Water Dispenser Actuator

The diagram of the area provided on this website was invaluable therefore, installing the new actuator was fairly easy. The most difficult part was reconnecting the waterline to the dispense area . It took some ingenuity but all worked out well.

Read the other stories which were really helpful. It is a fairly simple project as long as you don't disconnect the water line as others said. I had a somewhat difficult time getting the ears of the actuator in the slots but eventually went right in.

Unplug the refrigerator, and pull it out of its place.
1) Push out the drip tray.
2) Remove three bottom screws from cover.
3) Unclip top part of cover, and pull it out. Be careful with the ribbon from the ribbon harness connected to the power board. Use scotch tape to secure to back of cover.
4)Remove three screws from module dispenser. Slightly pull out dispenser.
5)Remove broken water actuator.Two screws hold it in place to spring actuator.Unclip power end.
6)Install new water acutator.
7)If you can , do not pull out the water tube from the dispenser. If it gets pulled out, use barbecue stick to guide it in the hole, and a long nose plier.
8)Put back the three screws.
9)Snap cover in place and secure with three screws.
10)Put back drip tray.

Followed other listed do's and don't. Removed the assembly from the door, which made changeing the actuator easy. The hard part was getting the hose back in. My Son came up with the idea of while one person holds the assembly in place while the other inserts a rod which we used a drill of a size that could be inserted backwards from the under side and inserted into the water tube and then pulled thru and down insert. Note: Must be a size which when inserted will hold to pull hose thru. Worked for us.

Removed the face cover. Very important to pull it out from the bottom first and then slide upward. I broke the two small hooks on the top that help hold the face plate nice and flush to the refrigerator door. Replacing the lever was fairly easy but getting the hose back into to recepticle hole was a challange. After a few attempts I realized I needed to remove the circuit board so I could physically push the hose down into the hole. After that I had to wait about 5 minutes for the unit to reset itself. Not a difficult replacement but need some patience.

Followed instructions on the website. Only difference is I did remove the water tube because I found it easier to fix the problem. Replacing the tube was a little tricky, but I shoved an inch or so more tubing from the bottom of the freezer door and that was enough to make the job much easier. I also used some string to pull the wire through the backing and that made the threading of the wire much easier. All in all a fairly easy fix.

I felt that a beginner could make a repair of this nature. The part arrived in 2 days.
I will use PartSelect on all of my future repairs.

Just followed the instructions on your site. Remove the water tray, bezel and face plate (being careful with the wires) unscrewed the tab holding the actuator in removed it and slipped the new one in place.

My husband and I worked together on it. First of all we unplugged the refrigerator. We took off the outside frame of the water dispenser and unscrewed the inside. We did not unhook the ribbon tape however we did unplug the connections. My husband put on the new actuator which was very simple, two screws and done. He plugged the actuator back in and plugged the main cable back in. The tough and frustrating part was getting the water tube back in the hole. It is in a very tight and awkward position. It took several tries with needle nose pliers but we finally were able to get it. It took us about 1/2 to complete (20 minutes just to get the water tube in the hole). We are glad to have saved a service call!

Basically I followed all the directions on here except I did NOT take the water line loose. The hardest part of the install was getting the new actuator into the retaining slots mainly due to the limited work space because I chose not to remove the water line. Once I got it snapped in place, it was as simple as reconnecting everything. Took no longer than 45 minutes.

The only thing I did different from all of the other story's was to keep the water supply line connected. It made a huge difference not having to re-install the small tube in such a small space.

Took water dispenser cover off. Removed screws underneath. Unhooked ice dispenser electrical. Unscrewed old actuator. Replaced with new. Problem with water hose. Pulled slack from bottom of refrigerator. Put back together. Works fine.

getting the old one out was not to hard. putting the new actuator in was a littel more difficult. there is a small nipple that makes it hard to get the actuator over and slip down in to the cradle. After that you have to use needlenose pliers to get the water line back in to the outlet hole. it's better to a second person help you hold the unit while you are putting the water line back in.

followed steps posted on site

There are several very helpful posts which do not need to be repeated. My only issue was the short water supply line. I found that I had to disconnect it to access the actuator for removal and replacement. It is quite difficult to reinsert the water line. Thankfully, a previous poster mentioned that you can drop the botton front panel of the regrigerator and push an inch or so of water line upwards to allow enough length to reinsert through the dispenser. That took about 2 minutes and saved the day. Overall a very uncomplicated job and no big deal to get done. I saved lots of money by doing it myself.