Samsung American style fridge ice maker replacement fix didn't work (RS68N8220S9)

mroshaw

Hi! I'm trying to save some cash by repairing our Samsung American-style fridge freezer. It's a Samsung RS8000, model number RS68N8220S9, bought just over 3 years ago direct from Samsung.

The ice maker has started making a very loud, repetitive clicking sound when depositing ice into the dispenser, and the mechanism does not "reset" back into position. Switching the fridge freezer off and on at the mains resets the mechanism, but the same problem occurs every time a new batch of ice is dispensed.

A quick Google suggested that this is fairly common, where plastic gears in the mechanism have worn down and could easily be fixed by replacing the ice maker component.

I looked up the appropriate part for my fridge model on eSpares, and had it delivered yesterday. The component is absolutely identical to the one in the freezer, so I'm confident I've got the right part: https://www.espares.co.uk/product/es1879122.

I followed the eSpares guide to replace the component. It was really straight-forward, involving removing the ice maker assembly and switching out the ice maker component, then plugging in a couple of wires and pushing the whole assembly back into place. Everything went fine, no dramas. I switched the freezer back on, and waited for glorious ice to flow forth.

However, when the ice maker decided to dispense its frozen treasure, out comes the very loud, repetitive clicking sound once again! Exactly the same problem as before, the clicking noise and failure of the mechanism to reset.

I'm at a loss. I'm 99.9% sure that the clicking is coming from the component that I replaced. I'm 100% sure that I installed the new component, and didn't accidentally put the old one back in. So I'm absolutely baffled as to why the repair didn't work. I imagine the chances of receiving a replacement part with the same issue are pretty low, but I am currently working on the assumption that this is the case and will contact eSpares for guidance.

Other than that, all I can think is that the fault lies in a different component, but I am sure the problem manifests in the ice maker tipping mechanism.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts or experience with repairing these fridge freezers?

silvercar

Check the warranty. Samsung often had special offers of 5 year warranties.

mroshaw

silvercar said:

Check the warranty. Samsung often had special offers of 5 year warranties.

Well holy smokes, you are a life safer! You're absolutely right, it's still under warranty! Samsung are sending an engineer round to take a look! Thank you so much, I really should have thought of that first!

markin

Admitting to opening it up could void the warranty.

Ganga

markin said:

Admitting to opening it up could void the warranty.

We had a similar problem with a Bosch washing machine ,i stripped it down and found the fault on the drum ,realised it had extended warranty so rebuilt it and got the engineer out ,was tempted to tell him what was wrong but kept my mouth shut and had it repaired under warranty.

ashe

Yeah definitely 5 year warranty - we got it after problems with an LG during its 2 year warranty and then claimed against them when they washed their hands over it.

luckily we did get the 5 year, as we've had 4 ice machine claims so far, seems a common problem with their ice makers, on top of firing ice everywhere during use if you don't make a seal around the dispenser 😂

mroshaw

So I eventually got this fixed under warranty. It took a whole door replacement in order to fix it, so I saved myself over £200 by calling in the warranty claim.

It was a pretty good experience all round, Samsung were really good about it, no questions asked about me trying out a fix myself, and no question about paying for anything myself.

Thanks for the advice, folks, saved myself a hefty amount of cash!