Whirlpool Ice Maker doesn't fill

jjhunt

I have already read this thread Whirlpool Side By Side Not Making Ice Anymore!! , but it didn't answer my questioin.

I have a side by side model ed5shaxml10 with ice and water in the door. The ice maker hangs from the top of the freezer and the bucket is attached to the inside of the door.

The ice maker has been making a popping noise (fairly constant about every 2-3 seconds). It no longer fills the ice tray. When I manually fill the ice tray, I hear the popping, but the ice doesn't drop into bucket. Also the fingers that sweep the ice out of the tray appear to be pointing into the ice tray. I don't know what the standard orientation is for this part during the freeze cycle, but currently they are embedded in the ice.

I have run the diagnostics for the InfraRed switch and everything checks out.

The indoor water works fine, the filter in the kick plate was replaced in the last month.

Any help will be appreciated!

jjhunt

Okay, since no one had any suggestions and I found the service flow chart on servicematters.com, I figured I'd post my findings.

IR sensor checks out
Shorting "T" and "H" to start the harvest cycles results in the popping noise. with the shroud off the motor, I noticed the gear the moved the rake was slipping, so the Rake is jammed. I can push it manually while the motor tries to turn it, and it will go through a whole cycle (even fill the tray). But, when the next harvest cycle kicks in, it will jam at about the six o'clock position when the gears slip.

SO, the new and improved question is: Would you recommend replacing the whole ice maker assembly, or only the motor. The motor is roughly 1/3 the cost of the assembly, which is $220.00 from a dealer and considerably less from online retailers.

GE JIM

I would take the ice maker out and look at the condition of it..If it is clean looking there is no reason to change the whole thing. It just depends on what kind of a price you have to pay...Motor vs ice maker...I work at a place that sells the whole ice maker for $119.00..So at that price you might just replace the ice maker...Jim.

sv9779

The motor is ok, it's the shaft on the gear that is broken. You can buy the whole front module that has the motor on it. That will solve your problem. You might be able to get just the gear shft. Don't know, never tired.