FIXED Frigidaire Refrigerator FGHF2366PF5A will not fill with water after ice dump

[cdahrens]

Model Number

FGHF2366PF5A

Brand

Frigidaire

Age

6-10 years

My Frigidaire Gallery fresh food ice maker has not been making ice. I pulled apart the unit and didn't see any ice build up like so many others report, but I ran the defrost cycle a couple times just to be safe. I then ran through the diagnostics tests and all passed eventually (more on that below). After running the manual fill (test 55), the ice will freeze and dump just fine, but it won't automatically fill up with water again. Is there some switch or sensor that calls for water that may be defective?

I say the tests passed eventually, because about half the time, test 58 (Ice Level Sensor) and 63 (Twist Tray) will not start. I go to 63, and press set but nothing happens. Same with 58 except it's suppose to start right away, sometimes it does, other times it doesn't. Closing out of diagnostics mode and going back in will work sometimes, other times I would have to unplug the fridge.

 

[Jake]

Here's that test:

If the temperature in the ice maker compartment is 10 F degrees or lower at all times the ice maker tray should dump the ice, then refill then refreeze and dump again until the ice bucket is full, if not its usually a bad ice maker itself causing this problem.

Here's the ice maker for your model: Ice Maker 243297613

Here's the video that shows you how to replace it:

Let us know what you find.

Jake

 

[cdahrens]

Hey Jake, thanks for the reply. That's the chart I used to perform the diagnostics mentioned in my original post. Everything checked out there as far as what was listed as a "Passing Result". The thermistor reading on my fridge is usually somewhere between 10-25 degrees when there is no water or ice in the tray. Not sure if that's how I should measure the temp, so I put a kitchen thermometer in the compartment and left it for a while and it read 10 degrees when the thermistor reading on test 52 was 13 degrees.

Is that not cold enough for the the water to fill? Where is the sensor that would detect temperature to fill the tray with water? Is that the thermister on the tray itself?

My understanding is that the thermister on the tray is what tells it to dump... and that seems to be working just fine. When I manually fill the tray with water, and come back in a couple hours, the ice is dumped and the tray is back to home, but not filled up.

 

[Jake]

Is that the thermistor on the tray itself?

That is correct.

So the ice maker is not telling it to refill with water after the ice dump. So you will need the new ice maker to fix it, because the water inlet valve is working per test 55C.

Jake

 

[cdahrens]

Jake, thanks again for your help. Before I buy that expensive part, I'd like to better understand how the part works and what is wrong with my current unit. Maybe I'm not fully understanding your posts, but it seems like you are saying the thermister is bad, but all my tests seem to say it's fine. Perhaps you think it's a different component in this part that is bad?

I haven't found a full explanation of how the dump/refill process works, but from some comments by others and my best guess, I'm assuming it's something like the below. Can you confirm?

1. After water fill, monitor temperature of ice tray thermister. When it's below X degrees, the ice is frozen, dump the ice.
2. While the tray is spinning, the bailer arm will fall. If it is allowed to extend the full distance a switch is triggered, telling the computer that we need to make more ice.
3. When the tray is back to home position, and the switch was triggered, open the fill valve to make more ice.

Again, that's a guess at how the process works. It's what makes sense to me, but I'm not an engineer and have no experience in ice maker design

 

[Jake]

I don't have the service manual, so I can't tell you the EXACT theory of operation per the service manual, but on all ice makers its basically the same, the water fills the tray then the thermistor monitors the water temperature of the tray and cycles the ice out of the tray to dump it at the degrees per the service manual specs, then the ice maker sends power to the water inlet valve to make it refill and start the whole process over again.

Jake

 

[cdahrens]

Hey Jake, sounds like my guess was right on as far as the general idea. But if that's the case it's likely the ice maker isn't the issue. The thermistor tested well and is dumping the ice when frozen. Perhaps it's something in the control board... I'm sure that's pretty expensive to replace too. I'd rather get it right first purchase though instead of buying a series of parts.

Anyone out there have the service manual for this model? Or have another idea of what to test? Either to identify the problem, or rule out working parts.

 

[Jake]

Perhaps it's something in the control board

No, because it filled fine when you manually activated the fill test, you see what I mean?

It can only be a bad ice maker not sending the signal to power the fill valve when it auto cycles.

Jake

 

[cdahrens]

Hey Jake,
I was able to get ahold of a service manual. Here is the detailed description of how ice production works in this unit.

About Ice Cube Production There is a thermistor located inside a foam insulation cover under the ice maker flex tray that senses the temperature of the water and the ice tray. The signal from the thermistor is sent to the lower control board of the refrigerator. The thermistor looks for the water in the tray to drop to a point that the water is changing from a liquid to a solid in the freezing process. It then looks for the temperature of the cubes to drop another 13 degrees F, at this point the lower control board will start the ice maker drive motor. The drive motor will start to turn the flex tray CCW to about 40 degrees and start to drop the bail arm down. If the bail arm does not hit ice in the bucket (and therefore does not close the internal switch), the drive motor will continue to rotate the tray CCW allowing the end of the tray opposite the drive motor to contact a stop on the ice maker frame. The motor will continue to drive the front end of the tray, twisting it, and breaking the cubes free to fall into the ice bucket. The motor will continue to drive the tray CCW until the tab inside the gearbox closes the internal switch. At this point, the motor will reverse and rotate the tray CW back to the home (horizontal) position. During the twisting process, the bail arm will be dropped and raised twice –once during the CCW rotation and once during the CW rotation. Once the tray is back to the home position, the water valve will immediately be activated to fill the tray with water. If the bail arm hits ice in the bucket (and closes the internal switch), then the motor will immediately reverse and bring the tray back to the home position. At this point, the ice maker will enter “full bucket” mode. It will simply sit and wait for ice to either be dispensed or a fresh food door to be opened (user possibly removing ice manually from the ice bucket). About 1 minute after either event, the tray will rotate and drop the bail arm to check the ice level. If it detects ice, then it will reverse and re-enter full bucket mode. If it does not detect ice, then it will twist and dump the new ice into the bucket, go back to the home position, fill with water, and start the ice making process over again.

I also found more detail about the testing steps for test 58C

Test 58C: Ice Level Sensor Test NOTE: Test will start automatically when you enter or pass test 58. The ice bucket must be removed from the ice maker chamber prior to entering this test. The ice maker motor will run turning the tray and lowering then resetting the bail arm continually until you exit the test. If the bail arm is allowed to fall freely, the tray will return to the home position and no alarm will sound. If you hold the bail arm up as the tray rotates (thus simulating the presence of a full ice bucket), then the alarm will sound as the tray returns to home position. Unless both conditions are met, the test is considered failed.

Armed with this new information, and your recommendation that the ice maker was bad, I went back and ran the tests again. Even though test 58 appears to pass as written, it's not twisting the full distance which leaves me to believe that it's hitting the switch early. I wish the manual stated exactly how far it should twist in that test. Oh well... I took apart the gear box and don't see any broken parts, but at this point it's my best guess, so I'm going to order the part that you recommended. I'll report back if that fixes it. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Jake]

Ok, sounds good, yes let us know how it goes after you replace the ice maker.

Remember to give the ice maker 24 hours to start making ice after you install it.

Jake

 

[cdahrens]

I got the new part over the weekend and so far so good. I've got ice! Thanks Jake for the help.

 

[Jake]

Excellent @cdahrens glad to hear the new ice maker fixed it.

Thanks for the update!

Jake