S148DA03 (P1305601W) Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

After unplugging the appliance I needed to thaw a large ice buildup off the evaporator cover panel before I could even remove the panel. The freezer being on the lower part of the appliance has the evaporator mounted vertically and it was 100% encapsulated in rock hard ice. It took over an hour to thaw the ice and collect all the water with a shop vacuum, since the condensate pan began to overflow.
One thawed, I checked all wiring for good connection, checked heater, defrost thermostat, timer unit with multimeter. The defrost thermostat checked out fine after putting it into another freezer for a 15 minute cooldown, but I noticed a crack in the seal and suspected internal moisture and decided to replace that part. A simple plug in of two leads to the new part after clipping it to the evaporator, replacement of the panel, and the appliance was up and running problem free.
A workbench disection of the old part confirmed my assessment, it had internal rust and water and had failed causing the defrost cycle failure.

The refrig seemed warm so I checked the temp of some liquid with a thermometer. Readings were above 60 degrees and I knew food would spoil soon. I vacuumed the dog fur off the cooling coils underneath the machine to see if that would help. Nope. I realized cold air from the freezer was not reaching the refrig. The fan was working but no cold air was coming out. I figured a blockage either in the air duct from the refrig or in the return duct to the freezer. I didn’t see any blockage in the refrig section. I took everything out of the freezer and removed the back wall. The cooling coils were completely frozen solid with frost. Being a frost free machine, I knew there were heaters that were controlled by a timer that melted this frost away periodically and that this cycle was no longer working. I found a schematic on the web, maybe your site, and educated myself on the heater circuit. The circuit consisted of a timer, thermostat near the coils, and a cal rod heater all wired in series. The timer was easy to get to and being a mechanical device I figured it must be the culprit. I ordered one online. I checked its operation and it worked fine. Realizing time was short, I hot wired the cal rod around the thermostat and rotated the timer to its heat position. The frost melted quickly and I put the freezer back together and ordered a thermostat. I canceled the timer order. When it arrived, I installed the new thermostat and it has worked fine for the past month. A little colder than usual as I don’t yet have the settings back to where they were. I have checked the operation of the old thermostat. It’s supposed to close at 30 degrees and open at 45. I have done a continuity check on it by putting it in the freezer, letting it cool down, take it out, let it warm up and it seems to work fine. So I have doubts if I really solved the problem. Wire connections were tight and not corroded. Maybe the timer was hung up on debris that I freed by cycling it. I don’t think this is the end of the story.

Part received was what I needed. There was one issue--the 'feed' opening to receive water and direct it into the ice tray was a side feed and what I needed was a back feed. That means I had to do some exchanging of parts to make it work. That exercise took more time that the actual installation.

I was told to order the run capacitor and the technician thought it would repair the refrigerator; but it did not. The appliance technician had to take the run capacitor off and install what he called a "hard start" and the refrigerator is operating right now.

replaced the entire ice make - 3 screws and a squeeze -off connector and it's out. Reverse to re-install... except that the fill tube had iced up. To thaw the fill tube: unload freezer section (leave food in fridge, but keep door closed), remove ice maker. Boil water, dip drill bit (dull end) into hot water, swirl around, insert (dull end) into to fill tube. Depending on how hot you got it, maybe a tablespoon of ice will melt. Repeat many times - fill tube is about 14" long! Do not use anything sharp - you will nick the tube and ice will form causing you to repeat this procedure. Do not try to break the ice - let the heat work. It took me about 30 minutes to thaw the whole thing - it made a nive gasping noise when the final plug opened up. Re-install ice maker.

This was a very easy repair. Of course start by unplugging the power cord. Take out the lower freezer drawer. Unplug the wiring harness from the ice maker at the rear of the freezer. Undo 3 screws with a 1/4" nut driver. The ice maker will come right out. You don't have to undo any water connections, the feed tube just slides into a guide in the ice maker. Once the ice maker is out, unplug the harness from the old one and snap it into the new one. Same with the cover. Reassemble in reserse order. Plug the power cord back in and wait a couple of hours for the familiar sounds of ice cubes falling into the tray.

Replaced ice ice maker using
All of the instructions on the website.
Very easy. A couple of the screws I had
To feel for because I couldn't gety big head
In the freezer far enough to see them.
Very simple and only took about 15 minutes.

I removed the icemaker. One screw at the bottom and then unplug the electric. Remove the old motor from the face that has 3 screws holding it. Put the new motor in. A very simple job. I now have a full ice bin by the next morning.

As per instructions. Removed parts from old ice maker, and installed them on new one, Then installed it in the freezer. Works good.

The repair was simple.

I first did a diagnosis of the optical cuircuits and found them good. The tray heated up and when resetting the moor controller, the water cyccled to fill the tray so the only other thing it could be was the motor controller.

removed the service door for the ice maker
I removed the wire protectore screw and shroud
pulled the icemaker unit out and unplugged the unit
removed the motor controller end cap
unscrewed 3 screws holding the motor controller
removed and replaced the motor controller. ensured that all wire harness connector poiints were solid
reverse the above instructions and in 5 hours I was getting ice again!

$90 turned out to be a savings from the $250 it would have cost to have someone come out and look at the fridge.

I highly recommend to anyone who can read and use a screwdriver to perform this repair if you have diagnosed this as the root of your problem!

Removed the old icemaker and installed the new one. The first one we ordered lasted about 4 weeks and pooped out. Parts Select was very nice and gracefully sent another in two days time. This one has been installed and is working fine...Hope it stays that way.

Thanks...Ron Norwood

The bearing & cup assembly was broken and the gears in the drive assy were stripped. Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere to buy the gears without buying the entire motor assy with the gear box already on it. Cost was up to $85 with shipping but at least it now works fine.

To repair: a 1/4 nut driver will take off screw below ice maker and all you need to do is loosen the 2 screws above the ice maker then push it upward slightly and it will slide off the top 2 screws. Then pull the power connector off from behind the ice maker at the side of the refridge. Then pull straight out and it will slide off the water fill tube. Now with unit out of refridge I took the cover off the front of the ice maker and removed the 3 philip screws. I then pulled the motor/gear assy off from the chassis of the ice maker. I then had to remove the 2 philip screws on the chassis (under the motor/gear assy) to remove the cube maker/element from the chassis. This allowed me to remove the rotating cube spatula bar to replace the filler cup/bearing assy. Then I reinstalled the spatula bar and the 2 philip scews on the chassis to the cube maker/element assy. I then installed the new motor/gear assy to the chassis and installed the 3 remaining philip screws. Put the cover back on the ice maker and inserted assy back into the refridge by first reattaching the power connector and then sliding backward onto the water fill tube and then slipping over the top of the 2 top screws on the refridge. Then I installed the screw below the ice maker and tightened all 3. Presto - repair done in 30 minutes and perfect cubes were spitting out within the hour.

Replaced ice maker but now water valve wont work

Ice maker assembly required disconnection of the wire harness at the back of the freezer and the removal of 3 hex nuts. The assembly did not come with a new wire harness nor the rigid wire attached to the hinge that can be raised to stop production of ice. The wire harness was easy to disconnect from the old assembly by pressing in on a tab. The rigid wire attached to the hinge simply required pulling straight out of the hinge-hole (no need to twist, slide, or perform other contortions...it does require significant force to remove, but it does pull straight out). It was simple to attach it to the new ice assembly. Reinstalled the 3 hex nuts and wire harness plug and was good to go....after waiting several hours! I was worried at first because the unit did not immediately fill with water after I plugged the fridge back into the wall socket. However, after the freezer was cold enough, the water did run and I had my first ice dump within about 3 hours of finishing the installation. We have good ice again, and Partselect has excellent pricing and awesome delivery! I received the unit the day after ordering, and I had only paid the basic shipping! Thanks Partselect! Jeff

There are basically three screws that hold the unit in place on the inside of the freezer. Removing them is relatively easy, and the unit is replaced with the same three screws. You do have to use the formed metal wire from your old unit, so don't throw it out! You also have to use the wiring harness from your old unit.