Kenmore Elite SS question

[JWWebster]

When that happens I use a hair dryer to melt the stuck cube just till the ice maker starts rotaing. I watch it finish out the cycle and listen for water to come in. 5 seconds for the short mold 7 seconds for the long mold.

[jrudyjr]

I ordered a new ice maker and water valve from D&D. When I removed the ice maker I noticed two things, the tray under the maker was completely filled with ice and the coating on the inside of the mold was coming off in big pieces. I changed the ice maker and decided to see if this corrected the problem. Both times that this ice maker has failed the symptoms would have indicated a sticking water valve, both times changing out the ice maker has corrected the problem. I highly suspect that the problem was exactly as Mr Webster indicates that the problem is with the contact area becoming carboned up from arcing that takes place as the maker operates. I did remove the drive gear and that area was indeed black and carboned up. I will keep the valve on hand just in case but I don't think I will need it as the unit is operating perfectly. I guess that about three years is all I can expect with the amount of use and well water that we have, since this is ice maker number three in six years. Thanks for everyones help.

[Repair-man]

I guess if you had removed the icemaker and discovered all of this the first go-around, you'd have solved this sooner. And yes, we unfortunate few who are on well water have to replace icemakers and  water valves regularly, as the water supply is harder than Japanese arithmetic

Glad you got it going.

p.s The carbon on the copper plate gets worse the harder the icemaker has to work ejecting cubes. It all ties together in the long run.