Siemens American style fridge freezer control panel problem

Joined
26 Dec 2013
Messages
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Location
Middlesex
Country
United Kingdom
Hi all, I have a Siemens KA62DA70GB American-style fridge freezer that has become possessed.
It has started to randomly dispense ice cubes over the kitchen floor when no one is anywhere near it.
After some poking I suspect the problem is with the front touch control panel. That has touch buttons to dispense ice, water etc. Immediately behind and below this panel is the hole where the ice & water are dispensed. The LED’s in this hole stopped working a long time ago and they look very corroded from the water splashing from whatever container is placed tho catch the water or ice. I suspect some water has reached the control panel electronics.
My question is does anyone know how I can get access to that control panel? There are no obvious screws or tabs. There are two small holes under the control panel, one each, side that may be some kind of tab but poking with a screwdriver doesn’t do anything obvious and I don‘t want to damage anything.
The inside of the freezer door is one big moulding with no obvious method to remove it.
I am an electronics engineer and feel confident I could fix the issue if i can gain access to the panel.
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Gary

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The problem is fixed.
Some information in case anyone else encounters this fridge/freezer/issue…
The control panel is retained by plastic clips across the top and on each side. A thin bladed ‘spudger’ can be used to release the clips. The bottom edge of the control panel sits on some tabs and can be lifted out when the top is pulled out.
There is a single 3 pin connector plugged on to the top right of the control panel.
The PCB is connected to the front panel membrane by a ribbon cable.
The intermittent self dispensing of ice was due to water contamination of the bottom of the capacitive touch membrane. The membrane is stuck to the inside front cover of the control panel. I didn’t try to remove the membrane as I did not want to damage it so I cleaned it up (limescale) and dried it.
Also there is a 0.33F 5.5v ‘super capacitor’ on the control panel PCB, that was dead so I replaced it (readily available online). Apart from the clock time I don’t know what it is for, removing it did not loose temperature etc settings.
After cleaning out the gunge around the water pipe I reassembled and added some silicone sealant to try and prevent a reoccurrence
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