Yes, another icemaker repair question

[whirlpooltech]

how does this thing work, as it is not a relay that I am familiar with. There seemed to be a disk inside that was burned up and cracked.. is this some sort of bimetalic element that makes or breaks contact?

See the attachment, once the compressor starts running and the amps drop the relay cuts out the start winding.
You not only have the start relay in the part you photographed, but also the overload.

I reinstalled the icemaker, and it seemed to be pumping out ice last night. However, this AM the ice bin is only partially full. Looks like the icemaker did about 4 or 5 cycles and then stopped. The ice tray is dry. I'd suspect the water valve, but I just replaced this a couple of months ago (another appliancejunk guided tour).

Any ideas?

I would guess it's not getting water for some reason. Either bad valve or the fill tube is frozen up.
Funny thing, AJ just blogged about ice maker repair today.

http://www.appliancejunk.com/blog/

(just one question this time....)

Thats ok, the more questions the better.