The Icemaker Chute Would Not Open to Dispense Ice

Removing the Front Display Panel

Disconnect the power from the refrigerator before attempting to repair the icemaker. The front display panel is removed with a putty knife by carefully sliding it under the panel.. Carefully slide putty knife under the display panel in several places and the panel will easily pop off, in order to get to the parts below, to repair the icemaker.

Now remove the electrical connectors from the display panel and remove it from the refrigerator. Don’t worry, each connector is unique, so they cannot be connected to the wrong place. Next, remove the gray panel. There are three screws and one corner on the right that pops off.

Now you can see two parts that operate the icemaker chute. The white part on the left is the chute motor that opens and closes the ice chute. The electrical cable that connects the 12 volt motor is is also hanging down below. On the right is the circuit board that has several connectors attached to it. This circuit board has several relays (blue) and a time delay that closes the chute door after about one second. The ice chute (gray) is in the middle of the picture, just above the silver panel that is depressed to dispense water and ice. The small electric motor (white) on the left operates a lever that opens and closes the ice chute.

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I discovered the chute motor can be tested with a 9 volt battery. By connecting the battery to the two terminals on the motor, the motor will operate if it is good. By reversing the wires from the battery, you can operate the motor, which has a plunger, and will extend out, or retract, when the battery terminals are reversed. The plunger is at the bottom left (white) and has small teeth operated from a gear mechanism inside.

If the motor tests good, the culprit is probably this circuit board which operates the chute motor. There are four relays on this board, two are blue and two are black. These relays operate several functions, including the icemaker and the water dispensing. If you have other issues with the refrigerator, this board could be the culprit. My motor tested good, so I replaced this circuit board and it solved my icemaker problems. The cost was about $50.00. Unfortunately, there did not appear any way to repair one of these circuit boards, as it was dipped in epoxy.