Tips and Procedures
Learn how to restore appliances to the appearance and function they had when new.


Repairclinic.com

Repairing Door Shelves

Some refrigerator door shelves become loose after several years of hard use. They appear to be disconnected from the door and are starting to crack. Look behind the seals to see if the plastic inner door panel has broken away from the door seal retainer screws. If so, install some oversized-head screws or specialized washers to put under the screw heads. Align the plastic inner door panel under the screws or washers and retighten them while also holding the door plumb.

Replacing Door Liner

Bob Wennerstrom's tip:

I have what I think is a better repair for refrigerator door liners than the "washers under the screws" idea. I have done 8 or 10 of these (especially on Admiral/Wards brands) and they have all held up to this date. I have seen many of these Admiral door liners so cracked that washers would no longer repair them. My repair solves this problem.

Remove the door liner and lay it on some sawhorses. Cut 2" strips of fiberglass cloth 2-3' long. Mix up fiberglass resin and spread around outer 1-2" of door liner. Embed the cloth and soak with more resin and a plastic spatula. After it dries, use a utility knife or those scissors-that-cut-pennies to trim off all the fiberglass around the edges. The screws can usually be forced through the cloth with some pressure on a 1/4 inch nutdriver so you don't have to re-drill all the holes. the resin is usually clear enough so you can see where you need to push. Leave the top and outside edge screws loose until the door is reinstalled so that it can be tweaked into true. Much cheaper than a new $100 door liner.