[dougsooley63]

My GE icemaker keeps making ice and the bin overfills.

I think that when the ice dumps the arm is supposed to go up, and when the bin is full the arm don't go all the way down preventing the ice maker from dumping. The problem is that the arm don't go up when the ice is dumping.

Any suggestions on how to fix this would be great.

[PatrickL1633]

Dougsooley63, Hi, I had similar problem with sons ice maker. The arm would go up but would not shut off. Turned out that when I disassembled it the arm was broken so arm would still pivot but shaft it was attached to would not turn and shut off ice maker. If you look at parts diagram you will see how the thing operates and you can check for that cutoff. If I remember correctly, it shuts of water solenoid valve. I believe I found out how it worked on fixitnow.com.
planigan

[PatrickL1633]

dougsooley, hi again, took a quick pass at fixitnow and that jogged my memory. The water comes into unit through a valve that is timed to open and close when tray is full: when unit senses that water turned to ice (thermal senser) the ice is pushed out of tray into bucket and water valve opens again to fill tray with water, freezes, pushes out and starts again. It will keep recycling till that arm (bale) is pushed up by accumulation of ice cubes in bucket and that stops the wate/freeze cycle until arm lowers. Your symptoms indicate the bale is not doing its job. Appears water/freeze cycle OK. Items to check are that bale arm is operating switch to shut off cycling. Could be broken arm or worn mechinical part that throws (presses) switch or switch it self. Hope this gives you some direction. planigan

[dougsooley63]

Thanks for your help. I found the problem. There was a peice broken off of the plastic cam that actuates the the lever that raises the arm. It comes out by removing 1 screw and the part is only around 10 or 15 bucks.
The GE part # is PS297459, and is easy to do.

[PatrickL1633]

dougsooley, your welcome, glad I could help. That comes under "been there, done that" more then skill. PL

[SLSNUT]

Hey guys,

I have the exact prblem. the bale fails to go up after the ice dumps into bucket. Now... which is the one screw I remove to get to the broken plastic piece?
I have the white 4 inch square cover off and it reveals 3 screws that hold the plate on, confused: a spring-loaded screw that adjusts somthing (has a + or - stamped into the plate) and 2 plastic gears, the larger of which has a screw in the center.

[PatrickL1633]

SLSNUT, hi. Dont touch the screws in there. The + or - one I believe is the water level adjustment. I did this a while ago so I'm trying to recall the physical makeup.
The end of the bail is on some sort of pivot point. As the arm raises and it hits a switch which shuts off water flow. Everything else continues to operate on the clock mechinism. I'll check around and get back to you. PL

[SLSNUT]

Thanks Pat,

I have the part ordered and expect to install in a week or so. Appreciate any info you can forward. If you have access to a diagram that would of course be ideal.

steve

[PatrickL1633]

SLSNUT, if you go to fixitnow.com you can find info on how it operates and they have blow-up diagrams to show individual parts. They sell parts but also supply a lot of info on appliance trouble shotting and repair. You should not have to go beyond the face cover removal. That unit is basically a timer which times each function. Opens water value a certain time which will fill tray (because it on timer, not float valve/switch water pressure affects how much water will go in thus the +/- so you can adjust for water pressure), idles while water freezes, heats tray, starts fork to push out cubes, than starts over. Bail is designed to open power to those functions while clock continues to cycle. When bail low closes power to unit, when up opens. Also you can manually raise bail to a position where it will stay up and turn off unit (your going away for a few days).
PL

[SLSNUT]

Thanks again Pat,

I do understand how the system works as the site did explain it in detail however, I cannot find the diagram that shows how to remove the plate I described earlier. Can you direct me to it?

steve