FFHS2311LWNA Frigidaire Refrigerator - Instructions

In my specific appliance the water valve is located in the bottom right hand corner looking at it from the back. To get to it I remove the thin layer of cardboard the covers the back of the fridge. I then proceeded to disconnect the 1/4" copper tubing which is the water feed coming out of the wall. Then I removed the screws that hold the valve assembly in place. I took the water valve out and removed the electrical connections as well as the plastic tubing which feed the water dispenser and the ice maker. To install the new water valve it was just a matter of reversing steps.

Used pliers to remove the residual broken stud that was still attached to the wall of the refrigerator, and then just pushed the new part in place. The longest time was spent in removing the food and crisper drawers.

Even though my wife said that our icemaker broke, there was actually nothing wrong with it. It was the valve that let water flow in during the 'harvest' cycle.
A real easy way to test the icemaker without voltage and current measurements, is to fill the tray by hand with a little cup of water; wait till the water freezes and see if the maker dumped the ice into the bin.

Unplugged faulty ice maker, removed two screws holding it to the refrigerator and took it out. Reversed the operation with the new ice maker and after a few minutes presto, we have ice.

I had two problems, the first was that water was dripping from the through the door outlet and the second problem is that the ice maker wasn't making ice.

Replacing the water valve was a simple process:

1. Turn off the water to the fridge at the household shutoff valve.
2. Move the fridge away from the wall.
3. Unplug the mains power (AC) plug from the wall power outlet.
4. Remove the 5 screws with a nut driver that hold the cardboard backing off the refrigerator.
5. (This is a great time to vacuum off the coils and underside of the fridge.) Disconnect the water supply from household plumbing with a box end wrench or channel lock pliers. I kept a large plastic cup and rag handy for the left over water in these hoses.
6. Remove the two screws from the water valve bracket on the right hand side and pull the water valve straight back from the fridge and line up the new valve in the same orientation.
7. Remove all the color coded electrical connectors (3 of them) and attach them to the new water valve.
8. Remove the remaining water hoses and attach them to the corresponding connectors on the new valve.
9. Dispose of the old valve and reinstall the new valve in reverse order.

The problem with the ice maker not making ice was because water was flowing so slowly from the valve that it was stopping in the fill tube at the back of the freezer and freezing stopping all water flow into the ice maker. I pulled the fill tube out of the back of the freezer from behind by rotating it 45 degrees counter clockwise and pulling straight out removing the ice blockage and drying the fill tube before I reinstalled.

Since I replaced the valve I had to take the cover off of the icemaker and set the water fill level down (screw toward the minus sign) and then adjusted it by checking the ice after each time it dropped and increasing the fill amount by 1 full turn (roughly 0.7 ounces) until it was just enough to make fully formed ice cubes.

removed screws,removed broken parts and installed new parts.

At first I took our apart, and tried to fix the feed wheel. I did something wrong putting it back together because even though it feed ice, it would not crush ice. Less that a week later the whole thing jammed.
I really did not know what was wrong with the unit, so I was pleased to find an entire assembly for a lot less that an in-home repair would have cost. The part arrived early in it's estimated time table. I simply pulled out the old unit slid in the new, transferred the ice into the new unit and that was it. I was up and running, my wife was thrilled and I was a hero. THANKS!!!

pulled fridge from wall, removed card board cover, unplug the fridge. turn the water off to the fridge. remove the water source from fridge first then remove 2 screws that hold the valve. then the wire plugs. hoses.. they were color coded.

First I pulled the fridge out and unplugged it. Then I removed the drip tray at the bottom of the water and ice dispenser. This exposed three screws that held the frame of the dispenser mechanism to the freezer door. I removed the three screws and lifted it up a little and I could pull it out and tip it to get at the inside of the dispenser mechanism. I could pull the whole mechanism out a bit, but I was afraid to pull it out too far for fear of unplugging something and tearing or breaking a wire. The water dispenser actuator piece has two round plastic "pins" on either side to allow the actuator to rock back and forth. These "pins" are held in place in a round channel by two metal plates which were in turn held in place by two screws. When I tried to take out these retaining plates, I dropped one of the screws in the dispenser mechanism. I had to fish it out with a magnet. By the way, the plates did not respond to a magnet, so when I dropped one of these, I had to use needle-nosed pliers to fish it out. It took a while, but I finally got the old actuator out and out the new one in and carefully re-attached the retaining plate with their respective screws and re-attached the little spring to the actuator. Before I put it back together, I cleaned off the little door to the ice dispenser. It looked a little crudded up and I just wiped it off with some damp Q-tips. I then put the dispenser mechanism back on to the freezer door, put the screws back, slid the drip tray back, plugged it in and it (surprisingly) works fine. Looking back, I probably should have bought a part for the ice dispenser, too, and replaced that at the same time.

Repair was very easy - and to my great delight, they have replaced the old-style compression fittings with PEX push-fittings. You just clip the old compression ring and nut off the tubing and insert the tubing firmly into the fitting. SNAP! VOILA! PEX fittings are the greatest things since sliced bread. I used it to plumb my new house.

When I first noticed that my refrigerator coil was iced up, I read a little bit about the defrost cycle of a refrigerator. I decided to try replacing the least expensive parts first. First I tried the defrost themostat, it was a very easy repair. My coil still froze up after a couple of days. Then I learned how to force my fridge into a defrost mode (on a frigidaire you just click the light button in the fridge 5 times in under 6 seconds). Then I noticed that the defrost heater was not heating up...this repair was more difficult. You have to first remove the two shelves, bin, and tracks. Then you remove the back panel...4 screws. Then you have to take out a couple of screws and drill out one rivet on the drain pan and pull the drain pan out so you can get the defrost heater which snakes up through the coil from the bottom of the coil. Be careful, as the drain pan and coil fins are very sharp, I sliced a couple fingers messing around with these parts. The defrost heater itself is relatively easy to put in once the coil is in the right position (there are videos on youtube on how to do this). After I put in the new heating element, and buttoned everything back up, I was excited to check my work...I forced the fridge into defrost by clicking the light switch 5 times, and the heater still didn't come on! It dawned on me that this problem started about 5 days after a major power outage (hurricane Irene)...When the power came on, it must have surged, and zapped the defrost control board...Long story short, I replaced the control board (about $75.00 from partselect.com) and my problem is fixed...at least I have a 100% brand new defrost system now...Of course it won't be too long until my wife wants another fridge to match her Stainless Steel applicances...oh well, this one will do fine in the garage.

turned off water supply at water line to fridge. removed two hex head screws @ bottom of rear of appliance that hold the water valve in place.
Simply moved color coded elect. plugs from old one to new one, same with water lines. Only difference is, the replacement one I got uses push in water lines and my original was compression fit. No problem though, just cut the nipple off of original line going into new valve and you are good to go. Might want to have an extra 1/'4" brass compression washer though for the one remaining line. Whole process I did on my lunch break at home less than 30 minutes.
Only problem though was nothing changed. Spoke with service man over the phone and he said MOST of the time it is water freezing up in the inlet tube top of machine, inside. Remove water line from rear outside on top behind freezer and with a straw try to blow through, if it is froze it will not go through. Mine did not go through. Used hair dryer inside freezer in back on incoming line 5-10 minutes,thawed out, makes ice. Go figure. Changing valves was easy and well described as stated, just not necessary in my case, but now I know. Thanks, Warren in Iowa

After unsuccessfully trying to change the blown light bulb I discovered that the plastic light socket had gotten so hot that it melted and permanently fused with the blown bulb. After my new socket arrived in the mail I just popped the temp control assembly out with a screw driver and removed the old socket and placed the new one in. Whole operation to 5 minutes.

First I pulled the ice tray out so I could see the solenoid housing/ice tray support(1 unit). Below the ice tray there are 2 screws that hold the solenoid housing/ice tray support. After removing those the assembly lifts up so you can see the wiring harness to disconnect. I pulled it out and removed the 2 screws to open it up. There is 2 screws holding the solenoid in place and one ground wire. This was an easy fix and I know I saved a lot of money.

1.Unplugged appliance. Removed rear access panel, turned off water supply valve, removed two screws holding water valve assembly in place.
2. Removed and drained all water lines.
3. Removed three electric solenoid wiring connections.
4.Cut and marked all water lines to facilitate new connecting procedure (instructions provided with the new valve assembly).
5. Inserted the water lines into the new valve by applying a bit of vaseline on tubing end prior to pushing lines into O-ring fittings.
6. Clean the embarassing dust from under the appliance!!!

Note: All lines, wiring, and valves were color-coded to prevent connecting to wrong lines and electric solenoids.

Note: Be sure to remove water inlet supply trough to rear of ice-maker. This tube may freeze solid and prevent water from filling freeze tray. This is done by turning the inlet pipe on the back of the cabinet 1/4 turn and retracting from cabinet.