FIXED GSF26C4EXY02 Whirlpool Gold Ice Maker Problem

[ljsmith1]

Model Number

GSF26C4EXY02

I have had a Whirlpool Gold Side by Side GSF26C4EXY02 for about 2.5 years (DOM 04-11). All was working great until a few weeks ago when the icemaker stopped producing ice.

Being an engineer, I am pretty good with appliance repair, and usually have the solution and it fixed in a short amount of time. However, this one has me scratching my head.

I have tried a bunch of things, with no solution to my lack of ice.

1. Checked water supply & filter - GOOD. Filter replaced about a month ago. No issues.
2. Unplugged for 10 minutes and then plugged back in. - No change - NO ICE a few hours later.
3. Checked for blockage on IR sensor and proper LED operation - when door is opened I have a solid LED. However, after door has been opened awhile, it goes off, and will not come on even if the flag is depressed or if the door is closed again. Strange. If I interrupt power, it will come on again - solid. I wonder if there is a fault interlock for the door being open too long, and will shutdown the icemaker to allow the ice to refreeze and then it will reset itself?
4. Replaced Ice Maker with a new WPW10251076 - STILL NO ICE!
5. Replaced IR EMITTER BOARD W10870822 and IR RECEIVER BOARD W10898445 - STILL NO ICE!

***UPDATE 12/2/13***
6. Replaced IM Dispense Tube Assembly W10347267 per enclosed instructions.
7. Replaced Solenoid Inlet Valve Assembly W10258562

8. Checked icemaker after 12 hours, and it is still dry. - NO ICE!

Freezer temp is verified at 0F (recommended). Ice dispenser works fine (door opens/motor turns)...

There are no errors to be found on the front panel display.


Thoughts? What's Next?

 

[rickgburton]

First make sure the switch on the emitter is in the on position. Tape the door on the receiver closed and don't block the beam. Tape the door switch closed. Disconnect the ice maker connector and measure the voltage between the black/white wire and the white wire.

Meter should indicate 120 VAC. If not, check the neutral switch or ice maker on off switch that's located behind the ice storage bin. It should show continuity or closed. If the meter indicates 120 VAC between the blk/wh wire and white wire, manually add water in the ice maker and see if it dumps it. On the main control board measure the voltage between P3-4 (Black/White wire) and P1-2 (white wire).

Meter should indicate 120 VAC. Set the meter to measure VDC. On the receiver board, measure the voltage between J1-1 (red wire) and J1-3 (black/white wire) meter should indicate 14 VDC. Measure between J1-4 (brown wire) and J1-3 (BK/WH wire). Meter should indicate 14 VDC.

 

[ljsmith1]

Ok. Thanks! I will see what I can find out when I get time in the next few days. Thanks!

 

[ljsmith1]

OK...Fun Times. After some wire tracing, I think there is an issue with the door wire harness. When I disconnected the ice maker plug at the top of the freezer door, I only had 1.3 VAC between WHT and BLK/WHT. It should be 120VAC!. So I went down below to the plug at the base of the freezer door and disconnected the 4 prong plug. I measured between the same wires on the refrigerator side and had 120VAC!

Then I measured for continuity between the plug at the top of the freezer and the bottom. NOTHING on BLK/WHT.

So...the big question is IF the wire harness can be replaced independently of the door, or does a whole new door need to be ordered? I checked out the parts website and a new door is p/n LW10290921 and it is $551!! Does that come with everything except the dispenser and ice maker? (i.e. dispenser tubes, harness, etc.). I cannot find the door harness separately, so I am assuming it was Foamed In Place.

I dismounted the door and peeled back the wire loom at the bottom of the door or see if I can see a break (and possibly repair it). It doesn't 'feel' like anything is wrong (i.e. nothing pinched). Guess what? Clear break within the loom. I will attempt to repair and see how it goes.

I will post a picture of the 'before' if I get a chance.

 

[rickgburton]

OK sounds good

 

[ljsmith1]

Well..I gave it a shot.

Here is what I found when I pulled off the harness protection:


Here is the repair before I retaped and put back the harness protection:


Soldered the connections and used some marine-grade heat shrink.

Double checked everything with continuity meter, all good! Put it all back together and hopefully things will work!

 

[rickgburton]

That's some excellent repair work my friend! Nice job! It will work fine! Happy Holidays!

 

[ljsmith1]

We have ice, ice BABY!

Thanks to everyone who chimed in! I only wish I took the time to check the harness voltages sooner...

Lessons learned for another day!

 

[rickgburton]

Save the other parts for spares.

 

[rjackey]

Wow, thank you for posting this thread! I have the similar GSF26C4EXB02 and being an EE have been trying to figure out my flaky ice maker for a while. I had first replaced the IR boards with no luck. After reading this thread I tested continuity of the 4 thick wires mentioned, and it turned out my tan and black/white wires were both severed at the same location of yours! The white and blue were also nearly severed. Will find out tomorrow if my solder & tape job worked.

 

[rjackey]

It worked! Here are some photos of the diagnosis and repair.

 

[ljsmith1]

Great news! Glad it worked out. My repair is still holding up with no issues. I am amazed that the problem even occurred, and I even theorized someone on the Whirlpool production line was either not paying attention and continued assembly with the damage OR intentionally damaged the conductors. They almost looked 'CUT' because the insulation was not brittle or ragged like they would be if the damage was just made by twisting in normal operation.. Plus, the harness was double wrapped in that area (cloth tape with braided nylon tube over) and had NO signs of damage on the exterior. So, that would mean the harness was damaged before that stuff was put on...

With regards to your repair, I would have used the heat shrink tubing because you get a decent amount of insulation, while not building up the OD with tape. Hopefully, the tape adhesive wont get funky over time while the harness flexes and twists with the opening and closing of the door. If so, it could shift and you could have a short developing. Also, you should fully vacuum all of the dust from your condenser coil under the fridge. When its clogged, it can't run very efficient and may even have trouble keeping cool.

Good luck!

 

[rjackey]

Thanks! Yeah, I was wishing I had heat shrink last night, but in a pinch had to settle for wrapping with tape and I added some thin rubber wrap to hopefully add strain relief where it bends. But it does seem to fold the wires pretty sharply when the door is closed. (I had actually observed a similar kind of failure in a car many years ago where the wiring ran from the body into a hatchback through a rubber tube, and the internal wires had broken from repetitive bending.)

You're right I definitely need to vacuum the coils - it's really caked! It's something I've neglected on this fridge, partly because the grille is kind of a pain to remove. I miss the older ones that didn't require tools!

Thanks!

 

[inchandler]

Thank you so much for this information. This is what happened with my Kitchenaid KSF26C7XYY00 side by side refrigerator as well, but with three wires, not just one.
I spent A LOT of time debugging this, not believing the problem could be a fixed insulated wire and not a connector, fuse, sensor, motor, valve, heater, switch, etc.
Your notes above pointed me to the location of the problem.
I had to remove the freezer door to fix this.
This appears to me to be a BASIC DESIGN FLAW...


The problem was three broken wires at the freezer door lower hinge, shown here:


and here:


Here is how it looked after I soldered the broken wires and and heat-shrinked the wires:


Once again, thanks!

 

[MEG_AGI]

KitchenAid Model KSF26C7XYY00 Ice Not Dispensing

I wanted to thank all those that have posted to this thread.

I spent a few days trying to find a solution to my issue with the auger motor not working.

Originally I thought it was the auger motor itself, but after some testing with a multimeter and then a homemade electrical cord to verify it worked when it had power, I started looking for other solutions.

With the auger motor confirmed that it worked when properly powered, I realized it must not be getting power. So I started looking at the control panel. The ice paddle opened the ice slot, so I assumed the ice paddle was working.

I then started looking at the bottom of the refrig, where the wires from the control panel connected to the wiring from the auger motor. In this model, these run from the top of the door and connect on the bottom underneath the front of the refrig.

Reading this thread, led me to start peeling back the covers on the wiring as outlined above. I started getting worried that this was another deadend. I kept peeling back the wiring cover and there was no cut wire. Then right up underneath the hole opening in the door, there was the issue-- a cut wire, just as everyone else above had found..

The wire was so close to the door opening at the bottom of the door it was difficult to strip. However, I kept at it and was able to get it. There was an additional wire that was cut and I'm not sure what it was, since we hadn't noticed any other feature not working, but I repaired it too.

After soldering both back together, I put some shrink wrap on it as others have done.

I then put everything back together and the auger motor is working again.

I post this to say thank you to those that posted and the photos that they have included.

But just as important, since my issue was slightly different, I hope this will help someone else to fix their issue.

MEG_AGI

 

[rickgburton]

Awesome! Thanks for the update.

 

[Janice_Booth]

so - found the same problem last night. I soldered two broken wires, but suspect that the repair won't last long due to the extreme bend. Just wondering if anyone has tried re-routing this wire bundle behind the leveler by adding wire.

 

[Namefast]

Whirlpool WSF26C2EXB01
Because of this post I pulled everything out of the freezer side and turned off the fridge. Removed the door and pulled back the wire harness protection tape and found this:

My suspicion with all of these posted here is that the foam agent sprayed in the door with the wire harness already installed caused the wire to become brittle. In a spot that is already stressed day after day of normal use.

I repaired and added some extra wire on some of the pieces that were shorter. I soldered the wires and then applied heat shrink to protect the soldered joints. Wrapped them with electrical tape and pulled the loom back over it.

All this was a last ditch effort after we tried 3 different parts in the door and had a professional refrigeration company come out and told us we would need to replace the whole door! The door would cost $1100 when I only paid a little over $900 for the whole fridge.
I have over $2500 worth of whirlpool products that are less than 5 years old and most are within the last 2 years. I also just replaced the water inlet valve on the new washer just out of warranty.
Seeing all of the repairs here I would think Whirlpool should step up and offer some repair parts or major discounts on replacement refrigerators before this causes fires and such.

 

[rickgburton]

Excellent job on the repair! Thank you and we appreciate the update.

Whirlpool should step up and offer some repair parts or major discounts on replacement refrigerators....

Whirlpool says:

 

[mikeal21]

I have this issue after 2 years of use. Contacted Whirlpool. If they don't get back with some kinda repair options, gonna contact BBB. Would say to anyone else to do the same. No complaints, no problems.