36359492990 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

I unplugged the refrigerator and removed the black fiberboard panel at the back of the unit. I turned off the water at the wall and disconnected the copper water line from the unit.

One bolt holds the valve assembly in place. Once the bolt is removed you simply pull the unit out of the refrigerator. I took the time to mark all electrical connections and water lines (1, 2, 3, etc.) and wrote the corresponding numbers on the new valve unit. I unplugged the electrical connections and removed all water lines by gently squeezing them with the pliers and pulling them out of the old valve.

After everything was disconnected I connected the new valve. The numbering system made it easy to know exactly which plug/line went where and it was reconnected in less than 2 mins. I slid the unit back, replaced the single bolt holding the unit, reconnected the main copper water line, turned it on, placed the fiberboard back in place and was done.

We had an estimate from a refrigerator repairman of $275 to change this valve, parts & labor. We thought it was ridiculously high and decided to attempt the repair ourselves. Best decision we ever made and saved a fortune.

This is definitely an easy fix. Go for it!

The Ice maker would not run through a cycle. It would fill with water and produce ice but would need a little help by pressing up on the ejector to run through its cycle. Otherwise, it would not bring the ice to the holding bend. Sometimes the water would not fill. The icemaker was making ice it just was not letting the ice maker run through its cycle so I figured it had to be the circuit board. I bought the circut board which was easy to install.
1) Turn off water line and unplug power.
2) Pop off front panel plate at ice cube select switch area.
3) Unscrew 4 screws that holds control panel housing in place.
4) Remove panel assembly by disconnecting two different wiring plugs.
5) Unscrew 2 screws that allows access to control circuit board at end cap.
6) Remove circuit board by sliding it out of the assembly housing.
7) Install new circuit control board in assemble housing and screw on end cap retainer.
8) Attach two electrical wiring plugs.
9) Install control board assemble housing into frig opening and secure with 4 screws.
10) Install front panel plate (pops on).
11) Plug in power and turn on water line.

Replaced flapper

Removed cowling unpluged timer and pluged in new one.
Great Service, got part in one day

Unplugged refrigerator.
Disconnected inlet water line.
Disconnected outlet from leaking valve.
Unplugged electrical connections.
Reversed with the new part.

Plugged it back and there were no more leaks.

After I bought what I thought I needed for the repair. I asked a friend to come over and look at it. He changed the
the light socket and put the same light bulb in and it works great. I am returning the light switch but decided to keep the light bulb.

Getting on the internet was so easy. This was really very simple. Thank you for making what I thought would be a big ordeal into something very simple.

Paulette Johnson

The hardest part was moving the side-by-side refigerator out from the wall. After accessing the back of the unit ,it was a matter of removing a few screws to remove the back plate. The valve was attached with one screw that held it to the unit. After disconnecting the electrical and water lines the valve was out. Replaced the new valve in reverse order. Everything works great.

Turned off power, removed cover from Ice maker, checked resistance across thermostat for zero (read open), all other switches read proper value (when activated). Ordered and received thermostat. Removed Ice Maker from freezer, removed two screws holding ice tray to Control Assembly. Removed Thermostat and replaced with new one. Applied Silicone Sealant to face of Thermostat for adhesion to ice tray when assembled. Remounted Ice Tray to Control Assembly and remounted in freezer. Works Great...

Take the back panel off inside of freezer side. Cut the wires off old Defrost Thermostat and strip the ends. Attach the wires of the new one and tighten with wire nuts. Put back panel back on.

After changing the water filter to eliminate that, I did some research and determined it was probably a water valve. As this unit has a primary and secondary, and the secondary feeds the door (after receiving water from the primary) I mistakenly replaced the secondary. It was the primary water valve which was trickling enough water to keep the icemaker happy but not enough to drive the water on the door. In the future, I will do a test with a spare piece of water line which I ultimately did to figure this one out.

Remove lower front panel, disconnect damaged union from water hose under freezer door, replace with new union, tighten and reattach front panel. No more water coming from under the unit. Ice maker and dispenser features returned to working order!

First I turned the refrigerator and water line off. Then moved to the freezer section, followed the directions, removed the two screws. Directions state to not remove them but I had to in this case. Unplugged the ice maker and removed it from the freezer. I installed the two mounting screws then tried to plug the electrical connection back in but had to use the adaptor cord furnished in the kit. The cord was a little long but I tucked it in and mounted the ice maker. Turned it on then turned the refrigerator and water back on and in a few hours had ice! Very easy to do!

It took me about 15 minutes to complete the repair, 1st I emptied the ice maker, then I removed 4 screws from the rear of the ice maker tray and took the plastic piece off of the auger. I reversed the steps and put it back together.

Shut off water supply to refrigerator. Unplugged electrical supply. Removed waterline from valve and valve from refrigerator. Disconnected electrical connections to valve. Disconnected water supply from valve to refrigerator. Repeated the process in reverse order using the replacement valve. Checked water in refrigerator door for proper operation and monitored area around valve for leaks before rolling refrigerator back into cabinet space.

What can I tell you to help except if the 75+ year old Grandma can do it you can do it also. This site was great and the shipping was super fast.

Have put up with an ice maker that never automatically quit making ice for over a year. I just manually shut it off (remembered some of the time and was reminded by the error messages when overflowing at other times). I just didn't want to pay for a service call and all that involves for this item. Then the incoming waterline split and I had to make a decision and that was to DIY the repair after reading the info on this site. The ice maker was a breeze and you can read the details in other posts. Here I will say it takes removing two screws to loosen (mine wouldn't slip off unless screws were totally removed), (I shut off the water and unplugged refrigerator since I am neither an electrician nor an appliance repairman) unplugging the ice maker by removing one hex head, removing the control cover (bottom to top as described in other posts), remove 3 screws only in the metal plate that holds the inside of the ice maker together to get access to the "brains", replaced the Cam, reverse to reassemble (remembering to get the arm back into it's hole in the metal plate. End of that job.

After reading posts about the the water line tubing, I made sure that I had all of the parts of the correct size to replace all of the tubing that passes by the compressor. I did not, however, replace the full length of any of the tubing. I cut off the bad sections of the 1/4" to the middle of the back of the refrigerator and connected a new section with the 1/4" x 1/4" water tube unions.(I was able to buy 1/4" water line, 5/16" water line and 1/4" x 1/4" water tube unions locally but I could not find 5/16" x 5/16" water tube unions so I ordered them from PartSelect at the same time as I ordered the ice maker cam.)

Then I went to the inside of the refrigerator removed the cover from the water reservoir (behind the hydrator), cut out the old section of the water dispenser lines that pass by the compressor, threaded in (not as easy as the outside tubes but not difficult either) the new tubing and connected with the 5/16" x 5/16" water tube unions. You will get lots more details in other posts but this is to tell you that you CAN DO IT with help from this site! I fixed it all for less than $20 (versus cost of new refrigerator, or new ice maker, or service call).