3550 - Instructions

The tiny piece of plastic that holds the wire that shuts off the icemaker, broke early on with our fridge (after just a few months.) We superglued it, but last week it bit the dust for good.

Once I got this part, I removed the freezer door and trays, and pulled the icemaker out by removing 3 flathead screws and unplugging the cables. Laying in the freezer on the floor was a bit unconfortable, but not too bad.

Then I inspected the icemaker. There was no obvious way to remove the part without disassembling the front of the unit (where the motor is) to release the spindle and free the part, so I did that - 3 or 4 nuts was all that held it together. Once that was out, I removed the spindle, swapped out the part, and put it all back together and back in the freezer. Plugged it in and waited.

It took a while to start making ice. Like 5 hours. Now it's going pretty slow (much slower than before.) Haven't had time to look into it, but my suspicion is the rubber hose that feeds water into the icemaker is blocked with ice or kinked. In any case, we have ice now (but not a lot), and the unit shuts itself off properly. However, we went from having too much ice (thing never shut off) to too little (thing makes ice too slow), so I need to shoot for somewhere in the middle ;)

I took out the ice collection box and auger to get access to the three screws holding the ice maker assembly against the left wall of the freezer. You can use a screwdriver or a nut driver. I then unpluged the assembly and wiggled it loose from the water fill tube. I assumed that unplugging the unit would disable the water valve but I put a plastic tub under the fill tube just in case. I studied the assembly on the kitchen table for a few minutes before I disasembled it. After removing a snapon plastick cover I removed three or four screws on the gearbox and was able to pull and wiggle the parts apart. The heater contacts have rubber O rings so you have to be firm pulling the mould out of and into the gearbox mount. Make sure it is fully seated. On reassembly note that the ice kicking arm is notched so it fits into the gearbox only one way and it helps to have it in position when you screw the gearbox back on. I also found the plastic ice guide that fits on top of the mold a little awkward in snaping back together. Make sure its fingers space evenly with the ice kicking arms.

I removed the ice maker assembly from the freezer compartment (four nuts/ nut driver) and unplugged the wire harness. I discovered the nature of the problem and I went on the Internet to look for replacement parts expecting I'd have to buy the entire ice maker. When I found PartSelect.com I looked through the pictures of the parts available for my ice maker. I found the correct part quickly and easily. And having an acurate photo on the site, I was able to match all the key features of the mold I had with the one on the screen. I ordered the part, and installed it the day it arrived with just a Phillips screwdriver and a nut driver. It functions perfectly.

remove top plastic cover / phillips screw driver
remove top door bracket / 5/15" socket
lift off door
remove pieces of old cam / phillips screw driver
replace cam/ phillips screw driver
replace door
replace top bracket / 5/16" socket
check alignment

Once I saw the replacement part I understood how to pry out the switch with a small screwdriver. Then just unplug the old one, plug in the new one and pop it into place.

The PartSelect site made it easy to correctly identify the correct part, it was inexpensive, and the shipping was fast.

I'm very pleased!

This is a side-by-side refrigerator. The crushed ice wheel is part of the icemaker bin auger, and it began to fragment, popping pieces of plastic into the ice dispenser and on into our drinks. The manuf. manual had nothing about parts in it, so GREAT thanks to Partselect for their website!!! Now, to dismantle the bin and auger is simple on this design: remove the bin from the freezer and allow it to defrost and dry; there are two small phillips-head screws on the front underside of the bin, holding the front panel in place - remove these screws and pop the front cover off; you'll then see two small phillips-head screws holding the auger-cap in place - remove these and pull the auger cap out, along with the auger; using a small pliers, remove the nut from the auger at the auger-cap, then slide the auger-cap off; at this point you just start removing washers, blades, etc, from the auger - MAKING SURE YOU KEEP THEM IN ORDER - until you reach the crushed ice wheel; separate the wheel from its metal brace, slide the wheel off and replace it; gradually replace all the other parts in order, cleaning them as you go, and simply put everything back together. It helps to keep the exploded parts diagram at hand - available on the Partselect website. It was a snap. The ordering process was simply and the part was delivered to my door on the second day after ordering.

My husband replaced the condenser fan. It took awhile and a few choice words but he got it replaced. The fan seemed to work fine, but it still wasn't cooling. I noticed that when we had the fridge unplugged that water started draining out the dials at the top of the fridge under the freezer. And there was absolutely no water at all in the drip pan under the fridge. So I took the doors off and totally took the inside of the freezer apart. I discovered that the styrofoam on the floor of the freezer had become inudated with fluid and the under the foam the coils were all frozen solid with ice. Hence not allowing any drainage. I put a lamp in the freezer area and defrosted all the ice. In searching the internet i discovered that they no longer produce the foam so i went to home depot and got a piece of foam and aluminum foil and cut it to replace the ruined foam. I put the fridge all back together said a prayer and crossed my fingers and lo and behold it works perfectly now!!!!

Remove the back hardboard cover screws for access to the condenser fan. I opted to tip the fridge over on its side for even better access to the fan mounts and wire. Replaced the fan assy (reused the fan). Splice the wire and it's done.

This is the second time that I replaced the original gaskets. The first set of replacement gaskets were deformed and, even with using a hair dryer as the instructions suggested, was unable to get the wrinkles out sufficiently to get a good seal on either the refrigerator or freezer gasket. Under warranty I was sent a new set of gaskets, which did look in better shape (less deformity and wrinkles) out-of-the-box. I decided however, to soak the gaskets in very hot water in the bathtub and do my best to remove all of the wrinkles after that by laying them flat on the floor and using the hair dryer. They were not perfect after all of that "heat processing" but were much better than the first set I installed. I installed the second set and the results was fantastic. Both the refrigerator and the freezer doors sealed perfectly (you know when they are right when that look good sealed against the surfaces... and it feels almost like you are pulling against a vacuum when you try to open the door). No more ice formation along the seal and the old gaskets, with mold, are gone! My only comment is that the new gaskets don't seem as heavy-duty as the originals which were on the Maytag/Amana but if you take the time and trouble to heat the plastic with hot water and a work out the wrinkles with a hair dryer... they will work just fine.

removed the three screw holding the broken unit - pulled off the old module.

Before I could install new module I had to loosen some fasteners on ice maker so I could turn shaft to align with new module.

Then push on new unit and three screws. Had tumbling ice in about an hour. My wife thinks I'm a hero. (I am)

I saw on a partselect web site that these symptoms could be caused by a failed condensor fan motor. After removing the cardboard panel in back of the refrigerator I noticed the fan was not running when the rfigerator was. The fan was held in place by three brackets. I unscrewed the screws holding the fan motor to the brackets and also unscrewed one of the brackets to make room to pull the motor out. I cut the wires close to the motor. I removed the fan blade and secured it to the new motor. I had to reroute the old wires in order to have enough slack to use wire nuts to attach them to the leads on the new motor. I then re-attached the motor to the two brackets remaining in place and then re-attacehed the third bracket I had removed to get the motor out.. The most difficult part was working in a very confined space.

First I removed the Ice bin, I then loosened the ice bin rail under the ice maker and removed the screw that attached the bottom of the ice maker to the side of the fridge. I unplugged the power to Ice Maker from the back of the fridge and unscreewed the two screws that secured the ice maker to the fridge. This allowed the Ice Maker to be removed from the fridge. To replace the new ice maker I simply repeated the steps in reverse.

Philips head screwdriver and ten minutes was all it took! I removed the two screws that hold the icemaker assembly in place, then pulled it out a little and disconnected the electrical plug freeing the icemaker assembly. Then I snapped the external parts off my old icemaker assembly and snapped them on the new icemaker assembly. Installing the new icemaker assembly was just as fast and easy. I snapped the electrical plug into the new icemaker assembly, then screwed in the two screws. It was making ice shortly thereafter. Glob free ice! I'm glad I didn't call a repairman. I probably saved a hundred bucks. A ten year old could accomplish this simple and easy task. No wonder the Maytag repairman has time on his hands.

After moving the refrigerator away from the wall I removed the cover on the lower back of the unit by removing the screws that held it in place. The condenser fan was not turning and there was heat build up in the area causing the refrigerator to not work properly creating elevated temperatures in both the freezer and regrigerator. Removal of three torx screws from the original motor was all it took to get the motor free. By turining it and working the fan blade around the mounting bracket I had the motor out in just a few minutes. Replacing the new motor was just as easy to reinstall. The fan was removed from the old motor and placed on the new for installation. The original motor was wired to accept a connector from the wiring harness of the refrigerator. I simply cut the connector off the wiring harness and stripped the insulation from the wires which easily allowed me to connet the wires of the motor and harness with two wire nuts. Three self tapping screws were used to hold the motor in place replacing the torx screws. Installed I plugged the unit in and immediately the fan started spinning as the unit came to life. Cleaned and replaced the cover over the back and slid back into its spot. Running as good as it did when it was new. Easy job to take care of.

Turned off power to Refrigerator.
1)Removed broken light switch, using a screwdriver, to gently pry it out. Then unlugged the switch from the connector. I used long nosed pliers to gently pull out the connector from inside the frig, so I could easily plug in the new light switch. I then pressed the new light switch back in place.
2) Remove light cover. I then unclipped the socket which holds the light bulb, I gently pulled it out and unplugged it from the two wires. I then attached the two wires onto the new light socket and clipped it back in place. Bingo done with both items practically no time!