EF42DBSS Dacor Refrigerator - Instructions

Emiter blinking red; ice maker stopped working. Called appliance repair, said electronic control boards needed to be replaced. Quoted me $275, including parts. Ordered part at partselect.com, installed in 15 min and ice maker started producing ice. Also discovered on other online forums that this part is a common failure on these model refrigerators. Very easy to swap out, plug & play. Make sure to unplug appliance before performing repair due to shock risk.

Taped plastic cover to get it out of the way with duct tape - removed three screws on each side - removed retaining screw for each module - carefully disengaged module using small flat head screw driver being sure to release the plastic retainer and then reverse the process. Be sure new modules snap into place.

Biggest problem was initially figuring out what the problem was. Turning off the ice maker had no effect and it just kept making ice.

Removed face plate, disconnected wires, removed and replaced micro switch and control bracket.

Well I changed out the optical boards which I thought were the problem and the ice maker is still not making any ice. I can see the ice makers fingers rotating but there is no water entering through the tube. I jumped the water manifold in the back and water comes out but I cant figure out what is not telling it to run water and fill the ice tray. Any ideas would be appreciated I guess i'll replace the ice maker next. Thanks in advance.

I replaced the control bracket, which has mounts for the switches used to activate the ice and water dispensers. The water switch mount was broken, so the switch would not activate. It was great that I could find this part (the control bracket) on PartSelect's site.

If the person doing the repair has a little patience, then he/she will be rewarded!:

The first step is to pry off the front panel: I pried off the panel at the bottom. It will pop off, but takes a little effort. I used a couple of screwdrivers to pull it up at a couple of spots at the same time. Once the bottom pops out, then I pulled straight up on the panel. (If you try to pop out the panel at the top, you will damage it, so make sure to pop it out at the bottom.)

Next, disconnect the wiring that goes to the panel, and put the panel aside.

I then took a digital picture of the arrangement of wires and switches on the control bracket.

I disconnected any wires going from the inner part of the refrigerator to the control bracket, and then unscrewed the control bracket.

After removing the old control bracket, I carefully noted how the two switches (one for ice, one for water) mount into it. I removed these switches and put them into the new control bracket.

I then remounted the control bracket into the refrigerator, screwing it into place. I used the digital picture that I had taken earlier to make sure that I knew how to reconnect all of the wires.

I plugged the the remaining wires to the front panel, and then snapped the front panel back into place on the refrigerator door.

I was done!

Remove the cover plate from the bottom. Use care and patience when performing this step. It takes longer to remove the cover plate than replacing all of the parts involved. Slide off each switch, unplug electrical connectors and trust me when I tell you that you can figure out the rest. E Z, E Z, E Z!!!!!

Unscrewed the old one (Half turn) and screwed in the new one.

Unplugged refrigerator. Used nut driver to remove small bolt retaining wire cover on right side of ice maker. Removed wire cover, used flat head screw driver to depress side-rail clips. Ice maker slid out, unplugged. Timer module cover pops off easily. Three screws removed the timer module. Installation was reverse of removal. Had ice in less than an hour, bin was full by next morning. If you have a screw driver and know what it's for, this job should come easily.

Snapped the large end of the coupling onto the main line coming from the water source and snapped the other end onto the small line leading to the ice maker. Quick and simple.

tested bulb good ,replaced door switch first(least expensive)then ordered light socket and circuitboard.If clicking sound is heard replace circuitboard first to save on return shipping because the switch and socket where ok

Mine is a simple tale of the missing ice cube dispensor guide. When we moved, the guide was missing so when I built our new home with a kitchen in the basement I wanted to hook up the ice dispensor but when I did, the ice cubes always fell off to one side. I decided to order the misssing part on-line. I ordered it paid for it and then received it the next day-wonderful. Within ten minutes, I was ready to go. Thanks for great service. Rick Davis, Bloomington, IL.

I installed the new cap on a new filter, which I will install when the old filter needs replacing. No tools required, but it is sometimes difficult to turn the filter cc wise, when replacing.

My Kitchenaid side by side freezer has an ice dispenser on the door that would not dispense ice. The electronic door opened and the motor would come on with a repeated clicking noise. The Auger would turn with a few ice cubes in the bin, but not under load. After ruling out a clogged chute, I figured that the motor was stripped. The rod that turns the auger is a hexagon shaped piece, much like a screw driver you would use with your drill. After years of breaking down ice, it stripped the hexagon key in the motor, and would just spin under load. Now, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART. I looked online for a repair and saw a very similar motor repair that involved taking off the front panel and electronics. I did this, and ran into a solid piece of plastic with no way to get to the motor. I then looked at the inside of the freezer door more carefully. About 2/3 down I saw a small panel held in place by four 1/4 inch hex nuts. What was a 15 minute job, cost me over an hour removing and replacing the front of the freezer. Anyway, the replacement motor fixed the problem without a hitch, and now we have ice. Of note, this is the second repair of this ice maker system, after first having to replace the ice maker itself. And, this the second Kitchenaid built in refrigerator of this model as our first had ice maker issues and was returned as a recall. It is only 5 years old.

This was a pretty easy repair...I removed the retaining screws and slid the assembly off its tracks. Disconneting the wiring hardness was a pain but after a few minutes I had that off (use gloves, it gets cold in the freezer after a minute)

Once I had the unit completely out of the freezer the replacement part took only minutes to replace.

Reversed the process putting the ice maker back in - a few hours later my ice buck was full again.

Simple repair - well worth the effort.

Turn off water supply too ice maker and unplug the fridge power. using a nut driver remove one bottom screw from the bottom, near the front. The other two from the side atop the ice mold. (loosen screws and ice maker will lift up and off.)
I set the ice maker on the counter, snapped of the front cover by hand. using a phillips driver, remove two screws near the bottom corners.(they go through the circuit board into the ice mold)
circuit board in one hand, other end of ice mold in the other, slowly pull apart about 1 inch. remove the silver colored "on, off" bar at the end by snapping the retainer out of the ice mold. (the silver bar stays with the circuit board end)
Watch how the ice guide(white fingers stationary on side of ice mold) hooks too the ice mold on each end. swap ice guide to new ice mold, insert three guide pins on end into holes on the circuit board, while holding ice guide onto ice mold, watch rotation bar while inserting into motor.(it only splines one way.) when each piece is lined up, simply push together and reinstall two screws. snap circuit board cover into place. reinstall ice maker into freezer in reverse order.