How to adjust doors Whirlpool Gold refrigerator

[iliiinieis]

Some background info is required. The door has been this way for a long time. My wife broke her ankle years ago and had a motorized wheelchair. She hit the hinge side of the refrigerator door (on the front, not the side) one day and its been out of alignment since then. There is only a small scratch on the door from the impact, no dent so I never thought much about it.


But recently I have had freezing up issues and plugging up of my drain in the freezer. You guys recommended checking the seals and I did but not the bottom. Well, it turns out the bottom of the fridge side has a 1/2 inch gap and does not seal along most of the bottom seal. So, I need to adjust the door.


All screws on the hinges, both recessed and non recessed have been loosened but not removed. I loosened them to try to adjust it before reading the instructions. Yes, I am am that guy. lol. I cannot figure out how to adjust this refrigerator door. The freezer door is fine. The refrigerator is perfectly level and has a slight tilt towards the back to facilitate better door closing as it should. Here are some pics with the screws loosened. With them loosened the top dropped down and touches the freezer door, I expected that. The bottom however sticks out no better or worse than it did before I loosened the screws. What you see on the bottom is exactly what made me decide to fix the doors.


The bottom where the two doors meet each other, the fridge door is sticking out quite a bit before and after screw loosening. At the top they were not even, off by about 1/4 - 3/16" before loosening. With them loose its only worse. So, before I break something, I thought I would check here. My instruction book does not cover this.


Whirlpool Gold Series Refrigerator:
Mod: GS6SHAXMB00
Ser: SR4054839
Man Date: 10/04
Type 26SSA


Pics:

[tgoods]

The door is tweaked.  If your liner was attached with screws, you could loosen them, adjust the door and then re-tighten them. Your door liner is foamed in place with no screws. You can try to re-tweak it into shape.  Hold the bottom of the closed with your foot.  Pull hard on the top of the door.  If that doesn't work, you need a new door, L2255535B. Not cheap.

[dab147315]

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/whirlpool-door-closer-kit-4318165-ap3103517.html


Common part to break is the black closer on refrigerator because of the weight of stuff on door.Causing refrigerator door to drop down.You may want to see if its broken.The freezer door has the same black closer.You can judge if there broke by looking at the freezer door.One black part goes on hinged and the other is on bottom of door itself.Comes as kit.

[dab147315]

Also looks like you may have both problems too.One like tgoods says too.

[iliiinieis]

Wow, that is super! lol I think I am going to go buy a new refrigerator. The wife has been crying for a french door fridge anyway. Well, I will take a look at my options. Does the new door come with the closer?

[iliiinieis]

I can confirm the closer is broken. I saw pieces of it on the floor a few months back and could not figure out what it was. Now I know after looking.

[dab147315]

Push refrigerator door up and even with freezer to see if makes a difference with gasket at bottom.Also do want tgoods said about holding bottom closed and pulling on the top of door.If pushing door up makes a difference with gasket closing ok order closer kit.Good luck.

[iliiinieis]

I countered a little of the tweak by pulling on the top of the door while holding the bottom closed, enough so that it seals on the bottom. I will watch it and the frosting up. If it continues to seal and not freeze up I will buy the new door and closer. If it freezes up even when sealed I am going to buy a new fridge. Between the ice maker problem, the freezing up and now the door, its become too much of a hassle. Its lasted eight years, almost 9.

[dab147315]

Thats a lot of money for that door.I would think twice about that.

[iliiinieis]

Yeah I will likely end up with a new fridge. Peace of mind and warranty alone will be worth it.

[iliiinieis]

I pulled the door upwards and it seals perfectly. I am buying the closer and will replace both. Then we will see if she freezes up again.

[dab147315]

I think you will be ok after that.

[iliiinieis]

I didn't mean for this to evolve into a freezing up discussion. I was just going to adjust the doors and if it fixed it, update the other thread. I see now they are pretty much one in the same since I can't actually adjust the doors.

[iliiinieis]

Ok, got the closers in. I ordered 2 sets so I have alot left over. The freezer side looks good still. The fridge side had ummm... a little wear.    The doors are level now and the bottom of the door is closer to being flush and indeed seals. If you open both doors and then close them they are hard to open again immediately. It has not done that since we bought it many years ago. Now to watch it and see if it freezes up again.

[dab147315]

I think you got it fix now.Good job.

[iliiinieis]

Thanks. It was well worth it. I found another problem though. I think i created it though. I took the ice/water assembly off to clean the paddles and the ice chute. That little plunger thing that closes the ice door was making a creaking noise. Like an idiot I oiled it and pushed it back in and now it won't release the door to close. If I force the door closed it will eventually close halfway but not entirely. This is not what it was doing before I touched it. It was slow to close but it would close. Can it be cleaned or do I need a new one? I think it might be magnetized. Maybe I reversed the polarity?


It's also worth noting that I did not unplug the fridge during this process and shocked the begeezus out of myself messing with the circuit board. Important safety tip. I usually do unplug, religiously even. I just forgot this time. But hey it's ok, the fridge reminded me. 

[tgoods]

The spring closes the ice door.  The plunger provides resistance so it closes slowly. Kind of like the closer on your front screen door so it doesn't slam shut.  When you oiled it, you made it airtight. Remove it, try to separate it and clean it with soapy water.

[iliiinieis]

Ah, that makes sense. I will take it apart carefully. Don't really want to spend 50 bucks to fix my stupid mistake. lol. It does close but it take a very long time. I will see if I can get the part out completely so I can work on it more easily.

[iliiinieis]

Ok, I have yet another problem. When the door opens or closes and it comes to the part where it goes up or down it makes a popping noise. Was I supposed to grease those closer pieces?

[iliiinieis]

By the way, no freezing up in over a week!