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Whirlpool refrigerator top light and freezer light not working.

Hi, all.

I have Whirlpool WRX988SIBM03.

After about 2 years of use, I had some condensation problem in the freezer so had to fix that by clearing drain hole, after that I notice ceiling light and freezer light not working. only the side lights work when you open the door.

after reading thread about similar problem, I checked freezer light as others said, I notice freeze light doesn’t work when you open freezer. So I replaced freezer light as told but still same thing.

What can cause this? Is this control panel issue in the back?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Are the lights strobing or flickering?

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it was dim before not it's off. no flicker or strobing.

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I, like the other have got the fridge light syndrome going on.

My unit has one led light in each side.

About a month ago the fridge light would flicker and go dim when I opened the door. I played with the door switch and got it to come back bright, but the next opening it would be dim again. While dim, the freezer light is dark(or very very dim. I can see them)

Now , the fridge side is basically off and dark(if you look straight up at the light you can see they are getting some power but barely) Same for the Freezer side. Wife is PO’d.

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@BentBow

What is the model number of the refrigerator?

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wrs325fdam04

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10 Answers

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Hi,

Couple of things to check just in case it is two different problems and not one affecting both sets of lights

1 For the freezer light there is a light switch in the freezer that may have gone faulty. Check that the switch is still working electrically, i.e. not open circuit when released.

Click on freezer liner parts diagram and find part#7

2 For the overhead lights in the fridge, it appears as though the 3 overhead light modules are connected to the LED module control board.

Click on fridge liner parts diagram and find part #27

Since the freezer drain was blocked, meltwater may have got in between the freezer and fridge sections and affected the control board or even the individual overhead LED modules.

If the individual modules appear to be OK at least you can test if there is power being applied to them from the LED module control board.

Given that the sidelights are still working, it may be that only certain sections of the board are faulty.

Here’s a link to a supplier that shows all the parts and how much they cost.

There are other suppliers online that may suit you better. Just search for WRX988SIBM03 parts to get results.

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where is the LED control board located on a WRX986SIHZ00?

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@tb moore

The LED control board for your model is part #27 - Cabinet parts diagram

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Half of my lights stopped working...freezer and back of fridge. Front of fridge working and fridge drawer. I found they were two circuits and if one light went out, all in the circuit go out. To find which was burned out I unplugged one in the working lights(they all go dark) and the plugged in the bulbs that were originally out one by one...if good the lights go back on. If all work then you know it’s not the bulbs..important because they are darned expensive...$60 for single and $289 for a triple. I found a single bad and found the led board on eBay for $25. Put the original plastic part on it and plugged it in snd all like guts working now.

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These are correct. I had the same problem 3-4 years ago and now again last week as well on model WRX986SIHZ00. The first time it happened, our warranty covered it so a Geek Squad repair guy came over, looked at it for 10 seconds and ordered a part that I'm 99% sure was a circuit

board or fuse or something similar (it was NOT a light that was the problem). It took him 2 minutes at most to replace it a few weeks later when the part arrived so it's a very easy fix but may be expensive if not under warranty.

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We had the same problem with the upper and freezer lights going bad. We purchased an extended warranty from Whirlpool. The serviceman could not repair the unit because the light module in the freezer (connected to upper lights) went bad and is covered with insulation. He called Whirlpool for help and they told him that it is not repairable and we need a new fridge. Our refrigerator is a top of the line Whirlpool with a MSRP of more than $3300. Whirlpool offered me an allowance of about $2,100 toward a replacement with no guarantee that the problem will not come back. That means a thousand bucks for their product that failed after about 13 months. Very frustrating. I think the consumer products Commissions and Consumer Reports need to look into the issue.

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where is the LED control board located on a WRX986SIHZ00?

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I am sick of my six year old Whirlpool refrigerator. The lights in both freezer and fridge have gone out again…they are led…not bulbs. You can’t replace them…you must have a repairman…and it is expensive!!!! I’m sure that we will never purchase a Whirlpool appliance again!!!!!!

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I understand your pain as we’ve had these same lights go out 3 times, of course after all warranties have expired! This is our second fridge in 7 yrs too because we were having issues with fridge shutting down the cooling and finding out it was manufactured wrong ( missing a part in the back that caused ice to accumulate ) so Whirlpool sent us a new replacement but these lights have been an ongoing issue! We just had a technician come to fix them in 12/2023. Never ever will I buy this brand again.

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I GOT LIGHTS!!!!!!!

Finally said **** it and bought a freezer LED light and it came an hour ago.

Replacing the fridge side a few months back.... I replaced the top fridge light and it got me some dim light in the fridge from darkness. ... but the freezer remained dark.

Not anymore! rolled the unit out, unplugged it, popped the freezer light out, plugged the new one back in, plugged the unit back to power and opened the door to the BRIGHTEST lights. Like when new on both freezer and fridge.

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I replaced freezer light for $13 and it fixed it. Just under a year later it happened again. New light and fixed again. It would be nice to know why this freezer light keeps failing to avoid in the future.

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Im buying LED rechargeable motion sensor bars magnetic strip lights for much much cheaper (like 20% of the cost). The ones I found on Amazon have a 2 year warranty and the seller said it would work in freezer and refrigerator temperatures. The only downside is that you have to recharge it every so often (8000 hrs) I'm ok with that verses spending upwards of $200 to replace lights. Hope this helps someone.

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Can you send Amazon link? Thank you so much for idea

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I'm definitely going to give these a try. Can you tell us which product you are using? Thanks.

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LED Motion Sensor Cabinet Light,Under Counter Closet Lighting, Wireless USB Rechargeable Kitchen Night Lights by LEPOTEC. It's been very successful for me and I am glad I went this route because I am not sure it's the lights that blew. I am thinking my problem is actually a wiring connection problem so I would have wasted replacing the lights and they're expensive!

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LED Motion Sensor Cabinet Light,Under Counter Closet Lighting, Wireless USB Rechargeable Kitchen Night Lights,Battery Powered Operated Light,54-LED Light for Wardrobe,Closets,Cabinet,Cupboard(2 Pack) https://a.co/d/j1nMnPx

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What a great idea! I have read several accounts of people replacing the light only to have it go out within less than a year. I already have some of these motion sensor lights and they are going in right now. Thank you Cheri L.

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Might be possible you disturbed a connector while clearing drain. I assume this a frost-free refrigerator so if you had ice in freezer the defrost heater is probably bad.

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where is the LED control board located on a WRX986SIHZ00?

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Hi @BentBow

Here are all the components involved with the lights.

Given that it affects both the refrigerator and freezer compartment lights, I suspect that the LED light control board or the harness connection to it, is the most likely cause of the problem.

The switches would most probably only signal the control board to turn the lights on and off. It would be unusual for both door switches to go faulty at the same time.

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OKay... Replace the refrigerator light and I now have a light in the refrigerator working, but dimmer than what I remember.

Open the freezer side and that light comes on really bright and less than a second off and sometime it does not come on at all.

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@BentBow

Do you mean that the refrigerator light goes bright then off when the freezer door is opened? Only ask as the parts diagrams show no lights in the freezer compartment.

If there is a LED light in the freezer then it may be a faulty door switch. Can you hear the evaporator fan turn on and off when you manually operate the door switch? Usually the door switches have two functions in that when a door is opened (either door) the switch signals the control board to turn off the evaporator fan - to stop blowing the cold air out, and also to turn on the lights. Manually operating the switch just fools the control board so that you can hear the fan or feel the air from the fan with one door open.

Only suggest that this may be a way to check the switch.

If the fan starts and stops OK then it may be a problem between the control board and the LED light control board or the LED control board itself.

You may have to check the LED light control board -part #4 Refrigerator Liner parts for any obvious damage etc.

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I have the same problem and really don't want to spend money on something that should be working. How much did it run you in total? I've grown to live with it but won't buy a Whirlpool again.

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No the freezer has an LED light too. It comes on bright and then dark in less than a second when the freezer door is open.

Both the freezer and the fridge went dark after the fridge side had the flicker for about a month.

I bought a fridge light for $89 + shipping

Now the fridge lights up but it is dimmer than it use to be, before all this.

Open the freezer door and a light comes on Bright, then goes off in less than a second.(maybe very very very dim barely glowing) So the switches are making contact.

The freezer light looks to have one LED, in the LED assembly, completely dark when the other 3 LED barely glows (** *) And they strobe(but barely glowing) then go basically dark after about 5 seconds of strobing(pulsing) very very dim..

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@BentBow

If you disconnect the freezer lights what happens to the fridge lights? Are they any brighter?

It may be that the freezer light circuit is dragging down the voltage supply for the lights from the LED control board.

If the fridge lights work OK (brightness etc) with the freezer light disconnected (you may have to do this back at the LED control board) then there is a problem with the circuit wiring to the freezer lights.

If it makes no difference then it may be on the LED control board itself.

I'm a bit loathe to suggest that you disconnect the fridge lights and then check what happens to the freezer lights as it might damage the control board more as the freezer light circuit seems to be the one that has the bigger problem and may be causing the problem with the fridge lights

This is all conjecture as without a schematic (I can't find one) of how the LED power supply is supplied (I'm assuming from the LED control board) you just have to try different scenarios and check what happens. You may have to check the LED control board initially for any obvious damage to the components

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Mine had the strobe problem. When the door was opened all the lights in the fridge and freezer would strobe. I popped the fridge light down from the top with a butter knife and checked the LED board for burnt components. I found none. I troubleshot the problem for awhile with the light board hanging from the top. If pressure was applied to the side of the smaller connector, the light would work properly. After a bunch of trial and error fixes I finally determined that the pins sticking up from the board into the smaller connector were not forming a consistent mechanical (and thus electrical) connection to the female pins on the male connector coming from the supply. I found a couple of very small sewing needles and wedged one of them each of the wire holes in the top of the connector coming from the supply so that the connection was constant and stable. I dyked them off short enough to clear the top of the light holder in the ceiling of the fridge and popped the light back in. Works fine so far after several days. Saved an outrageous $180+ for a replacement light. Especially considering there is nothing wrong with the original.

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WRS325FDAM04 Same issue as everyone else it started with the top light flickering and then it went out and then the freezer went out. I replaced the light switches on both sides with no look so now I will move to the upper main light since that seems to be the first on inline. Let me just say this is the last Whirlpool appliance that we ever buy we bought a new home with all Whirlpool and they have all given us issues.

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I was able to repair the main light/ballast board.First remove the main light on the ceiling,then remove the circuit board from the plastic assembly. On the board there are two waffle resistors,I believe it's #15 that gets hot.I used a magnifying light to verify the correct resistor. Use a small point soldering iron to reheat both sides of the resistor onto the board.Don"t get it too hot,just enough to reheat the solder.Try it before you order a new board.

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Hi @btheball,

Here's the tech sheet that should help.

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Thanks @jayeff. I have a new problem which is likely my fault. When I reinstalled the LED light assembly and plugged in the power plug into the circuit board I accidentally touched the underside and gave myself a minor shock. It made me laugh but I think it was significant enough to knock out my entire fridge condenser and now my fridge doesn’t work and is not cooling. Nuts. Now I have to call in a service repair guy (under home warranty plan) and have a feast for the family. We do have another mini fridge which will save a significant amount of freezer and fridge food however my fridge is now out.

I’ve “reset” the fridge/freezer by unplugging for a few minutes and tried the toggle door switch button 3 times to try to get the condenser to kick on but to no avail. Any ideas you or anyone else has for me to try would be appreciated. Thanks. Not good timing with company coming this weekend!

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I contacted the Sears Repair Service this afternoon and setup a SAME DAY service call!

The problem with my refrigerator was that the overload switch had burned out likely due to my fridge being 7yo and the part going bad over time. It was visibly burned out & corroded, didn't look fresh. He replaced the overload switch & condenser start relay as a unit. He explained the new start relay was the old style which has worked well for many decades instead of the new style which has a circuit board and fails frequently. Long story short, Keith the repairman who was a real pro, fixed my fridge with a new part within 30 mins, charged me $119 (for labor only and no parts charge) and the best part was that he confirmed that the fridge not working wasn’t my fault as I had originally taken responsibility for with my family along with apologies. And laughably my son lost a $10 bet with his girlfriend that it was my fault or not!

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I had similar problem with the lights flickering and found this fix. The top light in the refrigerator in my model housed a motherboard which I popped out and I heated the side without the capacitors for 2-3 minutes with a heat gun. Let it cool down and installed everything back in. Fixed the problem. 😎

Saved me the $60 replacement part.

Hope this helps someone.

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Thanks @markhobwood

Here is the solution for fixing my fridge lights tho the freezer lights are still out. See url posted below.

The fix for the fridge not cooling problem I had right after fixing the lights is posted above after a Sears Repair Service call.

On Monday 3/6/23

I had the same exact problem with my Whirlpool WRS325FDAM04 Refrigerator LED Freezer light flickering. The resistor labeled R15 was fried out a bit but I scraped it with a little knife and cleaned it and tested it successfully several times. Then I put clear nail polish over it to protect it. It was a problem on the top LED light assembly circuit board. Whirlpool should either recall this item or offer to replace at no cost to their consumers who have this problem. Obviously it’s a manufacturer issue. My freezer light still does not work but I’ll have to figure that out another day…

In my case the exact and perfect solution for the fridge lights not working is found at this url: Refrigerator Light Flickering

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