1068594610 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

Turn off water supply line fridge. Removing front panel is a must to allow acces to spout and water line. Be careful not to crack front panel $90, it snaps in from the botton, slide a stiff putty knife along bottom edge and gently pry outward to remove. Remove 2 screws that hold spout in place, then cut water line right behind spout. The tricky part is fishing water line down through door. You need to splice new line to old with double sided screw or something with threads that will prevent the lines from pulling apart, then pull water line from bottom of door by hinge, very tight when pulling through hinge opening. You will need to remove vented dust cover at botton of doors to acces the water line. The line has a threaded coupling so unscrew and drain water then cut new line to length. There is a small metal insert in old line that needs to be removed and inserted into new line before attaching coupler. I could perform this in half the time now that I have done it once.

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.

Initially I removed the cover to the auger and auger drum. Then the split ring locking washer had to be removed. I used a needle-nosed pliers and small screw-driver to pry that off. The auger arm could then be removed, and the auger blades removed. This proved to be the part that required the most patience. The blades need to removed and returned in their exact pattern. Someone else suggested taking a digital picture of them before removing them; this is a good suggestion that I failed to do. Once the blades are returned, all the other parts can be replaced in reverse order. Put the screws back in, and you are finished.

The repair was incredibly easy -
1. Turn off the water at the water line for the fridge
2. Disconnect the pressure fittings for both lines running to the resevoir.
3. Remove the old resevoir
4. Install the new resevoir and run the lines back to the orginal fittings.
5. Reconnect the fittings, turn on water.
6. Drink water!

I ran all the ice maker module tests that I could find online, I tried cleaning the contacts inside the ice maker control module, nothing worked...so I finally decided to purchase a new control module. I had already had the module out and taken apart a few times, so the new one was very easy to install. Just removed the entire icemaker from the fridge, removed a few screws, took off the old module, put on the new one, replaced the screws, re-installed the icemaker in the fridge (it just slides in and out similar to a shelf). And 30 minutes later I heard the first batch of ice cubes drop! And by morning the bucket was nearly full. After two weeks of no ice and trying to fix it myself - the family was glad to have ice again (it was July in NC!). In retrospect, I should have followed the advice I found online and ordered the new part sooner and saved all of those frustrating hours of trying to "fix" the part myself.

the parts sent included two replacement kits which at first was confusing. I determined that I only needed the one with the black tubing for my Kenmore refrig. Turned off water supply and vacuumed up all the dust bunnys behind refrig. Removed bottom grate on refrig where black tubing attaches at the other end. Released water left in tubing at dispenser. I did not have to remove the front panel. Removed one screw attaching the nozzle to the dispenser. Decoupled tubing at the far end, more water came out here too. Pulled out upper end of tubing a couple of inches and snipped off. Attached tubing to new tubing with thin wire (as others here recommended) and had my husband pull at far end while I pushed slowly at the dispenser end. Once through reattached screw at top and recoupled at the bottom. Mission accomplished!

Get refrigerator out away from the wall. Disconnect from power. Loosen 3 and remove 3 or 4 screws to uncover fan, compressor and water inlet valve (WIV). By hand remove plastic hoses that feed the water dispenser and ice maker feed. Unscrew 2 screws that hold WIV her you need the Spring U Joint (SUJ) or equivalent. Pull wires and make mental note or picture the way they fit. They retain the memory the way they came out. With adjustable or wrench remove tube that comes from the filter. Remover black rubber protector from WIV. Install the last hose you removed. Tighten by hand and finish with the wrench used to remove it. Don't over tighten. Maybe 3/4 turn or less after hand tight will do. The difficult part is to re-install the screws that hold the WIV in place, again you need the SUJ. The alternative would be to empty the shelves from anything that will spill or break and have someone tilt the refrigerator and access from below. I used the 1st method as I didn't have the extra help. Install the water dispenser hose (by hand), blow compressed air to the ice dispenser hose to clear the ice. There is another plastic hose just above and behind the dispenser which must be removed to clear the ice that is being blown. After the ice is clear re-install the one in the freezer. That one is just pressure held be careful not to break when replacing it. Re-install by hand the ice dispenser hose to the WIV. Replace the cardboard cover that was 1st removed to access the components. Power the refrigerator and you are ready to make fresh ice. My ice maker lever was stuck at 1st. I released pressure from the metal wire lever and wiggled up and down several times to loosen up.

Ice Maker would seem like it was the valve was leaking and Ice would build up at the rear of tray.
After listening to it cycle, (drop ice and fill) valve would open up again about 20 minutes later.
Over flowed and iceberg would form at rear.
Replaced icemaker unit and works fine now.

Followed instructions supplied. It was relatively easy and the parts fit exactly right. Sears wanted twice as much for the part and service would have charged me another $100 to come to my home. I saved over $100 doing the project myself.

changed the starter connected to the compressor

First, turn of the water supply. Then remove the snap on grill from the bottom front of the refrigerator. Disconnect the black hose from the white hose and drain the hoses into a suitable recepticle. Then remove the 1/4" screw that holds the nozzle in place. Cut the hose off just behind the nozzle bracket and tape the end of the new hose to the now exposed end of the existing hose. From the bottom of the door you can now gently pull out the old hose while pulling in the new one. Re-attach the new hose to the existing white hose and replace the 1/4' screw to the new nozzle bracket. I reccoment using 1" wide tape and only going around the tubes once. Too much tape and you won't be able to feed it through the small hole at the bottom of the door. Have someone feed the hose from the top as you gently pull from the bottom.

1. shutoff water
2. removed 3 screws holding old ice maker. A small nut or screw driver is needed to get into a somewhat tight area
3. detached electrical connector
4. cut indicated area for water inlet to lie in
4. attached new electrical connector (no splicing needed)
5. attached new ice maker with 3 screws
6. put on water

Removed the top two screws and one on the bottom which attach the ice maker to the side of the freezer. I unclipped the wire bundle from the side of the ice maker and unplugged the connector, totally removing the unit . The maker came with several different wiring setups, but I just used the existing. The contol arm on the new unit basically snaps into place and the above process is reversed to install the new unit. My old ice maker had an accelerator which blows cold air to the bottom of the tray to speed up ice production. This component was undamaged and by taking off the new units outer end cap and borrowing the clips from the old unit, this component can be installed on the new ice maker.

Unplugged refrigerator. Used nut driver to remove small bolt retaining wire cover on right side of ice maker. Removed wire cover, used flat head screw driver to depress side-rail clips. Ice maker slid out, unplugged. Timer module cover pops off easily. Three screws removed the timer module. Installation was reverse of removal. Had ice in less than an hour, bin was full by next morning. If you have a screw driver and know what it's for, this job should come easily.

I noticed the coating inside the ice maker, the lining on the surface that the water contacts when making ice, was chipping off. I replaced the ice maker with a new unit and now there's no more bits of stuff in my ice. The other problem I had was the ice bin, it had picked up a weird smell over the years and I wanted to replace it. The new bin seems flimsier, but works fine. It didn't have the top attachment hole for the ice auger mechanism drilled out for some reason, it had a little "bump" in the plastic where it should be, but was never drilled out. Easy enough, I drilled the hole out and attached that top screw without any issue.