How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP6022534 / WPW10515058 Refrigerator Led Light Assembly

It was a classic horror story, but with a happy ending! I called a classic, "regular" repair company that I obtained on-line. My Whirlpool was 2 months out of warranty, so the repairman charged a trip-fee of $95 that would be subtracted from the cost of my repair. "Lee" showed up an hour late, even though he was told that I had to leave for work by 10:30 (-He assured me that he would have me fixed by then). The refrigerator was rolled out of its spot, and Lee began to remove the back cover to the fridge. From my on-line research, I learned that the LED module was the problem, and THAT was located in the refrigerator. Lee assured me that the board was in the back by the compressor. He was wrong. During his repair attempts, he repetitively walked outside to make a phone call (-while leaving the door to my home wide open). After the third outside trip I eves-dropped. Lee was on an on-line job interview! (-Doesn't this kind of stuff only exist in Hollywood?!) He returned and apologized, and began removing the light units on the inside of the fridge. On the first one, he broke off the tabs, but said that he could "glue it back". Before he got to the second one, I told him to get the f$%^ out of my house! Unfortunately, his "trip charge" was paid up-front. I called AppliancePartsPros and they quickly analyzed and sent the appropriate part. It arrived two days later, and the repair took 5 minutes (30 minutes to put back the back cover, with screws and parts scattered around. My cost with shipping was around $70. I talked about this experience to a friend who works for H.H. Gregg, and he said that he's heard the same horror story before. In today's economy (-he said) the large, customer-orientated service departments have disappeared, so that the companies can be more price competitive. That shift left a large service gap that's unfortunately been filled by those out there who are inexperienced and untrained, and are only there to make the quick buck. (-By the way, before "Lee" left, told me that he could fix my unit for an additional $150. Do your research online or call AppliancePartsPros. Avoid the "Lees" of the world. My unit repair cost was $70. I still need to order another light unit to replace the broken one that Lee damaged (-another $70). 

Used a very thin flat blade screw driver to remove the LED light at the top of the refrigerator section. (There is one other light in the refrigerator and one in the freezer compartment.) This light is held in by two clips on each long side of the light. By sticking the blade of the screwdriver up into the clip and beginning to pry out the LED, it will come out rather easily in the front, then the back will slide out easily. Remove the jumpers from the back of the light. Then apply a little bulb grease to the contacts on the new light, attach the jumpers, and slide it back in till the clips snap into place. I called our home maintenance service because of the strobing lights, and the technician temporarily replaced the freezer light with a test spare. It worked fine for about 15 seconds. But the tech insisted that the freezer light needed to be replaced. The next day the service called me and said the LED lights were not covered by our contract, that it would cost nearly $300 for the freezer light, and often it didn't work. I told them I'd do it myself. The freezer light cost about $125 at AppliancePartsPros.com, but I ordered the master LED light for the refrigerator instead. The total cost, including a $2 packet of bulb grease from an auto parts store, was $175 and the part was delivered within 2 business days with standard shipping. It's been working fine for the three days since I installed it. The hardest part was finding a thin enough screwdriver to pry out the broken light without damaging the top of the refrigerator compartment. 

Remove light from top of refrigerator. The light is stubborn so I had to use a thin screwdriver to depress the tabs so the light would come out. Unplug wires, reconnect new wires and snap back into place. Easy peasy---I felt very accomplished with the success and saving $$ on the part and no service call! Woman power! 

Replaced the light assembly in the refrigerator section. The repair was simple, easy and quick. Dealing with Appliance Parts Pros was wonderful; the chat operator was extremely helpful. 

Replaced both lights 

I saw some conflicting information about how to solve my strobing lights problem. This team reassured me that I only needed to replace the module on the fridge side, so I took the plunge and placed the order. Upon receipt, I turned off the circuit that feeds the fridge, grabbed a flathead screwdriver, popped out the existing light and detached it from the two connections. The new module went in just as easily. Within 5 minutes, I had operational lighting in my 18 month old fridge. Hate having to spend that much money on a fairly new fridge, but the replacement was easy. Shame on Whirlpool for suggesting that this is not a user-replaceable part. The reassurance of your team was very much appreciated. 

The first information I found from another location said to replace the switch. I did that twice just incase the new switch was bad. Fool me twice shame on me. Once I found the information on this site I ordered the replacement light for the top of the refrigeration compartment. It took no more that a minute to compress the tabs to drop the old light down, release the two electric connections and put the new unit in place. The only tool needed was a thin flat head screwdriver to compress the clips on the old light. 

Had blinking lights in fridge and freezer. This fixed it. Took about 15 seconds to change the part. 

After some "Googling" I read that it's possible to fix it by just replacing the freezer light and once replaced the fridge lights will return back to normal. Don't have an electric meter, so just decided to order the replacement light and try it and it did. Thanks to the return policy, I figured I'd try this rather first rather than trying to call a technician. 

I replaced the master control board. Thls was a 5-minute job turned into 20 minutes because I wasn't sure how to take out the old controller/light without breaking the tabs. I ended up placing the new one on top and marking the tab spots (4) and by using a thin flat screwdriver I was able to pop the tabs. You can't make a mistake with the wires as they are 2 different sizes. DIY and save the repair visit.