Repairing Side-by-side Refrigerator Diffuser

Written By: Ray Tice
  • Comments: 11
Repairing Side-by-side Refrigerator Diffuser

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

20

Time Required

1 hour

Introduction

You may find that your fridge isn't getting cold, but the freezer is just fine. If the inside fan is running, you should feel cold air blowing in through the diffuser in the top left corner of the fridge. If not, either your defroster is broken and ice has built up, or the diffuser is broken.

On ours, the diffuser door motor pushes on a small, fragile tab on the diffuser door. The tab snapped off. Rather than purchase a new $80 assembly, I fixed it with a toothpick and super glue. This fix may or may not last forever, (worked for about 3 years), but even if you want to replace the diffuser, it'll help you keep your cool until the replacement comes.

    • Unload the top three shelves of the fridge, and top two shelves of the freezer into cooler(s).

    • Mark the location of the shelves with a bit of tape. Then remove the shelves by tipping up the front edge, then lifting and pulling them towards you.

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    • Turn off the fridge (on ours the switch is in the top left corner of the fridge.) Then unplug it or turn off the breaker.

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    • Remove the wire cover in the top left edge of the fridge. It's held in place by one Phillips head screw.

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    • Unscrew the screw at the front of the diffuser cover. The diffuser itself will still be snugly in place.

    • Unclip the wire connector from the bottom of the diffuser. Remove the piece of tape holding the wires to the diffuser. We'll remove the other wire connector from the front of the diffuser later.

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    • Close the fridge door and open the freezer door. There's an air chute in the top of the freezer that will be coming out, along with the rear air chute. Remove the pair of screws on the top chute using the 1/4" hex socket. The back chute will still be holding the top chute in place.

    • If you're assisting, you may notice the ice dispenser is right next to the back of the person leaning into the fridge. Unless it's a very hot day, try not to slip ice cubes down the shirt/shorts of your cohort.

    • Take a look at how the back chute and top chute fit together. The back chute, at least on ours, is mounted on hidden spring clips. Pull the bottom edge of the back chute forward. As the top of the back chute comes out, the top chute will fall out too. Don't let it hit the floor.

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    • Now you can see a right angle air duct from the fridge side. This simply pulls out to the left.

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    • There is a spring clip in each corner of the fridge duct. Gently push them towards the center of the opening, and then towards the fridge.

    • There are 4 clips but only 2 are shown in the picture. (I forgot to take a picture after removing the right angle duct, so just imagine it's gone and you can see the other two as well. Please take a picture and update this page.)

    • Close the freezer door and head to the fridge side. But first, if your helper dropped ice down the back of your shorts in the prior step, feel free to return the favor.

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    • Welcome back to the fridge side. Seems roomy now that you've been crowded into the freezer, doesn't it? The diffuser module should slide out freely. We'll remove the wires in the next step.

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    • On the side of the diffuser that was against the wall, you'll see a little clip holding the wire connector in place. Gently pry on that and remove the connector.

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    • Now you can carry the little troublemaker over to better light. You might be able to reach in with your little finger and wiggle the diffuser door. If it slides open and closed freely, the door's tab has broken. If not, it's also possible the motor is kaput. (Someone please contribute diagnostics for that)

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    • The diffuser assembly is a "nonserviceable" part. Unless you're stubborn like me. Gently cut open the foam along the glue line all the way around with a box cutter or sharp knife. Now remove the top half of the foam.

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    • Now remove diffuser cover. It's held in place by 4 pairs of tabs. Squeeze each pair of tabs with needle nose pliers and gently lift that corner. After all the tabs release, you can lift off the cover. Don't tip the base or the door will fall out.

    • I only marked three tabs in the photo. If you can't find the fourth tab, then I know what you did with the beer that didn't fit in the cooler in step one!

    • Note which side of the door is up. You can now slide out the door, and find the plastic tab that broke off.

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    • Examine the door to see where you can reinforce it without interfering with the cam or making the door thicker. Glue the plastic tab back in place, using a piece of flat toothpick or scrap of plastic to reinforce it. Use super glue or epoxy. Do not use heat to set the epoxy - this plastic softens very easily.

    • In the picture, you can see the broken tab, and the bit of toothpick next to it.

    • Reassemble the diffuser, making sure the cam sits properly in the hole of the diffuser door. If you have troubles snapping it together, recheck the door's position.

    • Clamp the foam part of the assembly back around the plastic. Tape it along the seam. I used fiber tape, but packing tape or electrical tape might work.

    • Now reassemble everything:

    • "Second verse, same as the first. A little bit louder, just in reverse."

    • Be sure to turn the fridge back on, plug it in, flip on the circuit breaker, etc.

    • Finish the melting ice cream.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Ray Tice

Member since: 09/08/13

586 Reputation

11 comments

It would be nice to be able to buy the plastic slider instead of repairing it, does anyone know where I can purchase the slider?

Rose Martin-Stinson -

Through my own troubleshooting, I came to the conclusion that my diffuser was likely broken. After defrosting my refrigerator, the fridge section did get down to 34F but then went back to 50F. I figured the diffuser door was able to close, but not open again. I almost ordered a new diffuser, but then this post motivated me to try and fix the old one. My diffuser door was only broken in one place, so it was springy when I manually moved the door while assembled with a screw driver. I glued the broken door as recommended here. lubed the plastic guides and main sliding surface inside of the cam drive and it seems to be working great. I believe my worn lower fridge door hinge (which was cheap and easy to replace - there are two pieces and two screws - don't buy new screws) had cause a right door seal breach which over time caused a build up of moisture then ice in the diffuser. When the door is physically restrained by ice and the cam turns, the door breaks. I'll bet this is the most common problem w this unit.

Andrew -

Electrical tape won’t work in the Ice box and that’s all I can contribute.

Walt Arnsdorff -

THANK YOU for this post! I spent the better part of the day working on my kitchenaid fridge. I cleaned the condenser coils, removed a heavy layer of ice from the bottom of the freezer and cleaned out the drain pipe… and then still suffered the problem of cold air not coming into the fridge through the damper… sure enough, this is exactly the issue I had, right down to the way the plastic broke. Just reinstalled it, and am very hopeful that my superglue job will be sufficient to keep it functioning. Shame that this piece is so fragile…

Audrey Brainerd -

Thanks! I

typically always pull something apart to attempt a fix. I must be getting lazy in my old age, but this post reinvigorated me to take it apart and fix, well at least until a new one comes in the mail. Ebay new $44, normally about $100 to $130. I didn’t have any crazy glue available so just a touch of epoxy should do it. Great fix to verify the diffuser is the problem either for the fix or verify to order replacement. You could always have a burned board if the motor shorted. I should have checked the resistance. Maybe when I get the new one I will repost. I would have like to seen the motor drive it, but it seems to a bit buffered or something. Maybe I will set a time lapse and close the door.

Korey Y -

Hi. I find that same issue on my side-by-side Wihrpool just today and modelled that slider to be printed with 3D printer. Did one and it works just fine. At least my machine has some structure behind hat thin part so cannot reinforce that much.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:471627...

Veikko Leppävuori -

Looks like a nice model! Thanks for posting it to Thingiverse and linking here, since apparently a lot of people run into this.

Ray Tice -

While fixing mine, the cam fell out and there's no key in the gear to show you what the default, proper alignment is. Does anyone know how to determine the default placement of the cam?

Adam Medeiros -

Hi this post certainly helped me as I had the same problem,broken slider, fixed it and put everything back, my whirlpool fridge side is cold, but what I’m finding is it’s not going below 5.8c, yes the things in the fridge are cold but not that cold, the temp setting on the fridge control panel is set at 2c but it’s not reaching that, I can hear the gears clicking from the diffuser when the fridge door is open, the clicking happens for a few seconds then goes away, there is air coming from the diffuser but minimal, I’ve taken the cover off and the air flow seems to be a lot better with cover off, slider fully open, The fridge get’s really cold with back cover off, I’m talking 2c which is what I need, soon as the back cover goes back on it goes back to 5.8c and then rises then drops to 5.8c. Anything I can look to see if I can fix the issue.

The slider works fine, opens fully and closes, the issue seems to be when the back cover is on, restricts air flow somehow.

Thank You.

Iqy7861 -

Ok just an update, I’ve narrowed down the issue to the thermistor in the fridge section,the thermistor is located on the back panel around the 2nd shelf mark, I’ve unscrewed it from its housing and pulled away and forward so it’s away from the back panel and just free standing, temp has significantly dropped which is great, things are cold again, the thermostat is just hanging freely in the fridge, I’m unsure if the thermistor is the the problem or something else, because now the thermistor is away from the back panel it seems to be working ok, the back panel is the coldest part so I presume it was telling telling the damper, it’s cold enough close the door even though it wasn’t at the correct temp.

Should I replace the thermistor or just heave it hanging as it’s sort of working better than before.

Iqy7861 -

My Kenmore fridge is a different model (10641122211) with a different diffuser assembly. It doesn't have a wiring harness. Instead a plastic plate is moved by a control rod from the main refrigerator control unit. This makes the unit (W10151374) very difficult to damage and cheaper to replace.

In my case the unit was fine but clogged with ice (mostly in the shroud on the freezer side, not in the diffuser unit). This meant there was some ice to chip away/melt to free up the 4 release tabs on the freezer side. To disengage the diffuser from the control arm, simply turn it 90 degrees and the arm lifts out (it's keyed so that it can't come out while the diffuser is on the fridge wall).

After removing all the ice from the shroud and diffuser and drying them, I reinstalled them. Everything should be OK providing the control unit is still working properly. That should be obvious in a day or two.....

Gary Dale -