KRFF577KPS03 KitchenAid Refrigerator - Instructions

Purchased new motor from Partselect.com. When it arrived it came with a new rubber washer that fitted on top of new motor that was not on old motor, that how water got into old motor. However, the instruction sheet did not give info on how to access the proper way to the motor that is the door. Not wanting to damage the freezer door assy. called in a tech who made it look easy, but even he had a little problem locating access panel that was directly under the motor in the freezer side of the door. After that it was a piece of cake.

Unplugged and empty refrigerator, completely defrosted refrigerator using a hair dryer to speed up the defrosting, put a lot of towels on the floor to soak up the water when the ice melts. Removed all refrigerator racks and drawers, then remove the white plastic and styrofoam condenser cover. You will then see the thermistor, cut the two small wires connecting the thermistor to the harness leave yourself as mush wire as possible. Splice in the new thermistor and put the refrigerator back together.

The repair seemed simple, I just needed to remove the old bracket -- 4 screws -- and slip the new one on.

The tricky bit is that the roller bracket holds the weight of the fridge. So in order to make sure that the fridge did not fall over, and to keep the installation point off the ground so that I could align the screw holes, I needed to shim up the side of the fridge that I was working on.

To tap in the shims, I used a hammer and a spare chunk of wood. I ultimately used 3 shims, and kept tapping until the roller wheel could roll freely. Then I knew that the fridge was high enough. After that, it was pretty easy to remove the 4 screws, align the new bracket, and replace the screws. After that, in order to get the shims out I could just extend the foot brake as it was designed, and that lifted the fridge enough for me to easily slide out the shims. After that I just had to level out the fridge by adjusting the two feet.

I removed the ice bucket and motor cover on the inside of the left door. Then I removed the 4 screws that hold the motor in place and unplugged the electrical connector. The old motor shaft was all rusted and housing was cracked letting water inside the motor. That's why it failed. The new motor I ordered from Part select came with a rubber seal that I slipped on to the motor shaft. That will stop any water from entering the new dispencer motor. I reinstalled motor and the dispencer works great. Total time for removal and replace was 20 min. A novice can do it. Bill WI.

Unplug the fridge then wheel the refrigerator out to where you can get to the back - you will probably have to disconnect the ice maker water hose. Using the nut driver remove all the screws from the lower panel on the fridge. You will not have to remove the water hose connection just move the panel around a little. Look on the left side (facing the back of the fridge) you will see the capacitor held onto the compressor with a spring clip. Just pull the clip toward you and that will free the capacitor. Pull up on the capacitor and that will unplug it from the compressor. Be careful not to touch the two poles on the old capacitor. Capacitors store electricity and it could give you a jolt. I used electrical tape to insulate the poles and then threw it away. Plug in the new capacitor- re-hook the clip, reinstall the back panel, plug it in and verify that the fridge is working. Hook your water hose back up and move it back into place and you are done.

We were misled into believing we needed to replace the door seal, and after this replacement was completed we found out it was not the case.

Instead we needed to clean out the EXTENSION-DRAIN,DUAL EVAP W11661573, part #5 on the unit diagram, which is found on the back of the unit.

Back to the seal instructions:
Once you remove the original seal you cannot reuse it, so if you replace it and it is not what you needed, you can't return the not-needed part. There goes about $190.

Also, the seal comes with no instructions (at the time there was no instruction video here either and we had to search other sites). It turns out it takes at least 24 hrs for the rubber seal to regain its shape. You also may have to use a hair dryer for this pre-installation process. Because of this, I marked the time of repair as more than 2 hours.
The end of the instruction video we followed called for testing the new seal installation with a bill ($), if you can pull it out easily from the closed door, you need to continue heating the seal with the hair dryer to improve sealing.

So do yourself a favor and test you fridge seal first, to see if you really need to replace it. Close the door with a bill or paper trapped. If it is loose or falls out, seal needs to be replaced, if the bill/paper stays firm enough, the seal is fine.

It took a lot of research through other resources, not Partselect, to eventually fix the ice formation issue. From all the appliance repairs I have done, this was the most frustrating, although not the most complicated. Since no part needs to be purchased (though you could replace the drain tube for just $24 instead of hassle to clean it), no real help from parts stores is available, and you have to rely on random people with their home videos, some are reliable some are not. We could not find one with our model (596.72383411) and had to figure it out based on similar models. Our drain tube has a siphon, so it is a little harder to clean than other models with s straight tube.

Good luck!

Very simple, easy, and quick! Anybody can do it!!

pulled the top shelf and poped open the door and replaced the filter

Very easy doit repair. Watched Youtube video helpful. Small nut driver and flashlight the only tools needed. Ordered part with standard delivery and received the new motor in under 24 hours! Impressive. I will use Part Select again! So happy to have a working augur. No more stale ice at the bottom of the bin. No more scooping ice with fingers!

I watched some of the you tube videos , the repair went well
just followed the directions the repair took less than 30 mins

I carefully matched the model number to replacement part cross-reference and ordered the Part.
You-tube instructions were accurate except for the plug wire that prevented removal of the auger motor. It took significant maneuvering to drop the old motor. The new motor fit in better but the male plug configuration did not match the female plug from the refrigerator.

A lot of wasted effort and time as well as expense! What good is matching replacement parts when the replacement is not correct?

Understood the problem by removing the old dispenser first. That made me realize I also needed the shaft. Went online and matched up all the #’s and the repair went smoothly.

I ordered a gasket and follow the instructions, such as warm the gasket, to get it in the door using my fingers, but the door did not close titght enough. The problem could be something else. The initial problem is in there

I first replaced the lower (freezer) evaporator thermistor based on recommendation from other feedback, however that did nothing to resolve the problem. I subsequently discovered a diagnostic document hidden under the upper right door hinge, which helped me narrow the problem down to the upper (refrigerator) evaporator fan motor. After replacing the fan motor, my refrigerator is up and running again. The only challenge was accessing and removing the access panel(s) and air column. Once those were removed, replacing the fan motor was simple.

Unplug refrigerator.
Pry switch out with putty knife
Remove two wires from switch
Attach wires to new switch
Push new switch into slot