackets up so the motor would rotate smoothly. Put the fan blade on the motor and screwed the brackets back on the fridge. Motor kept popping out of alignment while I was screwing the brackets back in but I kept snapping it back in till it stayed.

bottom left cornerof fridge defrost timer replaced two bolts and a wire

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.

One of the three top comments from other replys had similar problems, so I took their advice, since the prices were resonable, I went and replaced two parts instead of just the defrost timer. If I had to do it a second time I could probably do it all in about 20 mins.