How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP4246797 / R0131577 Defrost Timer Kit

Refrigerator stopped cooling, and the freezer back was frozen over. From researching here determined it was most likely the defrost thermostat. Ordered the part on a Friday, and was expecting not to get it until Monday, but it was delivered FedEx on Saturday morning, and I had the refrigerator back up and running by the afternoon. Perfect service! Have been using appliance parts pro for years whenever I have appliance problems, and they always come through. 

Order the parts watched video on how to install it, parts came installed parts, works great! Great website. 

Rather than a faulty fan, the clicking was caused by the default timer, a small device installed in a rectangular metal box that on this model (Amana) was mounted just behind the front kick plate. Sears estimated $240 for the repair. I ordered the part online ($18.50), and it took about 7 minutes to install. I ordered the coil brush ($4.95) also, which was a good deal, and cleaned the coils, also located behind the kickplate. Done. 

I watched a bunch of tube videos including the one by AppliancePartsPros.com. After zeroing in on three possible items. The evaporator fan motor, defrost timer, and defrost thermostat, I ordered all three. The parts came in about 3 days. I then couldn't decide which to try out first. I called AppliancePartsPros.com and spoke to a technician, who walked me through the scenarios. He suggested I start with the defrost thermostat first. I had noticed that the original one looked a little swollen. I replaced it (had to do some cutting and splicing of the wires, but when I was finished, it worked perfectly. It was indeed the defrost thermostat. I'm so glad I spoke to your technician. Thanks a million! I was able to return the parts I didn't use with no problem. John 

Determined it was one of 3 parts. Heater Evaporator, Defrost timer, or the defrost thermostat. It was my 1st time working on a frig. I got all 3 for about $100. It ended up being the defrost thermostat. I could have bypassed the defrost thermostat and plugged the heater evaporator directly in to test the defrost thermostat/heater, but didn't figure that out until I ordered all the parts. I figured while I was doing the job I would replace all 3 of the common problems rather than fixing just one. Job is pretty easy with the videos. Can do it in 30 min if you are hand have already defrosted the freezer. 

I ordered these parts and had them sent to my daughter who lives 5 hrs away. I received message from her that she received the parts and swapped out the parts when she was defrosting the freezer which was a weekly issue. It appears to have fixed the problem, thank you. Your web page was great giving the most probable fix for the problem and having the video gave us confidence we could fix it ourselves. 

To save time & shipping cost I ordered both the defrost timer and thermostat. I switched out the timer first since I could get to it pretty easily. Didn't make any difference though. I thought it might b/c one of the lugs had slight corrosion on it. Ended up melting out 2.5 gallons of ice from the freezer. Be careful when using a heat gun, I ended up melting some of the plastic trying to rush things.Still took several hours to melt everything to get to the thermostat. Once the ice was gone it was about 15 minute swap out. Note, the new thermostat had about 56 ohms resistance, the old one had no reading at all, it was open, not ZERO, big difference! The head on the old unit was sorta swollen up. I took a pic but cant find how to post it here. 

Grateful to have Appliance Parts Pros around with the parts in stock. Great customer service and the ordering went real smooth, thank you. Took freezer interior parts out and relpaced defrost heater, defrost timer and in line defrost thermostat. So far it has been working perfect. 

Using your trouble shooting guide is wonderful ! After I removed the panel in the back of the freezer and melted the big lump of ice off the coils I used my VOM meter and tested the defrost thermostat (test cold) Got 2.6 ohms and the end cap looked like it had been blown out. I ordered both the thermostat and the defrost timer just to be sure. 70$ seems cheep compared to all that spoiled food. Parts delivered as promised,2 days. Working great now Thanks ! 

Installed defrost timer part # AP4246797. Machine screws included are useless.Should be secured with original sheet metal screws. Needed to cut some plastic to allow timer seat perfect in dedicated space. Good quality timer, seems working fine