Kenmore Fridge Icemaker Leaking

[dj928]

Kenmore
Model: 106.55522400
Serial: SR2138319

The icemaker is leaking from the plastic mold that creates the ice. I've been told I probably need to replace the icemaker. Can someone tell me the process of doing this? Thank you.

[richapplyguy]

Your model # will not work on the Sears site www.sears.com I have never seen any icemaker mold leak but I guess this could happen.
Assuming you have a "flexi-tray" icemaker be aware it contains the defrost control so removal will stop your refrigerator from working!
You may have a icemaker that is overfilling the tray or a miss-aligned fill tube from the freezer back wall.
Turn water supply off and check, please post results.

[dj928]

Hi - I was never notified of this reply.

The model pulls up for me on the sears site.

The icemaker has now completely stopped working. It dwindled in ice production and then stopped. Looking underneath it, I see ice frozen - maybe has locked up the turning mechanism? I can send dig pics if that will help. Fill tube looks fine and I see no evidence of over-filling, but then again, I don't know if I'd notice it. I did notice water froze on the outside of the ice storage container one day before it stopped working.

Should I just replace it? If so, what parts (there's dozens associated with this on the sears site). Thanks.

[richapplyguy]

First make sure your freezer temperature is at least 15 degrees, if ok dump the contents of the icemaker and take the back panel off the fridge, locate the water solenoid and swap the water and ice maker solenoid wires.
Activate the fountain switch for water for nine seconds. Ice maker mold should fill up, but not overflow. If no overflow, you probably don't have a bad water solenoid, could be a bad ice make allowing too much water in.

[dj928]

I tried to remove the maker today to get a better view of the problem. I can't get it out. It appears that it might be frozen in place as a result of all the ice frozen around it, but I don't want to force it and break something. There was a large stick of frozen ice under the maker and behind it. Clearly a leak of some sort. I am thinking the maker is cracked, but I would like to see it. Any suggestions on how to get it out? I can show detailed pics if someone wants to email me privately and get my personal email address. I really think I can do this myself and save the $150 labor charge I'm getting quoted. At this point I'm assuming the maker needs to be entirely replaced.

P.S. I can't figure out how to manually move anything within the maker. And the icemaker is not mounted on the door. It appears to have a bracket that it slides into and a plug in the back for power. But I can't get it to slide out on the bracket - either because that's not how it actually comes out or some other hinderance I can't overcome without more brute force (I think it's ice).

[woodchuck]

Make sure the screws holding the ice maker to the wall are loose enough. You can take them all the way out. If it's still stuck, take a hair dryer and blow it for a few minutes. It shouldn't take long to see if that's whats holding it. When you get it out fill it with water to find the leak.

[dj928]

I was able to get it out by breaking the ice with a screwdriver and it was a huge pain - took about 30 minutes. I got the maker out and didn't visually see anything wrong with it - except that there was a block of ice underneath it and behind it. When taking some of the plastic pieces off, I see that ice had formed around the side of the maker where it turns it.

The rubber tube that fills the maker looks fine, but when I pull it gently down water starts dripping from up behind it (into the freezer ceiling) from behind the rubber gasket. Very mild dripping.

I put the maker back in, and it seemed to fill fine from the tube. However, by morning, still no ice. So the maker didn't turn.

Should I just replace the icemaker or is there something else I should check first? Thanks.