Ice Maker Malfunction

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I have a three year old sears top freezer referigator with ice maker. The icemaker overfills the tray and water dribbles down into the ice drawer making one large ice cube. Is this something I can fix, or do I have to replace the ice maker?

Thanks

[Tyler Howell]

Clean filters?????
The onboard needs to be replaced every 6 mo. Just did mine today:D . Is the supply line in a heated space. I've had mine freeze at 0* and colder.
I also put a pre filter on to keep crud out of the refer all together.
Crud can block the selinoid that controlls water.
Look on back where water enters the refer.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dennis....do you have a service manual/owners manual. I suspect that the amount of water allowed to come into the trays is set by a mechanical timer. In my old Sears the icemaker had a motor driven mechanical timer that controlled the ice making process. If yours is the same, you might want to try ordering a new motor/timer assembly. If the motor slows down, the switch that controls the solenoid is left on too long, allowing too much water to flow into the trays. I had to replace my motor/timer assembly in the icemaker several times over the 20+ years we had that refrigerator.

Another thought........use a level and make sure the refrigerator is level and make sure the ice tray is level. If the tray is NOT level, you might be getting the correct amount of water but it's flowing out of the tray on the low side.



Good luck!

[Stuart Johnson]

I can usually find my answers to this type of headache at:

http://www.acmehowto.com/

[Joe Pelonio]

The Sears we used to have went through several icemakers and ours did that at one point. The gears are plastic and if there's a jam they will break or skip teeth and mess up the timing for the water. When I took it apart I found that there was a cam turned the water solenoid on and off. I was able to fix it that time by re-timing it using marks on the gears, but a year or so later it happened again and this time the gears were stripped so I had to buy a new unit. That one was built about 1984 so I don't know if your would be the same. I'd suggest you follow the others' suggestions, then if no luck see how much a new one is and maybe give fixing it a try,
it has to come out anyway if you do have to replace it.