In this particular problem, there is nothing wrong with the icemaker– it makes lots of ice. When you put a glass in the door to get ice the dispenser motor just clicks and hums but it does not start. The augur drive on the motor does not move to engage the augur so the augur does nothing, no ice thru the door or crushed ice. You can move the augur by hand so it is free and not stuck by ice or frost. If you take the augur and ice bin out and then press the dispense switch you can see that the motor has no movement, it just clicks. There is good water thru the door.

The problem is probably the crush/cube selector slide switch. Common troublemaker for this problem in this model.

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More tips on this problem in this topic at the Samurai Appliance Repair Forums.

(click it to git it)

I was talking to a fellow the other day who told me he had a set of refrigeration gauges that his dear old Pappy left him and he wanted to use them to check the “freon” pressure in his beer cooler. Hey, don’t laugh– folks tell me all kinda stuff that you couldn’t make up even if you wanted to.

First off, you need to know that in order to use the gauges to check the system pressures, you have to have valves to hook the gauge hoses up to. Since residential refrigerators don’t come with valves already installed, that means you have to install ’em. Installing the valves means you’re introducing another potential leak source in the system. So, the rule is that you never install valves in a residential refrigerator unless you know you’ll be doing sealed system work– like repairing a leaky evaporator or replacing the compressor– or if you’ve already eliminated everything else as the cause of the problem you’re having.

Having said that, here’s the scoop on system pressures in residential refrigerators running R-134a refrigerant:

Low Side: About 2 psig, although I’ve seen these systems pull a slight vacuum, 0 to -3 psig, when down to temperature, meaning the freezer is at 0℉. If you see more than 10 psig on the low side, the system is more than likely overcharged with refrigerant, usually from a servicer who added too much; refrigerators are rarely overcharged with refrigerant from the factory.

High Side: in the range of 125 to 150 psig.

Compressor current draw is a different deal because it’s a non-invasive test and can give crucial insight into the health of the sealed system. Combined with the system pressures, you can usually make a nutz-on accurate assessment of what’s going on in the system.

You measure current draw using a clamp-on ammeter, like the excellent one shown here. Current draw will vary with compressor run time and the amount of charge. A current draw of 1.5 amps may mean you’re overcharged with refrigerant but there are other things that can increase the current draw, too, such as a dirty condenser, burned out condenser fan, etc.

In a normally functioning system, the current draw when the compressor first starts will be higher than when it’s been running a while. For the first few minutes after the compressor starts, you’ll typically see a current draw of something over 1 amp. Then, as system pressures reach steady state, you’ll see the compressor current draw drop to something less than 1 amp.

If you’ve confirmed that you have a sealed system problem like a refrigerant leak or a bad compressor, The Complete DIY Refrigerator Repair Reference has information on doing sealed system work.

Lee posted this in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forums:

Good day!

Periodically, I lose control of the temperature in the fridge. The fridge is 9 years old, model number PLHS267ZA. We purchased a home 3 years ago that included this fridge.

Several months after purchasing the home, the entire fridge side froze overnight, along with its contents (the worst freezing was on the top shelf). This occurred despite the fact that temperate settings hadn’t been changed at all. Upon adjusting both the freezer and temperate dials down a bit, things got back to normal for a while.

Since then, it has frozen over every couple of months without warning. Other times, the temperature hovers over 40 degrees and we have difficulty getting the temperate below that level without things freezing on the overnight.

The settings on both the freezer and fridge thermostat range from 1 – 6 with 3.5 being marked as the factory setting. Our dials have to be set between 5 and 6 to get the temperature down to the high 30’s (barely cold enough)…in doing so, we periodically experience an entire freezing of the fridge side and the cycle repeats itself.

I checked under the fridge (where the fans and coils are) and it was extremely dusty. I did vacuum things out, but no change in temperature. I’m certainly not a handyman, but in reading other posts in this extremely valuable forum, perhaps my problem is the “Control housing & air damper control kit”? Or, maybe the thermostat? Something else?

Any expert opinions out there? Thanks a bunch in advance.

Lee

You’ve done your homework well: these units do indeed have issues with the control housing & air damper control kit, as you were suspecting from your research. Here’s the replacement assembly:

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And here’s an illuminating and illustrated Scroll of Appliantology™ for this repair kata to make straight your path:

Frigidaire Refrigerator Next Generation Controls – Replacing the Control and Damper Assembly