Ice Maker WPW10190965

I took the ice maker out to check things when it wasn't working and I noticed what wasn't visible with the maker installed. The input hose was filled with ice. An ice pick didn't really work so I filled an empty Windex bottle with hot water and sprayed the ice until it was gone. I installed the ice maker again and it's working well.

Only two possible failures can cause this problem. The valve itself could fail electronically/mechanically, or the ice maker controller on the ice maker itself failed to tell the valve to close. To cover all the bases I bought both parts. $196.00 To change the ice maker, three screws, one electrical plug, remove and reinstall face cover plate from old ice maker to new one, and remove and reinstall the metal bar that indicated when the ice bin is full, and tells the controller to stop making ice. It’s on YouTube and takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete the change.
To change the inlet valve, there is a little bit more to it then YouTube shows, ESPECIALLY SPECIAL TOOLING I PERSONALLY RECOMMEND. IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT YOU COULD DAMAGE NEW PARTS DURING INSTALLATION. Pull the fridge out, disconnect power and turn off the water. Have towels/ water catch tray/pan handy. Remove screws on the back cover plate as required to access inlet valve. Remove the water inlet line, (mine was 1/4 inch compression fitting, copper tubing.) remove 2 screws that hold valve in place. Pull valve out to full extension of electrical plug. Here is the part that YouTube DOES NOT COVER, take note of how many wires of go to each prong of the connector and its orientation while removing. I’m not a electrician/spark chaser, my guess it is a solenoid/relay type valve, when energized, it will open or close the valve. This is an AC circuit, and I will be honest, I don’t think polarity is a concern, but don’t quote me on that. It’s just easier to take note and put it back the way it was. It worked for 20 plus years, it should to the same if you put it back the way you found it, given you removed and replaced an identical part or a suitable substitute. Depending what valve you receive your water supply line from the valve to the ice maker can vary. It could be a Nylon compression fitting, (which could require additional parts,) or a quick disconnect. That is covered in YouTube, and its exact. Mine was a QD, cut 1/4 inch off nylon tubing and insert, pull back on line to insure security. Done. Very simple. Reconnect electrical plug, IN ITS PROPER ORIENTATION. Reattach valve with two screws. The next step IS NOT COVERED IN YOUTUBE. Before you reinstall cover plate, and push the fridge back, turn on water supply to the valve and perform a leak check. I would recommend applying power and make sure the valve cycles, and the line between the valve and ice maker doesn’t leak. I was good on the line between the valve and ice maker, that did not leak. My copper inlet tubing compression fitting failed at the valve attach point, and required special tooling to repair. A compression fitting to fix a leak you tighten till leak stops. So they say. This fitting was over torqued at one time or another, and leaked, so I spliced in about 6 inches of new copper tubing added a union, and 3 new compression fittings. The bad part, I had to go to hardware store, buy 10 feet of tubing (only needed 6 inches), the B-nuts, and the brass sleeves. To make the new attach point at the valve and new line, since the valve is mostly made of plastic, I used the union to fabricate the new end going to the valve, removed the union and attached the line to the valve. Here is where the special tool comes in, the fitting on the valve, is a very low profile hex head fitting, made of brass which is a soft material, very easy to strip if the wrench slips, and a back up wrench is near impossible to install as a back up with out fouling the B-nut while tightening the fitting. So I ground down a 1/2 or 9/16 open end wrench to fit, (check your fittings size before grinding or buying a wrench, yours could be metric), made it a thin wrench, so I can tighten compression fitting and back up the valve side WITH OUT DAMAGING THE VALVE I just paid 70 bucks for. If you own expensive tools Harbor Freight is your friend for a wrench to grind down or buy a thin wrench.
Snap-On makes thin wrenches, but I think they cost more then the valve. Once my splice was installed, I performed another leak check, all was good, I reinstalled, back cover panel, and pushed the fridge back. Since the ice maker was changed, the longest time took was adjusting ice cube size. You have to wait a complete cycle to see what size is dumped, then make the adjustment, and wait another complete cycle to see results. And do that until you get desired results. Those adjustments are on YouTube, and are fairly accurate. I ended up doing more then 1/2 turn at a time. More like 4 complete turns counter clockwise for larger ice. But it works! To change the valve actually takes about 15-20 minutes, very easy, I had complications. My luck, with any kind of plumbing, I make many trips to the hardware store. That is a given and completely unavoidable. Hope this helps.
Ron O.

This is the second time I have replaced an ice maker. I removed one screw and loosened two. Pulled the ice maker free and unplugged the power supply. Plugged in the new ice maker reattached the screws. Replaced the cover and the stop making ice arm . That was it done. Simple installation.

Repair went very well! The online instructions were clear, the new icemaker arrived quickly and I am very pleased.

Remove ice bin and top shelf above icemaker because you will need the clearance to remove icemaker. Loosen two top screws and remove bottom screw. Lift icemaker up off of two top screws and lift end closest to you a little higher to get water fill tube out of the end of icemaker. Remove front cover and insert a small screwdriver into retainer to unlatch plug on the wiring harness. On the back end on the harness is a thermostat that slides out of a u-shaped retainer. Remove on-off wire that runs the length of the icemaker and install on the new icemaker. Remove front cover and install on new icemaker. Reverse order when reinstalling. Note that plugging in wiring harness and snapping in temp sensor is necessary before remounting. My icemaker was producing in 3 hrs.

Look at several YouTube videos on removal of same or similar units and that will help. Clear out the area in the freezer above the ice maker and removed the shelf. Removed the ice bucket. Remove the single screw attaching the bottom of the old ice maker to the left freezer wall. Loosen the two screws at the top of the old ice maker holding it to the left freezer wall. Loosen and removed the old ice maker. If the electrical cable from the freezer rear to the old ice maker was not easily removed from the freezer, remove it from the old ice maker using a screwdriver. Loosen the clamp attaching the cable to the old ice maker for temperature sensing and remove the old ice maker. Then do all the steps in reverse for the new ice maker, taking care to insure that the cable was firmly seated in the connector and the temperature sensing clamp closed tightly (hand pressure). The hardest part is positioning and replacing the bottom screw attaching the new ice maker to the left freezer wall; this involves a little jiggering to get it correctly positioned and seated. All else went well. It's been over three weeks and the unit works great. I did not need to use the cable supplied with the replacement ice maker, so I discarded it.

unhooking elec. connection on old ice maker was hardest part, everyone said to push in tab with a screw driver while pulling connector apart, not on mine, as soon as I pried tab up it came right off.

This is a very straightforward repair. You will need a 1/4 inch nut driver to complete it. First - unplug your refrigerator. Second - remove the ice bin and any shelves that may get in your way. Next - remove the 3 screws that hold the ice maker to the freezer wall, being careful to support the ice maker while you unplug the wiring harness from the freezer. If necessary, remove the wire bail from the old ice maker and reinstall it on the new one. Plug in the new ice maker and attach it with the 3 screws. Remove the plastic cover from the front of the old ice maker and install it on the new one. Finally - reinstall the ice bin and any shelves you removed, plug in the refrigerator and you are done. Congratulations on a successful appliance repair!

Used a voltage meter to detect the problem (used a video from the web to determine how to isolate the problem. I needed to replace the unit, that I had repaired two years ago for $150.00 or more for parts an a service call. The part I ordered came right away and the repair took about 15 minutes.

Washer; I watched the repair video, and replaced the agitator. It was so simple I think that it took longer to watch the video. Refrigerator; I replaced the ice maker, and the solenoid valve. It was very easy to replace the parts, however it took a while to diagnose the problem. I found an appliance repair man that told me what contact points on the front of the ice maker would trigger the clock (so I didn't have to wait for an hour for the clock to activate). There is also a set of contacts that when jumpered will trigger the solenoid valve. It only took a total of 25 minutes to fix both the washer, and the dryer. If you take a piece of 14 Ga. solid wire about 6" long and strip the ends about 3/8" and bend it into a U you have a jumper. If you jump the contact points on the front of the icemaker letters T & H this will start the clock operation. If you jump letters L & V, the solenoid should open to allow water to flow to the tray. If water does not flow, the filter should be checked in the valve. If the valve sounds like it is opening, sometimes the inlet to the ice maker can freeze stoping the flow. In my case I found the solenoid valve was getting only a week signal, and would only function about 25% of the time.