10650204990 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

Patience is a virtue. The kit really works. 1st, lift the front plate of the ice dispencer by placing a flat head screw driver into the two slots at the bottom of the panel. When the panel is lifted up slightly at the bottom, push up on the panel to remove it. Careful not to break panel and the wires attached. Next, remove the wiring panel by removing the two screws on left and right sides. Then, unplug the old black ice cover from the wiring panel (this is the heating plug that you will nolonger need). Next, remove the parts and replace them with the parts in the kit, noting where each part comes from, etc. All parts in the kit are necessary and should be used. Some of the replacements need trial and error. Patience will be important. Also needed is a person that loves to solve problems, especially because the kit does not come with instructions. But the kit definitely works!

unplugged fridge, turned off water supply, disconnected water supply line (towel to catch drainage). remove cardboard lower panel from back of fridge. remove 2 bolts holding existing water inlet valve assy to fridge. Disconnect 2 electric plugs from assy. water lines disconnect using push/pull method (mark where they go). If any water tube line has any surface imperfections trim off a small length of line using a razor knife (cut tubing perpendicular (or "square" )on the end. I had to remove small unused part from the new water inlet valve assy. Insert the 3 water lines to the correct spots: push them on,fully, give a tug to make sure they are connected fully. Reattach the 2 electrical plugs.Bolt the unit back in place. I connected the water & plugged it in, filled about 10 glasses of water and made sure an ice cycle ran, to check for leaks (none found). I cleaned off some of the dust on the back of the fridge, reattached the cardboard lower piece. and listened to the sweet sound of Ice filling, and not my wallet emptying to the service man!!

I removed the ice maker from the refrigerator, by removing one screw on the underside bracket and loosening the two screws at the top side, then lifting the ice maker off the loosened screws. I then unplugged the electrical harness that supplies power from the refrigerator to the ice maker. I then disassembled the ice maker by removing the front cover which is snapped in place, then removing two recessed screws at the front. I removed the broken part, I then reassembled the ice maker with the new part. I replaced the two recessed screws at the front and snapped on the cover. Then I reinstalled the ice maker in the refrigator by plugging in the harness, slipping the ice maker over the loosened screws in the refrigerator and replacing the screw that was removed from the underside bracket. Tightening all the screws completed the project.

First checked to make sure the water reserve line inside fridge wasn't frozen (soaked coil at back of fridge in a container of warm water for 10 min). That seemed fine and icemaker was still working so assumed that portion of the water inlet valve feeding water line wasn't working. Video on PartSelect website showing how to replace the valve was spot on and gave me confidence to install myself. Part arrived within two days and installation was done in a snap exactly as shown in video. All the lines & wire harnesses fit perfectly, water & ice working great, and I couldn't be more pleased.

First I'd like to tell you about the problem. You might have the same.

I found out that the diffuser was the problem. It sits on the top of the wall in the fridge towards the freezer side. No cold air would come in from the freezer. A little electrical motor inside the diffuser was working (one could here some clicking inside the diffuser), but the plastic piece, that is connected to the motor, was broken at the wheel of the motor (I opened up the old unit to look for the problem). So, it could not do its job, closing and opening the little windows to/from the freezer. It broke at a point where the windows/openings where closed, and in turn no cold air was coming in from the freezer side to cool the fridge.

Replacing this thing is pretty simple. I'll be very detailed, so it might look like it's a lot, but it really isn't.

In the fridge:
make some room for you to move around: take out the stuff on the top shelf. Remove the long plastic cover from the diffuser towards the door; it's only one screw. Then remove the cover for the diffuser; again it's only one screw (you won't see this screw if you do not remove the long piece first). Unplug the electrical connectors (2) from the diffuser. Also remove the thermo-lines (2); one comes from the freezer and one from the fridge. You might have to cut some tape. If you can not remove the thermo lines at this point, then wait; I'll mention them again.

Now inside the freezer:
clear out all the stuff that is placed on the top shelf(s) to get access to the cover that sits directly at the back wall inside the freezer. It's only fastened by two clips at the back of the cover. Once removed (pull it towards yourself), remove the large airflow piece that is directed towards the ice maker; it's fastened by two (2) screws, I think they were 7mm heads. Also remove the small air flow piece that is connected to the diffuser. You should now have enough room to loosen the diffuser. Just move in the four (4) "feet" from the diffuser towards the center of the hole and then push them through to the fridge side. Take out the diffuser from the fridge side. If a thermo line is still attached, remove it. Installation is just about the reverse. It should not take more than 30 min to do this. Hope it will fix your problem. As always, take good care of anything you are doing!

First I removed the upper handle part (slides up and off), and repeated with the lower handle component (slides down and off).

The middle handle section was easily removed with a screwdriver. I replaced it with the new one and slid on the upper and lower parts.

First I opened the fridge and removed the broken drawer. I then removed the new drawer from its shipping container and placed it on the tracks in the fridge. I then closed the fridge. Perfect!

Motor from Part Select was 185W instead of 260W that came out of unit. After a bit of searching online, I found out the 260W had been obsoleted for lack of torque when harvesting ice.

Removal instructions: Unplugged fridge. Then I removed the screw on the bottom right rear of the unit. Then removed the plastic cover that covered the power connector. Pulled out the icemaker by pushing in the tab on the bottom left middle of the icemaker unit and pulling unit toward me. Unplugged the connector on the back right hand side. Removed the cover on the left side covering motor. Took out 3 philips screws and removed old motor with broken axle that spun freely (the source of the clicking noise). Put new motor in aligning harvest arm (the thing with the fingers) and did reverse of removal. Then plugged fridge back in and it started a harvest and the next morning I had a half tub of ice.

The easiest thing to do was pull the ice make off. After taking the 3 screws out of the wall of the freezer, take a screwdriver (flathead) and push on the tab for the electrical plug and wiggle the cord out. Then you can take 3 screws out for the main cover and another 2 screws on the next cover. There's the part, pop it out and replace holding pins and start the process of putting back together the opposite way you took it apart.

Was very confused when the part sent out looked nothing like the one it would replace. There was a note in the package saying that this would replace it but I was doubtful. Suggest that it be made very clear that this is an upgraded part to replace a bad design.Had not problem once i checked the website and found this to be correct replacement part. I didn't have any problem with the order of the crusher blades as once I removed the shaft nut I slid all of the parts in order onto the awl. Then it was a simple matter of sliding them off of the awl onto the auger shaft. The new metal auger works much better than the plastic one it replaces.

Unplug the refrigerator. Snap off the ring surrounding the dispenser from the bottom. There are two slots on the bottom. This is the toughest part of the repair because my refigerator is older and the part stuck. Then unscrew the two hex screws and unsnap the parts, then reassemble with the new parts. Snap the ring back on and you're all set. Pretty easy.

I first opened a beer to gain some liquid courage. The crowd (dog and 2yr old) were anxiously watching while I first grabbed hold of the refrigerator door. The door swung open with a mighty roar exposing the huge gaping whole where the previous crisper pan once shelved itself in glory. I took aim, and slid that new crisper pan in like it was meant to be. The crowd went nuts...but probably because the tv commercial was over and Sesame Street was back on. Thanks partselect!

My troubleshooting narrowed down the problem to either the control assembly or the thermostat, so I bought both just in case. The motor assembly fixed the problem and I didn't need to install the thermostat.

The main thing I want to tell others who are doing this repair, however, relates to the thermostat. If you do indeed need to replace the thermostat (#PS380941) there is something you will need that is not included with the part or mentioned anywhere on this site. The instructions with the thermostat indicate you need to apply something called "Aluminastic" to the thermostat when installing it. I don't know about you, but that isn't something I have around the house, so be sure to order a tube of it when you get the thermostat so you don't have to take a trip to the store to get it to finish the repair.

I removed the cardboard backer board at the bottom rear of the refrigerator. I had to remove two screws to free the old inlet valve from the frame. The old water tube fittings were compression (screw on) type, so I cut the ends off cleanly with a sharp blade. They inserted into the valve holes easily - just needed a good push to lock them in solidly. The tubes are different sizes, so it was easy to know which one goes in which hole - the electric connectors were easy to transfer from old to new... screwed the new valve back onto the frame, re-installed the cardboard backer, flushed the system -- and no more leaks!!

The side by side refrigerator was warm on the fridge side, but good on the freezer side. I suspected the fridge thermostat and replaced it. That wasn't it. And because of the amount of frost the warm fridge was generating in the freezer the defrost module went out. After that I replaced the broken diffuser (original problem), which was very easy. You need to take the plastic shroud off of the top back of the freezer. You then will see four prongs holding the diffuser in, which is on the fridge side back left side. Unhook the two plugs and unsnap the one thermostat lead and you are good to go. I should have replaced the diffuser right from the start. If you use a mirror you can see if the diffuser is opening and closing properly.
Questions- email me- sir_jeremy@yahoo.com