36348047891 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

This was a 15 year old great working GE regrigerator. Refrigerator was not cooling properly, though the freezer worked great. Using flashlight, examined cam riser which was clearly broken. YOU MUST ORDER TWO GASKETS AS BOTH WILL BE WORN. After removing all food from the door, taped plastic sheet over the open space to keep food somewhat cool Removed top hinge cover and screws on top of door and lifted door out of bottom bracket placing it flat on kitchen island. Unscrewed hinge elements including old broken cam and shims form the bottom of the door and fit in the new cam. Unfortunately one of the shims was broken, so I used a thin plastic black washer from the hardware store which was big enough to fit over the pin on the bottom of the refrigerator itself. Screwed all the parts back together. Be VERY careful to note how you removed them in the first place...mabe take a digital foto or two. This was kind of tricky to remember. Then used a hammer and chisel to break off the rivit holding the bottom hinge elements on the refrigerator. Sawing with jigsaw didn't work that well. The rivit came right off. Then used a flat head screw, lock washer and nut instead of a reivit and attached the new second cam riser. You are now done with the new parts. Simply reattached the door and it closed like new. Had a simultaneoius problem with a faulty defrost heater in the freezer which also had to be replaced and which was really easy to do. About an hour max. This was the real cause of the refrigerator not cooling properly. But that's another story.

BUY TWO CAMS! Just like the others, both of the cams were shot. My husband & I did this ourselves & have NEVER attempted appliance repair before.
We propped the door up high enough to access the bottom hinge piece on the fridge & removed using socket. Removed the cover from the top hinge. Slid door down off the top hinge in able to get to the cam on bottom of door. Replaced this cam 1st in order to get door back on while worked to get the old cam off hinge. As others posted, this is rivited on. Used grinder to grind off rivit & hammer & punch to punch out. Attached new cam with bolt & nut found in our tin of leftovers. Inserted hinge into door & reattached to fridge. DONE! Not hard at all & didn't even argue the whole time.

1. Put all perishable food into ice chest. Empty door shelves.
2. Remove top hinge cover with Philips screwdriver.
3. Supporting door, remove top hinge attached by two hex screws.
4. Lift door off bottom hinge.
5. On bottom of door, unscrew the hex screw holding the broken plastic cam.
6. Loosen the second hex screw enough to free the broken cam.
7. Replace the cam and tighten the hex screws making sure the opening of the cam lines up with the hole under the door.
8. Snap off plastic grill at the bottom of the refrigerator.
9. Remove bottom of the two hex screws holding the bottom hinge tot eh refrigerator body.
10. Loosen the second screw enought to rotate the hinge upsidedown. Tighten the screw again.
11. Now the rivet bottom is exposed so as to facilitate drilling it out to remove the broken cam.
12. Loosen the hex screw again and turn it back rightside up. Reinstall the bottom screw and tighten both of them.
13. Using an appropriate size bolt, lockwasher and nut, install other new cam.
14. Reinstall door reversing steps 1 to 4.
15. Don't forget to return the food to the 'fridge, by the way!

The old cam had broken and was on the floor. I ordered one new cam. I should have been told to order at least two, I did not know they worked in pairs. So I had to re-order, I ordersed four, I was able to see that the other (freezer door has cracked cams) door will soon need replacement of the cams. I had trouble installing the new part because the rivit also needed to ba replaced. I did a "Rube Goldgerg" to get the new part to sit properly. I drilled the hole open a little and forced the part into place. All is well. Thank you very much!

Removed icemaker from freezer,
Removed 3 screws from cover plate, and removed screw securing main gear, removed gear.
Pulled back cover plate to expose switches and mechanism.
Removed screw holding switch to remove switch, and installed new switch.
I should have taken a pic of the cover plate, the interior mechanism and the wiring as I went along. It would have saved me 45 minutes in reassembly. Also, as luck would have it, I reversed the wiring on the switch. So off was on, and I had to remove it, switch wires and re-install.
But it works!

Separately (from a different site) purchased new compressor fan and motor. I purchased the grommets here because the other site listed the grommets as temporarily out of stock. I did watch one of the videos on PartSelect about the grommet replacement. Repair was pretty simple, biggest challenge was getting to the screw on the far side of the motor. Removed the two screws holding the fan motor into place. Removed motor and blade. Reinstalled with new fan blade, new grommet and new motor.

Part was perfect fit .Removed fan .three screws.replaced that s it

I learned from previous descriptions. Most important is there are two cams so order two. Second is that the door can be blocked from the bottom so the door doesn't have to be unloaded if you are careful. Remove the vent cover. Raise the door as high as possible while closed then block it from dropping down. I used wooden blocks. Remove the lower hinge and bracket on the bottom of the door. Put everythng back and you're back in business. A kit with both cams, spacers, and screws with diagram would have been nice to have.

Please note that I did this repair 2 times before and it was very easy, it took me longer to get the stuff out of the refrigerator door.

But this time the existing upper and lower cams broke, and the lower part of the door was making contact with the screw that holds the lower cam to the lower support bracket damaging the head of the screw.

Now I could not use a screw driver and I had to use a wrench and a vise grip to hold the round screw head (not easy), and then replace the screw and nut.

I had to insert 2 flat washers under the lower support, to separate the door an additional 1/32 from the ref. base to accomodate the fact that the door gasket had lost its regular shape in the lower part of the door (I discover this when I dismounted the door).

Then I removed the damaged cams, replace them with the new ones and now it is working ok.

Manny

Easy

Watched the video very good. Thank You

Video is a great but still need to read the instuctions because there are parts you may need on the old ice maker. Saved myself a bit of money by not having to call a repairman. The process was very simple. I am glad I did it myself. Thank you Parts Select!

Look at various pertenant DYI articles and videos on the internet. Replaced water filter with bypass plug. Checked water flow to icemaker water solenoid. Ran icemaker diagnostic test which failed. Ordered replacement. On receipt of replacement, began replacement work. To wit: Pulled fiidge from wall and unplugged. (Not necessary to shut water off.) Removed small freezer basket. Unloaded main freezer basket, removed it then removed the freezer door. (A screw on each side bolts the door rail of the chassis slide to the freezer chassis slide.) Loosened screws on rear, top of partition between icemaker and small freezer basket. Pushed up on partition front and popped out U-bar supporting partition bottom being carefull not to bend it. Removed same. Removed screws from partition and set aside. Removed grilled "thingy" between rear of icemaker and partition. Now have access to icemaker screws. Loosened the screws, pushed up and out and carefully let it hang by it's connector. Fiddled with the connector locking tabs and finally got it loose. Compared old and new icemaker. Have to keep the old water funnel. The new wiring harness was stiff and the connector had a different orientation. Twisted both the wiring harness and connector to align connector while the icemaker hung by it's cable being careful not to let the icemaer slip and fall to the bottom. After much fiddling, got the connector inserted and locked. Set icemaker over the two screws, pulled it down and tightend the screws. Put the old funnel into the new unit being very careful to get it right the first time. Put grilled "thingy and the partition and U-bar back in, put door back on, put the ice cube bin back, freezer drawers bac and reloaded the frozen food, plugged fridge in. Done! Time to replace icemaker was about 20 minutes and another 2 hours to do the rest ofthe work. Still required only a nutdriver and phillips.

First i removed two screws that holds the ice maker in, unplug the plug to the ice maker. I was able to remove the old one. Place the new one in screwed in the two screws and pluged in the plug and in just a little while i had ice again. I am a women, if i can do it any one can. I had a repair man tell me it was going to be $250.00 dollars to replace it. I got on line ordered the ice maker and had it in 4 days. Very fast shipping and easy to install. Tina Kearns Beaumont, Calif

unplug refrigerator. Remove Ice bin then remove the cover off the ice maker,(slides off from bottom then lift off top) no reason to remove ice maker completely. Remove center gear screw and remove main gear from Ejector blade. remove (3) screws holding the front plate. The motor and switches are attached to this plate from behind, do not remove the nut from the from the stud that adjusts the travel for the motor. The Motor and switches will come upt with the plate and the shut off arm will come out of a hole in the top right. Its ok just be careful when you put it back to get it in the hole. remove the old cam and replace it wint the new one and reassemble. Its a bit tricky to get all of the microswitches over the new cam just carefully wiggle the plate and cam and don't push too hard. once everything is lined up it should go back together and you can replace the screws and main gear :)