Testing ice maker water supply at the solenoid

[justsomeguy]

Thanks Jake, good to know the ice machine is correct.
The harness you show came WITH the ice machine, so I assume it to be ok.
But one more question, that harness you show, with the fuse in it. It connects to a connector in the freezer...If I were to jump the black wire to the tan wire, wouldnt that put 110v to the valve?
Tomorrow I will bring the meter home, but I did have 110v at that connector before..

And also, putting in the ice machine, plugging it in etc.. NOTHING at all happens. zip. No water nothing
Tony

 

[Jake]

I'm not sure, since I can't see a wiring schematic for your model online.

Jake

 

[justsomeguy]

still screwing around. I Checked out that bad-ass PDF manual. Optics check as good, problem is with the ice machine.
I did the components check on page 5-5, with jumper on T-H . Ice machine did nada. "check ice maker"
Crap, its new! Now what?
I heard you can check voltage to the water valve and N and V.. I get nothing.

 

[Jake]

Not sure what else it could be, seems you've checked everything properly. You may have a more technical underlying problem with the wiring harness to the ice maker. Possibly having a tech. come out could find out whats causing this issue.

Jake

 

[justsomeguy]

One electrical question, if is 110v at the black wire, do they use a switch or interlock on a neutral? I mean since the black is good there, will there possibly be an electrical point in the neutral that is open, other than a physical defect?
Tony

 

[Jake]

I'm not really sure Tony, without a schematic I can see of it, I'm lost as well on it.

Jake

 

[justsomeguy]

lazy DIY'er update. I got sick of looking at the empty bin. Decided to dig into a bit more.
A. jumping out the thermostat in the ice machine (T and N was it?) does nothing. Nothing moves. Open door after 5 seconds etc etc.

B. I do have 110 at the black wire, so I assumed a neutral fault.

C. I blew through the water line, it was clear of any obstruction.

D. I applied the jumper in the freezer from black to tan on the freezer harness, valve does nothing. At this point the ice machine is on the table. Jumper left in.

E. Holding the other connector on the 'ice' valve and hitting the water switch confirmed that the solenoid (both actually) works.

F. Metering the tan and neutral at the connector for the 'ice' valve gave me 0, then 45, then 120, then 0. Something in the wires, looks like the tan has a problem I think. I played with it a few times and watched the meter bounce. Difficult to manipulate only one wire or the other. And only at one end or the other. So narrowing it down will be fun. Hell, the defect could be IN the wire, and not simply a bad crimp (IE crimped around the insulation and not the stripped part). Hard to get the spade connectors out of the plastic connectors too.

More to come
Tony

 

[justsomeguy]

Ok , fried the ice side solenoid. I left it jumpered for like 20 minutes, and "apparently" it had 120v the whole time, as it was reading that when I returned. The valve was not operating though this time, no continuity at all and a little splooge of plastic on the side of the coil....
So I am getting a new valve. For me this is maddening. I can say 1000% the solenoid WAS working yesterday intermittently.
JSG

 

[Jake]

Yea, sorry I can't be much help, but I know what you mean.

Jake

 

[jptrahan]

Icemaker troubles - KSRS25IHSS02 Kitchenaid

Jake,

I have a similar icemaker issue. changed the solenoid but still no water to the icemaker. tried checking the optics per the manual you posted (awesome post) but the sensor light does not go on at all. I unplugged the unit, waited 1 minute, plugged back in and the sensor light comes on (red) for 5 seconds, turns off and that's it. It won't come back on when i try running the diagnostics. So, question is - are the optics bad or is the icemaker stuck in harvest mode? OR am I missing something else?

Oh, one other thing, when i changed the water valve/solenoid, i blew the line and it was clear, no freezing.

Thanks for the help so far - this string was very helpful.

JT

 

[Jake]

Hi JT,

What position are the ejector blades in the ice maker tray? Straight up, straight down? 9'o clock 3'o clock?

Jake

 

[gdhcos]

I have a Kenmore Coldspot side-by-side with ice-maker problems as well. Model no. is 106.56532400. I downloaded the Whirlpool / Kitchenaid ice maker tech service manual (from another thread) and did the troubleshooting in the manual. Optics test out okay and the jump wire test did nothing, no harvest occurred. Tried several times with different lengths of wire and nothing ever happened. The ejector blades are about 5 o'clock when viewing from the module end of the ice maker. I did the solenoid test (from this thread) with a "cheater" wire and everything worked fine. what other options am I left with?
-gdhcos

 

[Jake]

Then its your ice maker itself thats bad.

Here's the one for your model you can order:
Complete icemaker assembly

Manufacturer's Part#: 2198597

Jake

 

[gdhcos]

Thanks I will give it a try.

 

[Jake]

Ok, keep us posted.

Jake

 

[linekona]

IceMaker Optics Intermittent

Howzit Jake. I need your exptertise again. I have the same problem with my icemaker where the optics seem to be the problem, but it seems to be intermittent when doing the optics check. Sometimes when holding the emitter flapper door down, it would be a steady red light on the LED diagnostics light like how it should normally and other times it would be flashing two pulses. The ice maker would make ice when the optics check is working how it should and also bypassing the sensor on the receiver end (jumping black and blk/wht) would make ice without any problems, so I know the icemaker module itself is working fine. I cleaned out and made sure nothing is obstructing the sensors. It seems like the optics is a common/known problem from searching the Internet. What usually is the problem with them? Can anything be tried before replacing the emitter/receiver boards themselves? I followed the R-92 manual. If not, I will order the boards. Thanks in advance and your help is greatly appreciated.

On another note, would you happen to know where I can find an owner's manual for my refrigerator or similar? I can't seem to find one on the Internet. I have the following: KENMORE COLDSPOT
MODEL: 106.56689502

Thanks again, Jake!

 

[Jake]

Yes, I agree. It sounds like your optics boards are intermittently bad.

Here are the boards you can order, they come together in 1 kit with instructions:
Manufacturer part number 4389102 is RepairClinic item number 921526
4389102

We have a special program here, all parts you order from our links we post are returnable within 30 days for a FULL refund if they don't fix the problem.

Yes, I was unable to find your owners manual online either.

Jake

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[timothyso]

replacing clogged lines.

Thanks to Jake's prompt response and his instructions on how to test my problematic ice maker, I figured that I'd take some pics and do a How-To to help out the next guy..

I did all of above and discover the line going up to the Icemaker is clogged, apparently, SINCE it is not possible to remove the quick connect lines my only choice seems to be to cut the lines but then I may be simply being silly.

HOW DOES ONE REMOVE A QUICK CONNECT LINE, shown in the picture!??? I am sure my solenoid is good but there seem to be NO WAY to remove the line to put in new one.

ALSO my valve has a line going from the filter to the solenoid all quick connects. And a plastic line to the filter. QUICK CONNECT again! I bought a good 1/4 soft copper line to replace the plastic and now I am in second bind. The filter AND the solenoid both have plastic quick connects that I can't remove and It seems I can't install the 1/4 copper let alone replace any of the quick connect lines without using some sort of joins, (seems totally silly)

HOW CAN one remove a quick connect from the solenoid and be able to put it back with new line OR copper?

Thanks

 

[Jake]

They are snap ring type connections, all you do is push-in on the snap ring where the plastic water line goes into the valve and while your pushing in that snap ring pull the plastic water line out AT THE SAME TIME.

Jake

 

[timothyso]

Just got them out! BUT the main line ring that you
push down to release fell apart in pieces so I am bummed. But maybe I can find another frig being thrown that has such a quick connect at the solenoid and harvest one.

Still am not sure if I can put a 1/4" soft copper connection into quick connects?

So anyone know why solenoids go bad do much. I feel like rebuilding my to T'd water line and have individual solenoids and if one goes bad just fix one. Because my LAST 3 refrigerators all lost a single solenoid on a double solenoid type.

Tim