MSD2454GRW Maytag Refrigerator - Instructions

First I removed the Ice bin, I then loosened the ice bin rail under the ice maker and removed the screw that attached the bottom of the ice maker to the side of the fridge. I unplugged the power to Ice Maker from the back of the fridge and unscreewed the two screws that secured the ice maker to the fridge. This allowed the Ice Maker to be removed from the fridge. To replace the new ice maker I simply repeated the steps in reverse.

I saw on a partselect web site that these symptoms could be caused by a failed condensor fan motor. After removing the cardboard panel in back of the refrigerator I noticed the fan was not running when the rfigerator was. The fan was held in place by three brackets. I unscrewed the screws holding the fan motor to the brackets and also unscrewed one of the brackets to make room to pull the motor out. I cut the wires close to the motor. I removed the fan blade and secured it to the new motor. I had to reroute the old wires in order to have enough slack to use wire nuts to attach them to the leads on the new motor. I then re-attached the motor to the two brackets remaining in place and then re-attacehed the third bracket I had removed to get the motor out.. The most difficult part was working in a very confined space.

We have a Reverse Osmosis water filter supplying the fridge, so the internal water filter only served to reduce the water pressure inside the unit. I installed the bypass plug by simply twisting and removing the internal water filter and then twisting the plug up into the same hole. Done in 5 min.
Longest part of this was clearing the top shelf to reach back there... Oh, and figuring out that this part exists and that it could help with the problems we were having with the unit. The water filter is relatively new, less than six months, but it still contributed to the problem enough to cause the failure.
[Thank you Partselect.com for having this web database set up that gets EXACTLY the right part!].

Now about the hollow cubes: Do a web search and you'll find a lot of discussion about it. This is specific to the Whirlpool (Maytag, and others) newer style front to back icemakers that create "half moon" shaped icecubes. For a Shop Manual to a web search for 4316835.pdf for this series.
No doubt my old unit's icemaker solenoid valve on the back isn't passing as much pressure as it did new, but by itself it isn't fatal just yet. You can tell if you are vulnerable to this if the water spigot on the front only delivers a very slow trickle of water; if it takes a l o n g t i m e to fill a glass.

But here is the rest of the story: There is a fundamental design flaw in the way the icemaker unit was created that makes it malfuntion if the water pressure is too low - they chose to put the thermocouple (TC) that senses the temperature of the freezing cube on the opposite end (front) of the water tray from the water fill tube which fills from the rear. This was probably a manufacturing trade off for simplicity of assembly and it saved them half a cent's worth of copper wiring and a couple of screws. And maybe a safty concern about wiring under an open water channel, but that is a lousy excuse; there are other solutions, and the power "harness" goes right by there within a couple of inches anyway...

There are a number of reasons for low pressure:
- Bad supply inlet valve, or not open all the way, crimped tubing
- Bad Frige icemaker solenoid valve
- Clogged internal water filter (even just a little)
- Frozen ice plug in the fill tube, in the very back top of the unit against the back (use a hair dryer to defrost)
- Etc. Do some more web research for more details.
Of course the icemaker timers do fail as well, so this discussion assumes the icemaker is still functioning as "normally" as it can, given its design limitations.

The interaction with water pressure (design flaw!) is this: if the unit doesn't get enough water due to low pressure, then the final cube position to fill doesn't get any water in it (the front one by the motor). This is the one that the TC is next to as well, so it cools of really quickly and the TC thinks the tray is completely frozen, when in fact it isn't. The TC fires the cycling motor which turns on the heater and then spins the ejector shaft which has tabs that push the half moon shaped cubes around and out. However, since the cubes weren't fully frozen, only their outer shell gets pushed out - the water in the middle drains out leaving a hollow cube set. That liquid water hits the cold ejector bars and some of it immediately freezes, making little stalactite fingers that catch on the tabs and side of the tray, thus jamming the ejector shaft and pausing the cycle in place indefinitely.
The net is that you get a few hollow cubes and then no more ice until you reach in and crack off the ice fingers so shaft tabs can pass and the motor can finsh the cycle and properly stop in its home position. You can also tell by checking whether the front cube location has water in it just after it fills by reaching around and dipping your finger in it. If it comes up dry, then you have this problem.
So, in my case, putting the bypass plug in increased my flow t

After moving the refrigerator away from the wall I removed the cover on the lower back of the unit by removing the screws that held it in place. The condenser fan was not turning and there was heat build up in the area causing the refrigerator to not work properly creating elevated temperatures in both the freezer and regrigerator. Removal of three torx screws from the original motor was all it took to get the motor free. By turining it and working the fan blade around the mounting bracket I had the motor out in just a few minutes. Replacing the new motor was just as easy to reinstall. The fan was removed from the old motor and placed on the new for installation. The original motor was wired to accept a connector from the wiring harness of the refrigerator. I simply cut the connector off the wiring harness and stripped the insulation from the wires which easily allowed me to connet the wires of the motor and harness with two wire nuts. Three self tapping screws were used to hold the motor in place replacing the torx screws. Installed I plugged the unit in and immediately the fan started spinning as the unit came to life. Cleaned and replaced the cover over the back and slid back into its spot. Running as good as it did when it was new. Easy job to take care of.

Philips head screwdriver and ten minutes was all it took! I removed the two screws that hold the icemaker assembly in place, then pulled it out a little and disconnected the electrical plug freeing the icemaker assembly. Then I snapped the external parts off my old icemaker assembly and snapped them on the new icemaker assembly. Installing the new icemaker assembly was just as fast and easy. I snapped the electrical plug into the new icemaker assembly, then screwed in the two screws. It was making ice shortly thereafter. Glob free ice! I'm glad I didn't call a repairman. I probably saved a hundred bucks. A ten year old could accomplish this simple and easy task. No wonder the Maytag repairman has time on his hands.

Jenn-air jcd-2389gtw refridgerator/freezer side by side ice door would not open to dispense ice from the ice dispensor I did an online order for the repair kit #ps2003478 (115v) ice dispenser solenoid and door kit to fix the problem with the ice door not opening. As I had deduced, the “solenoid” had gone bad, and the kit held most all the items required to make the repair. The only additional item the kit needs to have is the “fountain door return spring”. Be careful not to loose the spring when disassembling the unit. You might want to order an additional spring just in case you loose or break the original. The instruction sheet was pretty thorough, except for being small and the pictures hard to see. My refrigerator/freezer has decorative panels that had to be removed before I was actually able to get the escutcheon off of the unit, and this configuration wasn’t addressed in the instructions. After figuring out that I had to remove all the trim from the door of the freezer before I could start the repair, the job wasn’t that difficult, but you have to have patience and take your time to make sure you don’t damage the electrical components of the ice dispenser. Make sure you note the position and location of the fountain door return spring before you remove the ice door!! This is important so that you can get the correct “tension” when reinstalling the mechanism. If there isn’t enough tension on the spring, the door will not seal properly, and the dispenser will freeze up. Also, when it comes time to disconnect the “electrical edge connector” from the control panel, be sure to make note of it’s position. It isn’t difficult to pull off, but could be easily broken if you are not careful. The rest of the repair and installation is straight forward and simple. Just take your time and it goes back together pretty easily. Tools you will need are; needle nose pliers, phillips screwdriver with a small and medium bit, and a “torx” tool set to remove the torx screws from the escutcheon and fountain bracket.

Several days back I found I couldn't get any ice from the ice maker. I was able to hear noise from the ice maker but no ice would dispense. I opened the freezer and removed the ice bucket to find out that the Auger has broken off from it's plastic housing in the back of the freezer. I went to partselect.com to find the part(s) that were broken, it was much easier because of the diagram/images they have for each individual section of the fridge. Parts came quickly and as expected.

The replacement of the auger motor is very easy if you follow these steps:

1 - Remove the ice bucket from the freezer
2 - Unscrew the one screw on the bottom left side of the ice bucket tray (the tray holds the ice bucket in place). I used a small needle nose plier to remove this screw as I was having a hard time with my drill or wrench set. After you've removed the one small screw, lift the tray up and slowly pull towards you.
4 - You'll quickly see that the auger motor and magnetically controlled yoke are connected with a wire harness to the back of the freezer.
5 - Gently crimp the ends of the wiring harness connector with your hand and slowly pry away from the freezer. Once you've removed the wiring harness you can remove the entire tray with the parts attached (yoke/auger)
6 - Unscrew the auger motor from the tray. You'll also have to remove the auger from the motor else it won't come out. In my case the whole plastic attachment was broken so I didn't have to do this (ie I replaced the ice tray as well). It was impossible for me to remove the auger from the auger motor, not sure why the auger was so tightly attached to the motor - it could be the reason the auger motor broke from the ice tray?, so I had to buy a brand new auger motor and auger (ie Auger Drive Motor Kit). I hope you have more luck then I did removing the auger. If you can't remove it you'll need to buy the Drive Motor Kit (which comes with the drive motor, detached auger and auger washer).
7 - Once/if you've removed the auger from the motor and remove the motor from the ice tray, you can proceed with the replacement of motor.
8 - Using needle nose pliers remove the three power connections on the motor (white/neutral?, pink/power?, green/ground, note where the connections were when you removed them because you'll replace them in the same place on the new motor).
9 - Attach new motor to ice tray with the four screws, attach the auger and auger washer to the auger motor, attach the power connections back (white, pink, green).
10 - Re-connect the wire harness to the back of the freezer
11 - Move ice tray back into place, and attach the one screw back to the ice tray to hold it in place.
12 - Replace the ice bucket back onto the ice tray
13 - Done, you should now get ice!

Good luck, I hope this helps. It's easy and you don't have to pay three times this price to replace these ice bucket parts.

Replaced old dual outlet water valve with new design, which eliminates the (reportedly) troublesome "y" connector. A relatively simple matter of unplugging the refrig., turning off the water that feeds the ice maker and removing the cardboard/fabric service panel at the bottom rear of the refrig. Removed one screw with a nutdriver, disconnected the valve from both lines and out came the old valve with little fanfare. Next, as I replaced the valve with the new and improved version, cut out the "y" connector and used the supplied union and tubing to connect to the existing water line (just upstream from where the "y" connector was). Then, as my water/ice dispenser was sticking "on", I went ahead and replaced the rubber activator and internal switch. This just required moving a few hex screws on the front part of the dispenser to gain access to the parts. A relative snap and now all is working well.

The new Ice Maker Assembly arived in less than 24 hours. I was amazed that it came so fast.

I had already removed the old ice maker in order to get the modle number.

I just took two parts off of the old ice maker and quickly snapped them into place on the new ice maker. Then attached it to the refrigerator in less than 10 minutes. With in a few hours I had ice again !!!!!

I would definatly use partselect.com again.

Removed housing on the freezer side and removed the assembly by removing the two bottom clips and then unclipping the wire harness, two prong, and replaced as remvoved. Power was off of course. Watched for 24 hours and recovered housing and its been working great.

I noticed that the thin plastic flap was missing. I squeezed the housing, unsnapped and pulled. INstalling the new part was just the reverse. No more frozen vegetables.

Simple. Removed all food and shelves from the door. Removed the top hinge, which allowed me to lift the door off the door closer. I layed it on the kitchen table on its front with the handle over the edge so it wouldn't cause a problem. Since I had it all apart I replaced both the top and bottom pieces of the door closer, and put a touch of grease on it. I then reassembled it in the reverse order. - The fountain spring and actuator pad were for a different problem with the fountain. It wouldn't shut off all the time because the actuator pad was getting stiff from time and use. I removed A/C power and turned off the water, then removed the front screws from the fountain cover. I then had easy access to the actuator pad, which only took a few minutes to replace. Careful when you pull the cover off, there are wires connected to it. Just don't forget to pull the plug out off the wall so you don't get killed!

I removed the two screws that hold the element in place. I then unscrewed the four remaining screws with a star screwdriver and pulled the element out and disconnected the wire. I removed the part containing the solenoid, spring loaded holder and the plastic closer. I did not need to replace the solenoid or the spring loading device only the round circular piece that opens and closes the ice door. I just snapped it into the spring loaded part and replaced everything as I had removed it. It was very simple. Your need the star screwdriver though for removing the screws.

I rolled the fridge forward and removed the cardboard backer plate. Listening to the the compressor click in failed attempts to start, I was hoping it was just a failed relay.

I unplugged the fridge,took a photo of the wiring and removed each wire from the relay. Removing the relay from the compressor took some effort. (Pull hard or pry loose with a screw driver as it is a snug fit.) Shaking the failed part gave the sounds of a baby's rattle so ordered the replacement kit.

The parts received were quite different that the original. Rather than a modular plug, the kit consists of the two components a wire jumper and a large plastic housing. Perhaps there will be less heat build up and this will last longer.

The directions were straight forward, but the black & white photos had little contrast and some details were hard to make out. The wiring color scheme in the instructions did not match my unit. Checking the on-line wiring plans confirmed that it had also been missing a ground wire to the compressor all these years -- yikes! After plugging in the two components to the compressor and connecting the wires and adding a ground, I aligned the plastic housing over the connections. The cover did not snap into place with any authority, but appears to be secure.

I unplugged the fridge. Loosened the 2 top screws on the ice maker and removed the lower screw. I disconnected the wiring harness and removed the Ice maker. I removed the plastic timer cover in front. I then loosened the screws on the face of the ice maker and removed the broken ice stripper and replaced it with a new one. Re-tightened the screws on the face, installed the timer cover, plugged in the wiring harness, re-attached the ice maker. Plugged the fridge back in and walla, it was making ice in 30 minutes!