Found a tip online that said to check the resistance of the defrost coil, when I had none I knew the coils had burned out. Before pulling the old coil out I tied on some long pieces of string as was suggested, that made things go very quick! The hardest part was reaching to the back of the narrow freezer space, but fortunately I have long arms. So far all is working well, and I have a great deal of satisfaction knowing I did the repair myself!
Removed all screws on back and 4 on front. That part is easy IF you have a Torx of the right size. Slip out the ice bin a bit and replace the drive ring. Reassembly is a bit harder since some internal shift can occur -- rotate or tilt the whole assembly to get two -- I think -- screws started. No need to over tighten screws; snug is good enough.
Refrigerator and freezer not cooling as required, compressor running continually
Turned refrigerator and freezer controls to off, removed icemaker bin, unplugged icemaker plug and removed two screws holding icemaker in place and removed icemaker. removed screws holding auger motor and freezer compartment light plate, unplugged and set aside. Remover screws holding freezer coil cover in place and removed cover. Allowed coils to defrost completely and then removed screws that hold the two defrost heater coil mounting plates in place, unplugged the two wires that connect the defrost heater coils to the connector block that is located above the freezer coil. Remove the entire defrost heater by working the connecting wires out from along side the freezer coil. Remove the clips that hold the old defrost heater elements to the mounting plates. Install new heating elements into the two mounting plates with the clips. Reinstall the two mounting plates to brackets on freezer coil and reinstall connecting wiring up to connector block and reconnect them. Reinstall freezer coil cover, icemaker auger motor and freezer compartment light plate, and icemaker and bin to complete job. Due to the confined space in the freezer compartment, reinstalling the freezer coil cover and light plate was difficult as I could only use one arm at a time resulting in many dropped screws.
I removed 7 screws hold the heavy cardboard cover on the rear of the fridge. The dificult part was taking the screws that hold the 3 fan motor braces on the fan out. After that it was a matter of making the wire conections and putting it back in. I did not have enough room to laydown to do the work, If i had it would have been a lot easier to see the screws that had to be removed. All in all an easy job, and the part was a perfect fit.
Removed 6 screws to get at broken part. Had to remember the disassembly sequence to properly reassemble. The whole process was relatively simple. I saved about $125 which would have been the cost of a repairman coming to the house.
Turn off refrig water supply, remove cardboard rear lower cover, disconnect two plastic lines (one for icemaker, the other for in-the-door water dispenser) and one copper fitting (supply line). Replace valve (mounted with one screw), reconnect, test for leaks.
The valve I was so sure was bad wasn't, replacing it didn't solve my problem. Turned out to be a frozen up icermaker water feed tube at the top rear of the refrig. The Fix: heat a metal rod of appropriate size in boiling water or with a hair dryer, poke it gently up into the water drop tube (sticks out just above the rear of the icemaker) from the inside and melt out the ice plug. Be sure to test this tube if you have the same problem, you should be able to disconnect the line on back of the refrig and blow air through the tube if it's clear. Saved the valve anyway for a spare.
Unplug fridge, unpluged fan motor from plug socket, removed bracket screws, removed fan retainer clip from shaft. removed screws holding fan to bracket
The ring was cracked and it would not dispence ice.
I switched the ring and still had the same problem. What caused the Drive ring to crack was the Ice maker drive was cracked also, when it filled with water it would tip. The ice was not freezing completely and would cause the ice to build up and the auger was froze with ice or a big piece of ice would jam it. So I replaced the Ice Tray, it is working like new. I have to buy another ice tray as inventory, although I know inventory is bad but I never agreed with that theory.
Had to cut the old part off with dremel then just install new part and put back in refrigerator. It is a good thing to know that the Yoke is a left threaded. Thanks James from Pineville.
Removed the screws that held the main ice bin and slid back the bin to leave space behind the auger to remove the broken ring. Replaced with new ring and replaced screws to hold ice bin back in place.