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KITCHEN AID SIDE-BY-SIDE REFRIGERATOR ICE-MAKER stopped working due to a broken motor assembly.
Changing the KITCHENAID MOTOR ASSEMBLY TO THE ICE-MAKER was fairly straightforward. The hardest part was figuring out WHAT was broken and how to fix it. I was determined to save myself hundreds of dollars by doing it myself and avoiding a visit by the 'repairman'.
1.) Went to KitchenAid website to look at Parts List for my side-by-side refrigerator and ice maker assembly (a PDF file, easily downloadable) . The illustrations helped me visualize the assembly and various parts involved. 2.) Removed cover on front of ice maker. 3.) Removed hex-head screw on undersurface of icemaker on the right, which stablilizes a plastic cover for the electrical connector to the ice maker. Once this is off, it's then possible to slide the ice maker out. 4.) Slide the ice maker out from it's 'shelf' in the freezer. You won't be able to completely remove it until you disconnect the power supply. 5.) Disconnect the multi-pin power connector. (It's probably safest to unplug the refrigerator altogether before doing this, but I did not. No exposed metal wiring or connectors. No problems when I did it this way.) 6.) Once the ice-maker was out, remove the white cover from the motor assembly (on the left side of the unit). 7.) Remove the three screws from the black housing of the motor assembly. (This is where I discovered that the connector between the motor and drive-train was broken and needed to be replaced.) 8.) Remove and replace the drive system for the ice cube ejector. 9.) Then reverse the steps to reassemble.
This may seem a bit vague, but it's really quite straightforward once the ice maker is out of the freezer. The replacement motor assembly includes the motor, the motor housing, the drive-train, and the ice-cube ejector. Very easy to re-asemble.
Shopping for and ordering the part took some time since there are so many different after-market parts dealers. In all honesty, I'm glad I decided on PartSelect.com. They had a decent price, safe checkout, and timely delivery. All the essentials of a good online store.
Thanks, and good luck to the next guy who has to deal with a KitchenAid snafu.
The repair was made simply by removing the old broken Water Inlet Valve (two screws and 4 tubes) and replacing it with the new one. All the tubes and wiring are the same so it was relatively easy to replace. Now we have fresh made ice again
The control bracket is made of plastic and holds two microswitches that activate the ice dispenser and the water dispenser. The plastic clips that held the switches on the control bracket broke so that the switches no longer operated when the ice dispenser lever was operated.
Two screws held the external dispenser bezel, and two screws held the control bracket in place. The wiring and switches were transferred to the new bracket and the new bracket screwed into place. Then the bezel was replaced.
Total repair time was less than 5 minutes. The control bracket was $16.50 with shipping and arrived two days after I placed the order.
The PartSelect website had a clear diagram of the control bracket so I was comfortable with the order.
The door is very easy to remove. There is one nut for the cap on the top of the soor hinge. Once the cap is removed, you need to remove the 3 nuts holding the hinge in place. Simply lift the door off the lower hinge and rest it on the dining room table. I set towels down to protect the stainless finish. The closing cam will be visible on the bottom of the door. I choose to replace the lower cam and the upper cam at the same time. I did not know what the problem cam was. The door works good as new. I put a small amount of vaseline where the two cams rub to provide a lubricant.
Cooling would shut down and not restart until refrigterator was turn off and back on.
First I removed the cover plate over the cover over the thermostat, by snapping it out. Then I removed the four screws holding the cover over the thermostat in place. Next I removed the screw, which held the cover over the thermostat sensor. I then removed that cover and the unit, which exchanges air, flow between freezer and refrigerator. I then removed the two screws, which held the thermostat in place. I then removed the thermostat with the sensor and the white tube, which covered it. Then I removed the white tube from the sensor.
To install the new thermostat I first inserted the thermostat sensor into the white tub. I lubricated the sensor with a very small dab of Vaseline. Then I placed the sensor unit in the unit, which exchanges air between refrigerator and freezer. I next reinstalled the unit, which exchanges air between refrigerator and freezer. Then I reinstalled the cover over the thermostat sensor. I then installed the thermostat with the two screws, which held it in place. Then I reinstalled the cover the thermostat with the four screws, which held it in place. Last I snapped the cover plate in place.
Excessive noise was coming from the freezer section of my side be side refrigerator
Cleaning out the freezer took the longest time. Once the freezer was clean I turned off the freezer which did not deactivate the light in the freezer. This is a tight area to work in and not having to hold a flashlight made the job much easier. I then removed the shelf slider brackets for the 3 lower pullout drawers. The next step was to remove the interior aluminum back panel (6 screws) which covers the evaporator motor and the coil. Before removing the 3 electric wires that are attached to the evaporator motor make sure the power is off to the motor. The removal of the motor was fairly straightforward and I would suggest removing the plastic fan blade first and then the connector wires. It helped knowing in advance that the plastic fan blade would come off with a little prying. Be careful when prying the fan off so that you don’t damage the plastic motor mount bracket. Once you have installed the motor I would suggest turning the freezer back on to make sure that the evaporator motor works before reinstalling the aluminum back panel and slider brackets.
1) At bottom of ice maker trim there are two small slots at right and left ; use screw driver to pry away from door; lift trim upward away from door 2)using 1/4" nutdriver remove screws from 4 corners, 3) remove 2 screws from control panel 4) disconnect all wires/cables and set exterior panel aside. 5) locate 2" pin that runs through door spring and use needle nose pliers to remove round clip on left end of pin don't lose this clip 6) while pushing ice maker lever (where you would push with your glass) use needle nose to pull the long pin out to the right 7) Remove all remaining parts by hand (i.e. the pin, the dash pot and white lever and the ice door) 8)slide new control lever into slots on exterior side of the new door 9) -tricky part- using needle nose, push pin back through the right hinge point, the new lever, the new door, the new spring and the left hinge point (note the new door has no electric wire connector) 10) using the needle nose, carefully replace the little round clip on the left end of the metal pin. 11) reconnect all the wires (don't worry about the wire that had been connected to the door wire, just fold it aside) 12) replace two screws screws in control panel and four screws at corners of exterior panel 13) snap outer trim panel back in place.
The ice maker was not getting water. I hotwired the water valve by switching the connectors for the water dispenser and ice maker water valves and water flowed into the icemaker when the water dispenser lever was pushed. I wronly assumed the water valve was good. I removed the icemaker and determined that the gear motor was not getting power in the position the icemaker had stopped.In this position, the thermostat determines when the motor gets power so I replaced the thermostat. The icemaker still would not get water! As it turns out, the water solenoid was sticking due to a deteriorated rubber washer which let the solenoid plunger get too far out of the magnetic field. I replaced the water solenoid assy and all is well. Don't get fooled by hotwiring the valve. If it isn't getting water, the solenoid probably is the culprit.
Ice dispenser would not dispense ice through the door
First I unplugged the frig, and turned offed the water and ice dispenser using the on/off panel switch. I removed the panel by inserting a small flat blade screwdriver at the bottom of the panel where the plastic studs locked the panel in place. By inserting a little upward pressure, the panel popped right ouff. The Micro Switch was very easy to remove and replace. Just make sure that the plunger on the ice dispenser makes solid contact with the switch when depressed.
Replaced the door cam on bottom of fridge door. ONE THING TO UNDERSTAND- THERE ARE 2 CAMS ON THE DOOR, LOWER AND UPPER, BUT THE UPPER CAM IS NOT LISTED ON THE "DOOR HARDWARE" DRAWING, ITS LISTED ON THE MAIN BODY DRAWING! BE SURE TO GET BOTH CAMS! (PARTSELECT COULD MAKE A NOTE THAT WHEN PEOPLE LOOK UP LOWER CAM, PUT A NOTE IN THERE SAYING Y0U NEED UPPER TOO!)So I had to order the upper cam later and install later. BUT it is quite easy to replace, unlike the video, I only needed 1 tool! The nut driver (electric screwdriver w nut driver head). Thanks -RF
This product comes in a bottle with a brush like Liquid Paper. It goes on incredibly easy. A second coat might be needed. I wanted to prevent rust from setting in so I covered the scratches and dings. The paint is a little brighter since my washer is 10 years old but it still looks great.
Auto Defrost Freezer keeps defrosting SIDE BY SIDE KITCHENAID
DISCONNECT POWER. Removed all shelves/baskets.Popped upper panel off (just clips in) Removed 6 screws in lower back panel ( 3 each side) slid panel in place but down. You can then easily see the defrost thermostat/defrost termination switch. Cut the wire connectors (pink n brown wire) stripped back wire, attached new defrost thermostat. Thermostat clips on. New thermostat ohm's at 5.5, old one was "open". Slid cover back up meeting the upper cover grooves. Screwed lower panel in. Put shelves etc back in. Plugged in. Turns on, put a bottle of water in freezer. Checked a while later, frozen. has been frozen for a week. -James
Refrigerator Wasn't Cooling,Evaporater Coil Freezing Up
I have a side by side so in order to access the bi-metal switch I first had to empty out the freezer. The switch is clipped on to the top of the evaporator coil. I had to remove 8 screws to remove the back panel of the freezer compartment. The bi-metal switch was right there in plain view. There are two colored wires that come out of the switch. I tried pulling them out of the socket they were plugged into but gave up for fear of breaking something. I ended up cutting the wires and splicing them together. I used the plastic twist caps. I made sure when I closed everything back up that the open end of the caps were pointing down so no water can accumulate in them. It has been 3 days now and so far so good