3XARG496WP01 Whirlpool Refrigerator - Instructions

After removing all the food items from the door, I popped the plastic cover off of the hinge assembly located on the top of the door. With a fine point Sharpie pen , I marked the outline of around the hinge assembly so I could return it to original position. I then loosened each of the 3 bolts holding the hinge on just enough to allow me to clear the pin of the hinge out of the hole in the door. Once the top was free of the hinge, I lifted the door off of the bottom hinge/pin assembly. My cam parts on the bottom hinge and door were either broken and/or partially missing. I removed the broken and worn pieces by removing each of the screws holding the top and bottom (of the bottom hinge assembly) cam pieces and installed the new ones using same screws. I then reversed the steps and slid the bottom of the door back onto the bottom hinge assembly and then lifted the top hinge enough to allow the hinge pin to slid back into the hole on top of the door. Positioned the hinge so it matched the outline and tightened the 3 bolts. I checked the closing and made a slight adjustment to door as one of the shelves was hitting the interior as it tried to close. I did this by loosening the 3 bolts and pushing the door up and to the right (this door was on the right side of refrigerator). Tightened the bolts and reinstalled the hinge cover.
Pretty easy. My door cams were a little different so I didn't use all the parts in the kit. My shims were metal and did not move when I replace the cams so I didn't use anything in this repair except the 2 lower cam parts. I also put some grease/vaseline on the cams to lubricate them.
I figure the plastic cams just wore out over the years and all the heavy junk we put in the door shelves. I lived with this problem about 2 years before it donned on me that it was probably just a plastic piece or two that was broken or worn out.

An easy job for smaller hands. Removed the two bolts holding the light cover. Removed two electrical connections from the old switch by pinching the retaining clip,removed the switch, snapped in the new one and re-attached the connectors. Your online illustrations helped me to know that the plastic housing for the light switch would only swing down so far and was not intended to be removed. Saved me from breaking that plastic cover's tabs. This home repair saved me more than 5 times the cost of hiring a professional to do it. Very happy homeowner.

DISCONNECT POWER. Removed all shelves/baskets.Popped upper panel off (just clips in) Removed 6 screws in lower back panel ( 3 each side) slid panel in place but down. You can then easily see the defrost thermostat/defrost termination switch. Cut the wire connectors (pink n brown wire) stripped back wire, attached new defrost thermostat. Thermostat clips on. New thermostat ohm's at 5.5, old one was "open". Slid cover back up meeting the upper cover grooves. Screwed lower panel in. Put shelves etc back in. Plugged in. Turns on, put a bottle of water in freezer. Checked a while later, frozen. has been frozen for a week.
-James

I have a side by side so in order to access the bi-metal switch I first had to empty out the freezer. The switch is clipped on to the top of the evaporator coil. I had to remove 8 screws to remove the back panel of the freezer compartment. The bi-metal switch was right there in plain view. There are two colored wires that come out of the switch. I tried pulling them out of the socket they were plugged into but gave up for fear of breaking something. I ended up cutting the wires and splicing them together. I used the plastic twist caps. I made sure when I closed everything back up that the open end of the caps were pointing down so no water can accumulate in them. It has been 3 days now and so far so good

First of all, here's a warning to all -- I took the glass shelf / pan cover out to clean it -- with a sponge wet with COLD water and the shelf literally exploded on me. This is the second such incident. Both times I have been lucky and no one was hurt.

The shelf was easily identifiable by part number based on model number. Easy to locate the model number on plate above top shelf inside refrigerator (right hand side in my case).

Only had to carefully set glass shelf in frame -- no issues. I was able to use a screwdriver to remove the shelf support stud and basically pop the replacement back in with no issue.

Thank you Parts Select for your simplified system to order replacement parts, and the speed with which it was received.

I loosen the screws with a nut driver just enough to pull old gasket away from door. This way the door panel and gasket retainer stay in place. I placed gasket from top and worked my way down one side. It took a little more time to slip gasket under retainer evenly, tighten each screw to keep gasket from pulling out while working around door.
30 minuets tops,never had to turn off refrigerator.

due to over filling and closing the drawers with the door and kicking, the plastic runners broke. Also, over filling the drawers did not help.
AS for the repair, the only difficulty was getting the right drawer in the right spot. Since I replaced both the veggie and meat drawer at the same time, I got them confused. On drawer is longer than the other. other than that, no problem.

Remove the knobs and faceplate to get at the screws behind it. Removing the sensor is a bit involved but everything else is fairly straight forward. See other postings for description / order of operation. Replacement took less than 30 minutes.
Works great now!

Once I saw the replacement part I understood how to pry out the switch with a small screwdriver. Then just unplug the old one, plug in the new one and pop it into place.

The PartSelect site made it easy to correctly identify the correct part, it was inexpensive, and the shipping was fast.

I'm very pleased!

Removed food itmes on broken shelf. Removed old glass shelf cover. Removed broken shelf bracket. Installed new shelf bracket. Intalled new glass shelf cover. Replaced food items back on shelf

The plastic lower door closing cam was worn down. Replacing it was very simple: remove the top door hinge by unscrewing three nuts; lift the door off the lower hinge; unscrew and remove the lower door hinge; screw the new plastic lower door closing cam on to the new door hinge; screw the new lower door hinge; lift the door back on to the lower door hinge; screw the top door hinge.

a simple replacement

I had read here from someone that fixed there shelf support stub and it was very loose, so I was trying to advoid that problem. It took me less then 5 minutes and my only tool was a pair of pliers. A short turn clock wise from the 9 on a clock to the 12 ( which is the top left corner ). then pull the broke shelf stub straight out. Put the new shelf support in the same way you took the old one out and turn counter clock wise 1/4 or from 12 back to 9 and you should have a tight fit. I hope this helped.

Turn off the fridge and unplug the power. Inside the refrigerator unit, remove two plastic panels extending from the front to the rear cooling vent by unscrewing two screws. Gently unhook the thermostat tube from the rear vent.

On the control panel, gently pry off the two control knobs and the front control panel. Remove four screws to drop down the control assembly. Unplug the left electrical connector and unscrew the lever control arm being careful not to bend it. Disconnect the right side electrical connector and you can now remove the control unit to a table to easily work on it.

Undo two screws to remove the thermostat bracket. Undo two more screws to remove the thermostat assembly. Install the new thermostat and reverse the process just described. It takes about 15 minutes if you know what to do ahead of time. You will have to reuse the plastic tube that covers the thermostat sensing tube.

Put new drawer in fridge.