GC2225PEKW Maytag Refrigerator - Instructions

Having seen this problem before in other equipment so I had an idea where to look. Problem: the automatic defrost function was not operating. Looking through openings in the back panel of the freezer compartment, you could see the evaporator coils and fins were a solid chuck of ice. There are three logical components to check. Heater element, thermostat (located just above the evaporator) and a relay on the control board (located in the fridge control panel). Checked the heater with an ohm meter -- OK. The thermostat closes the circuit at around 20 degrees and opens at around 32 degrees. Pulled out the thermostat, wiring, fan unit. Everything unplugs, unscrews, and unclips, don't cut wires. Put the whole assembly in a friends freezer for an hour or so to see if the thermostat closes -- OK. Problem had to be with the control board. Replaced control board, reprogrammed it per included instruction. Everything is working again.

The hard part for me was figuring out which part was causing the problem. I read what others had done and followed their test methods. I checked the defroster heater for continuity and the defroster thermostat to make sure it was closing. the defroster termostat has to be cold to check it. You will need to check it while it is in ice or take it out and put it in another freezer for 30 mins and then check it for continuity. Those items checked out ok so it had to be the control board. The control board is a 5 min job to replace but making sure that is your problem is the hard part. I think the control board was bad due to a power surge we had when the power went out and came back on. It might be a good idea to put a surge protector on your home to protect your fridge and all your other electronic stuff. Our refrigerator is now working like new again. Thank you for all your help, Jim

First thing to do is take two screws off where the door closes.I removed the light sheild off by pushing it to back of refrig.The most hardest part is removing the complete panel,I took a small flat blade scraper to ply down to get small access than you need to put alot of pressure to start getting the panel to start coming off there are alot of pegs to free,the back panel has two hinges that slide towards the front.Once the panel drops remove the connectors and take entire unit out,very easy to replace the control board at this point.Installation is easy slide the two hinges on back in place and put pressure on unit to snap entire unit in place.Program unit with paperwork that came with part very easy to do.Frig is working great now.Just a note the paperwork on refrig is located in the front right corner the mf hids it ,this information will allow you to check all problems with refrig using the key pads for freezer/refrig.Good luck.

I removed the ice maker from the refrigerator, by removing one screw on the underside bracket and loosening the two screws at the top side, then lifting the ice maker off the loosened screws. I then unplugged the electrical harness that supplies power from the refrigerator to the ice maker. I then disassembled the ice maker by removing the front cover which is snapped in place, then removing two recessed screws at the front. I removed the broken part, I then reassembled the ice maker with the new part. I replaced the two recessed screws at the front and snapped on the cover. Then I reinstalled the ice maker in the refrigator by plugging in the harness, slipping the ice maker over the loosened screws in the refrigerator and replacing the screw that was removed from the underside bracket. Tightening all the screws completed the project.

After emptying the refrig. door, I unscrewed the plate on the top of the refrigerator that covered the door bolts. Then off with the three bolts. I removed the door by lifting it up a few inches. The two parts of the door cam were easily removed and replaced with the new part. BEFORE REPLACING the door spread vasoline on both cam parts.
(Not after as I did. The second time you do any of these repairs go SO much better :o)
After putting the door back on, adjust the tension of the screws holding the door in place if needed to align the door on the cams so that it shuts completely. Failure to do this will require taking the top off the door again. (see comment above on "... second time...")
If all is properly aligned, the door should swing completely shut.
Even with the mistakes that required removing the door to lubricate the cams, and removing it AGAIN to readjust the screws on the top to properly align the door on the cams, this was a twenty minute job. My wife and I were still speaking to one another at the end of it- a sure sign of an easy repair.

replaced control board

I used a flat screwdriver and released the lock tab on the bottom of the light switch, and pried the switch out, being careful to not damage the plastic around the mounting place of the switch, unplugged wiring from old switch, plugged in the new one and pushed the new switch into place. Job finished light switch now working.

Pull out old module...
Remove 2 wires...
Tape to inside wall [don't want them to fall down into side panel]..

Order new switch..

Fed Ex pkg came on 2nd day..

Install wires on switch...
Press into opening...
Check door light on..[OK]
.. Done

remove top plastic cover / phillips screw driver
remove top door bracket / 5/15" socket
lift off door
remove pieces of old cam / phillips screw driver
replace cam/ phillips screw driver
replace door
replace top bracket / 5/16" socket
check alignment

The tiny piece of plastic that holds the wire that shuts off the icemaker, broke early on with our fridge (after just a few months.) We superglued it, but last week it bit the dust for good.

Once I got this part, I removed the freezer door and trays, and pulled the icemaker out by removing 3 flathead screws and unplugging the cables. Laying in the freezer on the floor was a bit unconfortable, but not too bad.

Then I inspected the icemaker. There was no obvious way to remove the part without disassembling the front of the unit (where the motor is) to release the spindle and free the part, so I did that - 3 or 4 nuts was all that held it together. Once that was out, I removed the spindle, swapped out the part, and put it all back together and back in the freezer. Plugged it in and waited.

It took a while to start making ice. Like 5 hours. Now it's going pretty slow (much slower than before.) Haven't had time to look into it, but my suspicion is the rubber hose that feeds water into the icemaker is blocked with ice or kinked. In any case, we have ice now (but not a lot), and the unit shuts itself off properly. However, we went from having too much ice (thing never shut off) to too little (thing makes ice too slow), so I need to shoot for somewhere in the middle ;)

Remove the light cover. Use a flat head screw driver to push in the tabs on the back of the program mount and pull down to expose the computer board. The Thermistor is clipped on under the vent holes on the right side. Cut both wires to remove the old thermistor strip a 1/4 inch off the remaning wires and the new thermistor wires twist both ends together crimp on the wire caps snap in the new thermistor reinstall the program board until the retainer clips snap into place, slide the light cover back on.

I used board levers to do one side at a time.Kinda tricky, but you can hoist up fridge high enough to replace wheels. take your time think it out and be safe . Make sure you use saftey boards to support load to protect yourself==good luck A small mirror may help to see how the rollers alien in the supports.

I removed the plastic cover from the top hinge and loosened the screws. The magnet seal kept the door in place so I removed the top hinge and tried to lift the door off the bottom hinge but the water line wouldn't let it go. Since I don't use the water feature, I just cut the water line and lifted the door off. That's when I discovered the hinge pin was actually broken off, not just the cam. I went ahead and replaced the cam kit and put it temporarily back together, got right back on line and ordered the bottom hinge. The service was again very fast and in a couple of days I received the bottom hinge, repeated the whole process again and this time replaced the bottom hinge assembly, put some petrolium jelly on the cam kit and now it works smooth and perfect.

Took longer to move food from door to inside fridge & take grandkids' artwork off door, & then put it all back than it did to replace cam.
1. Used phillips head to undo 1 screw holding cover over top bracket; lifted off cover.
2. No need to have someone hold door while you remove top bracket; magnets in door gasket will hold it tight to fridge. Used socket to remove 3 screws in top bracket & lifted bracket up off top of door.
3. Door's not heavy. I stood on a sturdy chair to get better leverage. Opened the door enough to break the magnetic seal & llfted it up off bottom bracket. I moved it over just enough to get to the cam, rested the bottom of the door on the floor, & leaned it up against the open front of the fridge to help preserve chilled food.
4. Removed the 1 screw holding in the bad cam to the bottom bracket (uses smaller socket than screws on top bracket).
5. I checked part that goes up inside bottom of door & it was fine, so did not replace it.
6. Trickiest part: putting the door back on. I put a hand mirror on floor by the right corner & facing up so I could see the underpart of the door as I lifted it eased it down on the right place.
7. Closed door, made sure it was straight, replaced top hinge & cover, food, & artwork.

It was great. We replaced the thermistor A little difficult to get to the thermistor but once we found it five minutes. My refrigerator seems happy but we will monitor it and see.