Went to school on Ice maker

I learned many things that may be helpful to those who what the challenge of fixing their ice maker. First I discovered that on the backside of cover is a circuit diagram, without it I couldn't have fixed it. My ice maker wouldn't fill with water, it would spin like it was dumping but no ice. If I would poured water in the tray, it would make ice. I also learned if you put too much water in tray, the cubes will be fused together at the top. Nice to know when you adjust the water level on the ice maker. To do that there is a screw with a spring. In the first and third pic, you will see next to the screw 2T ( I goofed and posted pic twice.) I turned my screw 2 turns out towards the + direction. I removed the large plastic gear that turns the timing cam and also dumps the ice out of tray after a heating element thaws the tray. I slowly turned the cam while measuring the ohms between the black wire, power, and the yellow wire that sends power to the water solenoid that fills the ice maker. When the micro switch hit the right place on cam, power to be sent to solenoid. The crazy thing is, the power doesn't get to the solenoid directly, it first travels through the tray heating element, element is in series with solenoid.

My first post Keith suggested changing the water filter, which I did and the flow rate improved 3 times. Tim mentioned the light switch in freezer door. That's important too. While I was watching the ice maker go through it's cycle the first time, no water came out. I was watching it with the door open, lights on. It started making a second cycle because no water filled the tray. I took a glass and learned no water was coming out the door either. So I pushed the door switch in, light went out and when the large gear got to the correct place, WATER STARTED FLOWING.

So was it the filer or the water level adjustment or both? Not sure, just glad I figured it out. Thanks to all for your suggestiohns. I never like spending money on repairs. I have learn how things work and I feel like I went to school on ice makers today.

Hope this helps if you have a problem.

We had one that sprung a leak and went into the tray below. It overflowed and ruined our wood parquet floor.

They are nice when they work. BUT?

See. All that time you spent tearing every appliance in the house apart wasn't wasted like Mom said, Was it?

The best prevention is a water alarm. HF sells them for $10. I have one on floor behind refrigerator, washer is in a plastic tub with water alarm. I even modified an alarm that will turn well of If it detects water on basement floor. I gave my kids a water alarm. My boy was happy he had one when his water heater started leaking. Without an alarm he would have floor damage too.

Any thing that uses water in my house has a water alarm. After my dishwasher leaked and force us to rip out the entire kitchen to repair the damage, I put them every where. You can also get them at Home Depot.

Actually I took mowers apart. It wasn't till years later I figured out how to put engines together and make them run.

When my Kenmore ice maker quit, I go the wiring diagram for the refrigerator off the back and found it to be very hard to follow. Mine used the mullion heater to connect the circuit for the ice maker motor. Took me a while to realize the heater would not heat with the low amperage of the motor. Otherwise it looked like the mullion heater was in series with the compressor motor. It was, in defrost cycle, the mullion heater used the compressor winding to complete the circuit and it never dumps ice in defrost. So it only defrosts with the compressor off and the motor winding looks like a short to the mullion amperage. Slick design that probably saved another contact set and a couple of wires but sure was confusing to a mechanical engineer. My mullion heater was open so the ice maker would not run but the defrost feature was not significantly impaired with only one heater out.

I'm guessing the fill valve control goes through the heating element so the icemaker can't activate the fill valve if the heater fails.

Generally, the problem will be with the fill valve, with hard water blocking the valve or causing it to stick. The level control is just a timer; the longer it's on the higher the fill level. Consequently the fill level is very sensitive to any restriction in the fill circuit, or a drop in house water pressure. Since you didn't replace the fill valve, there's a good chance your problem will return.

Mark,
"I'm guessing the fill valve control goes through the heating element so the ice maker can't activate the fill valve if the heater fails." If you could see the ice maker's circuit diagram you would see your guess is wrong. If the heater is on, the end the control valve that will be fed power through the heating element is connected to neutral, both wires going to valve are are then connected to neutral. So no water can be added while heating element is on.

"Generally, the problem will be with the fill valve, with hard water blocking the valve or causing it to stick." All the water going to ice maker on this refrigerator goes through a filter inside refrigerator. Generally well water has a little dirt or sand which the filter removes. At my other home, the refrigerator was purchased in 1992, it has ice maker, hard water, no filter and still no problems like I just had.

By adjusting the screw 2 turns to the + side, I now have larger cubes. It's working perfectly. Post back if I ever have any more problems.

Up date on 4010 mule. The thermistor I made works better the colder it gets. Been using 93 octane. The mule runs better than it did when new. NO holes in piston.

I used the circuit diagram on ice maker.
I'm sure what you are saying is true,
because mine would not fill if door was
open.

> "I'm guessing the fill valve control goes through the heating element so the ice maker can't activate the fill valve if the heater fails." If you could see the ice maker's circuit diagram you would see your guess is wrong. If the heater is on, the end the control valve that will be fed power through the heating element is connected to neutral, both wires going to valve are are then connected to neutral. So no water can be added while heating element is on.

That's exactly how I would expect it to be connected. Power comes into the heating element, and it is switched on the neutral side. The neutral side is also connected to the fill switch and valve. So there are two paths where the heater can pick up its return: through the heater switch or through the fill switch & valve. Did I get it right? OK, so what happens if the heating element is open? Obviously it doesn't release the cubes. But it also won't be able to refill the tray because there's no longer a connection to the hot side of the fill valve via the heater.

> By adjusting the screw 2 turns to the + side, I now have larger cubes. It's working perfectly. Post back if I ever have any more problems.

But didn't you say you weren't getting any ice? Small cubes are not the same thing as no cubes. (Well, of course it can be proven mathematically that if your cubes are small enough, they are the same thing as nothing. If that's what you meant, I'll cede the point.)

> Up date on 4010 mule. The thermistor I made works better the colder it gets. Been using 93 octane. The mule runs better than it did when new. NO holes in piston.

I'm happy for you, George. Really.

Thats actually not a bad idea. Water is about as bad as fire when it come to damage