RC20KN-3AW Magic Chef Refrigerator - Instructions

Unplugged the power, removed old icemaker by removing 3 screws and unplugging a small wire harness

Then i moved the wire harness off the old one to the new one, moved the end cover over to new one and plugged the harness back in and screwed it back in and turned it on

ALL FIXED!

Old ice maker leaking water and produced ice cubes with black inclusions. First, I removed old ice maker per video instructions. Transferred electrical cable, cover, and bail to new ice maker. First installation failed because I failed to make sure water tube correctly enter back of ice maker. No ice. Initially thought electrical cable wasn't firmly in place. Then I noticed frozen water dripping down back of freezer. A clue! Removed ice maker and reinstalled making sure water tube went through the hole in back of ice maker. Now the new ice maker works beautifully!

I pulled the drive ring off of the icemaker and replaced it with the new part. Saved a $150 service call plus cost of part. It cost me a little over $11.00 and a repairman probably would have charged $30.

Found a tip online that said to check the resistance of the defrost coil, when I had none I knew the coils had burned out. Before pulling the old coil out I tied on some long pieces of string as was suggested, that made things go very quick! The hardest part was reaching to the back of the narrow freezer space, but fortunately I have long arms. So far all is working well, and I have a great deal of satisfaction knowing I did the repair myself!

had to saw off the shaft to get the yoke off and tap the holes for the 8/32 screws. all holes should have been tapped by the factory. Other than these problems, everything else went pretty good.

evaporator coils were frozen solid and air wasn't flowing across them

read all directions first, then consider which steps you'd like to take

in any case...
- check for blockages in the upper and lower air vents that allow air from freezer side to cool the fridge-side
- inspect that the fan in the freezer side is actually turning and not blocked


- if no blockages and air is flowing between the sides...

- unplug the unit
- remove all goods from freezer and fridge
- remove freezer side racks
- remove rear panel on freezer side using philips screwdriver (note that the ice-cube tray motor housing must be freed by removing its screws. it can be pull out a bit to get to a single screw holding the top of the rear panel in place)
- allow the evaporator coils to evaporate all ice off, checking the drain pan under the fridge frequently - accelerate the process using a hair dryer or paint stripper (heat gun)
- disconnect the white wires from the connection block located about 2/3 of the way up the rear wall and check resistance using an ohmeter (see specs on back of fridge on circuit diagram)
- if you get a very high resistance reading, the heater element is likely broken. if so...
-- remove the 2 metal shields located horizontally across the evaporator coils (behind them are the two series-connected defrost heater elements)
-- visually inspect the elements - if they are discolored green or black, remove and inspect more closely (most likely they are blown, just like a light-bulb filament that shows black on the glass)
-- if you see nothing, remove them anyway (since high reading) and check connectors
-- replace them (likely only $30 to $75, depending on type)

- if coils seem ok, or if not suspect, check the defrost thermostat WHILE IT IS STILL IN A WORKING/COLD FREEZER.
- get the defrost thermostat into a coil chamber (other freezer or bucket of ice?) and check resistance using an ohmeter. It must be WELL-BELOW 40F to test it. When it is truly immersed in cold (as it would be in a working freezer), test the resistance. it should be 0-ohms when <<40F and some much higher resistance (>200KOhms) when > 40F.
- if not, replace it

-lastly, if neither the defrost heater elements are bad nor the defrost thermostat is bad, open up the defrost timer
-- the defrost timer is located in the fridge side, likely with the fridge thermostat knobs/controller
-- it is a 5-pin part that cannot be repaired. If all else is checked, most likely the defrost element is never coming on because the timer is not turning it on

I did not do the repair yet, there is no schematic on how to route the hose; also no description of how to do the routing/connections.

****Make are you order Capacitor & Starter relay too (we ordered separtely so had to pay shipping twice)**** Super easy just open access panel on back near compressor and remove retention clip with fingers, remove & replace both capacitor & starter, put clip and access panel back on, plug in and allow 8 hours to cool! Works like new again! Hope it goes another 10 years

Loosen the screws on the sidewall (don't take them all the way out and drop them on the floor as I did) and remove the screw from the bottom bracket. Change out the electrical wires and the wire level sensor that does not come with the new unit. Put the new one in place and give it some time to cool down and make ice ( don't be impatient like I was and think the new unit was bad or that you replaced the wrong part)

I took out 1 screw , unplugged the icemaker and lifted it out and installed the new one and had ice in no time at all. can't get much easier.

replacement was relative easy. The problem came with wire connector that had to be cut, stripped and crimped. The crimping was the dificult part. the connector was a problem to crimp.

Just kept working on it.

Merely remove the front bottom screw that attached the ice maker to the refrigerator
Lift the ice maker gently off of the 2 top screws
Unplug the icemaker wiring harness from the back of the refrigerator, and remove
Snap off the end of the maker and remove the keeper for the wire arm
Remove the wire arm and install on new maker
Unplug the wiring harness from the old maker and plug into the new one
Plug the harness into the refrigerator, slip the new maker over the top screws, with the water feed tube inserted into the maker
Install bottom screw into the bracket that holds it in place.
This took less than 5 minutes.

Followed the online PartSelect video instructions and it was very helpful. The ice maker has to cycle through before it starts making ice so don't be alarmed when nothing happens when you first hook it up.

By replacing it with a new ine maker.