"micky" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:58:38 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote:


Here's the latest result of my investigation. The door light switch
seems
to be locking up and not retracting into the switch body on occasion. I
can't figure out why because it seems to work just fine by hand.

When you push it by hand, you're pushing it straight back. When the
door hits it, it's at an angle and is pushed against the side as well
as towards the back.

It seems the switch (which is pie-shaped) hits at precisely the wrong angle
against the part of the door that closes it so that it wedges in place
rather than retracting as designed. Who would have thunk it? The clue was
that the bottom part of the door could be pushed much closer to the
refrigerator body than the top half could. Lifting the door slightly
changed the contact point of the switch against the door so that the lever
swung into the switch properly instead of propping it open. Not sure what
corrective action to take other than Ye Olde Dremel Toole to slightly curve
the contact point.

Just spray the cracks that surround the moving part of the swtich with
some silicone spray (big can for $3 at HD) or if not that, WD-40. )I
don't think it will hurt the plastic, but if you do, buy the
silicone.) This will probably fix it.

What's really odd is that the switch is smooth as silk when operated with a
finger push. It's just the mechanics of how it hits the door. It's about
1/16" too low to keep from jamming against the door contact point. I'd take
a picture but I don't want to have to empty the fridge and sit inside it
humor alert. It's rare that I encounter a problem that can't be solved
with either hot melt glue, duct tape, heat shrink tubing or WD-40, but this
was one. I

What really irks me is that I followed two completely likely but completely
wrong pathways to the solution. It really felt like something like a meat
drawer wasn't pushed in all the way. When lifting the door handle fixed it,
then I was sure it was out of alignment. The lack of adjustments meant it
had to be something else.

Thanks to you, Dave and Oren for input.

--
Bobby G.