How to fix a Samsung French door refrigerator mullion flap spring by installing a new spring and pin.
I have a 4 year old Samsung French door refrigerator model RF268ABRS. The left door wouldn’t close because the center mullion flap wouldn’t retract and hit the right door. I found a small broken spring on the kitchen floor and realized it fell off the door flap causing the problem.
Broken French Door Mullion Spring
The spring retracts the door flap so the door will close. A broken spring causes the flap to swing open blocking the door:
The purpose of the mullion spring is to retract the door flap to engage the track in the refrigerator cabinet:
How to Fix a Samsung French Door Refrigerator Mullion Flap Spring
I ordered a replacement French door mullion spring and pin from AppliancePartsPros.com by looking up the refrigerator model number and identifying the parts on the door diagram. The parts cost about $6 and arrived in 2 days via FedEx. This is the new pin (part # DA81-01346A / AP4162150), spring (part # DA81-01345B / AP4577072) and broken spring:
Remove the Broken Door Spring
The old spring broke off at the elbow inside the hinge. Insert the new spring in the bottom of the hinge to push out and remove the broken part:
Hole Worn in Door Flapper Case
Looking closely at the mullion flap I see a hole is worn through the case. A new case (part #14-1 on the diagram) is only $16 which I’ll order for a follow-up repair:
Install the New Door Spring and Pin
The white plastic pin fits over the leg of the spring. The spring can only be installed one way and it doesn’t matter which end is “up”:
Insert the pin and spring into the hinge of mullion flap:
The lower end of the spring is inserted into the door hinge with my fingers. No tools are needed.
The spring repair is complete.
The spring retracts the flap when the door is open. I hadn’t noticed the spring until it broke because it’s concealed in the pocket:
Expensive Refrigerator Design Flaws
I’m surprised that a refrigerator with a nearly $2,500.00 price tag has poorly designed parts that can’t handle a longer duty cycle. It seems it was designed to fail. Samsung and LG are both Korean manufacturers that share the same door flap design with an exposed easy to replace spring. LG refrigerators are sometimes rebranded as Kenmore with the same problem.
Best,
Bob Jackson
It appears my door is about 1/4 to 1/8th of an inch too low. The mullion never seeds correctly. It the – the flapper – never seeds correctly . I have to manipulate the flapper manually.
There are plastic shims that snap under the bottom of the door hinge to raise it up so that the cam on the flapper aligns with the track and closes automatically with the door. I just saw this on a youtube video.