RC203PDV Magic Chef Refrigerator - Instructions

I read the previous repair story and agree with the author that the screw behind the front piece was difficult to remove and re-install. If I had a magnetized nut driver I think it would have been easier. There were no installation instructions so I relied upon the repair experiences. The other two screws came out easily and I found the harness release easily and the harness was easy to reinstall.
I am not a good handyman but was able to install the new ice maker

Pop off six mounting screws and the ground screw. Remove the fan blade and reattach. Reinstall. Save yourself big bucks.

The can drinks in refrigerator were not as cold as usual. I opened the freezer and touched the back panel and noticed there was a frost buildup. Since I have had this problem before, I knew that the defrost heater must be bad. I removed all the shelves and the tracks. The back panel is held in by 8 small sheet metal screws. I removed the screws and pulled the back panel up and out. The refrigerator is in garage, so I put a fan in front of it and the fan melted the ice off the coils. I disconnected the wires and checked the the heaters (both wired together) with an ohm meter. The meter showed the heaters to be open. (bad). Actually only 1 of the 2 heaters were bad, but I replaced both of them since they are wired together as a set.

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.

After going to manufacturer's web site and customer service phone, was unable to locate the correct switch in the dispenser area on the door. Your web site had the picture of the switch and it was right on and in stock. Shipping was quick and inexpensive. Repair went quick and all is well.

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

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.

Replaced ice maker but now water valve wont work

Unplug wire harness back of fridge. Unscrewed 4 screws on guide for ice bin. then unscrewed two screws holding ice maker to wall of fridge. removed ice maker. then had to take front cover off (pull hard, it comes off) and remove wire harness plug from the ice maker. save this, front cover, and all hardware to re-use. reverse steps to reinstall, including wire guide that goes up and down to stop and start ice maker when bin fills. Have to put this into front part of ice maker correctly for it to work. make sure it is down so that it will produce ice. ice tray took a few hours to fill with water initially, must be on a timer or something.

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.

figured out the condenser fan was kaput. Tried WD, worked for several days then gave out completely. Took off back of fridge and trained small fan on compressor while I ordered new condenser fan. The swap was easy, undid the housing bolts, stripped off the connector, reconnected and voila! works perfect.

replaced the water valve - just precautionary with unit age.
Problem was ice tray coating was breaking down causing ice to stick during harvest cycle - refill would cause water to overflow to bin.

Removed bottom screw, loosen 2 top screws, lift ice maker up and lay over to expose wiring harness, unplugged, then reversed installation
Make sure fill tube in back of ice machine is positioned in fill trough

Recommend that on any installation use a commercial grade water filter system and change filters annually, this is the first repair because of that- unit is 18 years old

commercial refrigeration guy

First I removed all the screws from the back cover.
2nd removed fan nut and fan blade
3rd removed fan bracket
4th I traced wire to the condenser and disconnected wires from wire nuts.
Installed existing fan brackets to new motor kit
then reconnected wire nuts to new motor cord
Reinstalled fan nut and blade,
reinstalled cover, plugged it in and BAM .WORKS PERF!