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Ice Maker Only Dispensing Crushed Ice

Our Frigidaire ice maker only puts out crushed ice from the dispenser. We can't get cubes; is something bent that I can unbend? I am getting tired of bagging the tray with cubed ice.

By nancy t from Tampa, FL

Answers:

Ice Maker Only Dispensing Crushed Ice

Just fixed this same problem on my Frigidaire side by side. For over a year it has only been giving us crushed ice, frustrating. Pretty easy fix if you are somewhat handy with a screw driver. Remove the tray holding ice, on the side of that tray should be a metal rod that activates the crushed/cubed function. There is a motor on that activates a lever that will push the end of the rod down or pull it up depending on what you have selected.

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The problem I found is the motor was frozen, no duh since it is in the freezer, but you need to remove the mounting bracket and spiral rod assembly. To remove this there are two small bolts on the bottom of that bracket, remove those and lift up on the entire bracket assembly. This will remove from the mounting bracket at rear of freezer. Now for the hard part, you need to unplug the wire connection that runs into the back of the freezer. There are two plastic clips on each side of that connector. You need to push the top of those clips on both sides and pull the connector apart. All at the same time. The wire also is connected to the ice maker itself, so you also need to disconnect that connector, much easier to disconnect that, squeeze the clips on each side and pull apart.

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Now you should be able to remove the entire ice tray and spiral gear assembly. Be careful as the light bulb is on the bottom back side and it is probably pretty hot as it has been on now for several minutes while you were trying to get all of this done. Now you need to take the back plastic cover off, by removing the two silver screws from the bottom rail. By removing the plastic cover you can gain access to the spiral gear motor and most importantly the cubed/crushed actuator motor. If it is anything like mine, it will be covered in ice crystals, let that melt or use a hair dryer to speed it up.

Once that is unfrozen, you should be able to move the metal rod (shaft) back and forth. There is a spring on the opposite end of the shaft from the motor and that will push or pull up the lever that in turn moves the rod to allow for cubes instead of crushed ice. I used some silicone spray on the shaft after I dried it off in an effort to prevent freezing again.

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So far so good. Once you have that shaft moving freely, reassemble the unit by replacing the rear cover with the two metal screws and place the assembly back in the freezer. Plug the harness back into the connector, it only fits on the female end one way, but you can look at the orientation of the round holes and square holes and get it lined up correctly. It goes together much easier than it came apart.

The light bulb will turn back on once you have it connected correctly, don't forget to also connect pigtail connector to the ice maker itself. Now if you hold the door open/closed switch in and push the ice dispenser lever on front of door, you should see the motor push down the actuator that in turn will push down the end of the brass rod which then opens the latch at the dispenser end to allow cubed ice with out going through the crusher.

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Make sure you have the cubed button on front activated before you test this. You will not see any difference by just pushing the cubed or crushed buttons on the front of freezer. You will only see a difference in that actuator once the ice dispenser lever is pushed. As long as that is working, make sure to replace the two metal bolts on the bottom of the mounting bracket. Replace the ice tray and enjoy your cubed ice. Hope this helps. (01/13/2010)

By Mark

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