Ice maker stopped working. can hear motor whirring, but no ice

Ok Randy, Lets fix it.

My name is Peter. I am a retired refrigeration field service technician.

You are not getting cooling air to your ice maker freezer compartment. Once again Samsung - bad design - put a ice maker in the fresh food section.

So, you have a ice maker enclosed next to the fresh food section where the recommended temperature setting is 35-40 degrees F.
Where as your recommended freezer temperature is +2/-2 degrees F.

There is a air damper/vent from the bottom freezer in the back of your ice maker housing. Lets remove the ice maker to check for ice build up. On the left hand side of the housing on the wall there is a long narrow cover plate. This is where you connector harness is located. There are 2 screws holding the front end in and a tong and groove tab in the back. Remove the cover plate.

Now, pull the harness out.

Lets remove the ice maker assembly. There are two screws in the front end securing the ice maker to the top of the casing. These screws are recessed. They are either Philips heads or hex heads (1/4"). If they are hex head, he recessed hole diameter is small. Some hex head hand tools will not fit. A screw gun will work or a small outside out side diameter hex head hand tool.

Remove these screws. In the back in each corner is a tong & groove. Pull forward to release the ice maker. Using a small flat head screw driver wedge the wire harness to release. Set the ice maker aside.

Inspect the air vent/damper for ice build up. Use a hair dryer to defrost.

I do not believe you have a automatic damper controlled by a thermistor (temperature sensor). If you do, Remove the damper assembly. Get your multi-meter. Set your meter to the lowest Ohm reading (Omega on your meter) Touch the two probes on your meter together, you meter should read 1.0. Disconnect the 2 motor contacts. On the motor place one probe on one contact and one probe on the other contact. If the meter still reads 1.0 the motor is bad. If the meter reads 0-50 Ohms the motor is good.

If there is no ice buildup & the damper motor checks out, replace the temperature sensor.

You will find getting the wiring back into the side panel will be a little difficult. As usual, Samsung is not service friendly.

check that the ice maker is not jammed with frozen ice
dont force the tines on the tray to turn . lightly geared clock.
can you hear the little clock motor running quietly wirrs
is the water running out the front ok
is the water frozen before the tray ,defroster issue then
hit it with a hair dryier for a few mins an see what it does when u close it .

The bin full detector is not working--replace it.

some problems of the motor check it. if you can't do....try to bring the maintenance near in your area

replace ice maker

First the arm has to be in the down position. It sounds like you said theres water in the ice maker. If thats the case then it should have frozed. The ice cannot drop unless the ice maker heater comes on. Then the ice maker scoops the ice and drops into the resoviour thingy. If you have ice in the ice maker tray but no ice in the bucket then the ice maker is defective.

dispenser motor maybe froze up,remove your ice tray and heat the motor up with a hair dryer to defrost it until it turn ccw freeley

Knowing how an ice maker works can greatly increase your ability to diagnose and repair it. Just like vehicles, ice makers all may look different but they all work on the same princible. A thermostat starts the ball rolling, turning on a motor and a heater to loosen the ice, as the ice dumps a trigger fires up the water valve and refills it. The whole thing comes to a halt and waits till the thermostat gets satisfied once again.
So what can go wrong? The ice maker will give a clue. If their is ice in the ice maker but none in the bucket that is an ice maker failure. If the ice mold is empty and no ice in the bucket then the water valve is bad.
One thing you can do is get a bottle of water and fill the mold. If it kicks out a batch but no more, water valve replacement needed. If it don't then ice maker problem. If you have shelling or fouled cubes, look for dirty coils below the ice box that make for faulty cooling. Ice forms at 32f but ice mold tstats don't kick in the afterburners till 25f. I have some more detailed tips with videos and manuals: HERE


If you need further help, reach me via phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/dan_73bbd84fe1d95b61

Disconnect the water line from the water control valve to the ice maker to see if it is letting water thru all the time. It should only let water pass when the ice maker is empty.

Can you lower the ice maker temp on that model.

Thanks J