ZISP480DXCSS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

The model we have, the front panel snaps into place. It was removed for access and the electrical connectors unplugged. Four screws and the chute assembly was removed. Removing three screws and opening the chute door allowed the solenoid assembly to be removed without removing the door assembly. All parts and area were cleaned and the assemmbly was the process in reverse.
Guideline to prolong recurrance: always put ice into glass first to reduce splashing of ice falling into liquids causing the solenoid armature to rust and stick.

First remove trim surrounding ice/water dispenser assembly. Use a flat spackle knife to obtain space between door and trim. Be careful not t scratch refrigerator door. Then pry trim off. This was the most difficult part of repair. The front plate of the dispenser is held to the back of the dispenser by two friction fastners and in the case of my refrigerator a phillips screw (some don't have screw in middle). Use a small round tool like an allen wrench to push up on the 2 fastners to release them. Next push the front assembley aside and remove the 4 screws holding the back part of the dispenser. Push that assembly aside. Remove the defective solenoid assembly by removing the 3 mounting screws. The solenoid base can be worked out by slipping it out of the solenoid assembly plunger still attached to the dispenser door assembly. Next slide the plunger off of the dispenser door assembly. Install new solenoid assembly by reversing this procedure.
Hint - I found the ice door assembly (wr17x11653) also needed replacement and it is well worth the effort to replace both at the same time.

It was actually very easy. You simply remove the display cover (you just want to be careful removing the display cover so as not to damage the lower part which secures it to the door), unplug the wires, remove the inner cover (4 screws) to gain access to the solenoid. Remove the 4 screws on the solenoid replace with the new one, put the inner cover back in with the 4 screws that were previously removed, plug the wires back in and then replace the display cover.

We followed the instructions we found on this site.

First we unplugged the refrigerator.

Then we removed the control panel that has the ice type selection on it by releasing the three spring latches. These are accessible from the bottom of the panel looking up toward the ice dispenser. There are three holes. Press a narrow screwdriver or punch in each of these holes and then pull out the control panel. (Be careful not to disconnect the wires, but observe how the wires are routed.)

Then we removed the ice tube cover that covers the solenoid assembly. There were four screws. One was very rusty and it required some WD40 to loosen it. Once the cover was removed the solenoid was visible on the right. (It has a floating component that attaches to the "arm" of the flap. This is how the solenoid opens and closes the flap. The flap needs to close properly so ice does not build up in the door.)

There were three screws that had to be removed to get the solenoid out. (The top one you may just need to loosen once the bottom two are removed.) When the solenoid was removed we also removed the old floating component from the flap are and replace it with the new one. We slid this into the solenoid hole and then screw it in with the three screws.

Before we attached everything, we plugged in the refrigerator to test the solenoid. We dispensed some ice and waited to hear the flap close. (The flap close is slightly delayed so be patient.)

We attached the cover that was over the solenoid being careful to route the wires as they were when we started. We test the solenoid again. Then we snapped the control panel back into place and tested again.

We found that having the right size screwdriver made a difference especially dealing with rusty screws. It was also handy to have a good flashlight. Having extra hands was helpful to hold the control panel and cover while working on the solenoid and routing the wires.

Just turn the cartilage out and put the new one. Very simple

1) remove the ice bucket. 2) remove light cover and bulb. 3) remove back panel with 2 screws. 4) remove fan shield. 5) unlug 2 elec connections. 6) remove fan housing. 7) extract wiring grommet and use exacto knife to slice thru grommet along the length of it to release wires. don't cut light wires. 8) cut up old fan/light electrical plug to free wire nubs for light. 9) install nubs in new fan plug. 10) remove old fan motor, pull blades. 11) install blades on new fan moter and install fan into housing. 11) reinstall

Squeezed a flat blade screwdriver between the faceplate (buttons and lights) and the plastic part behind it and the front panel popped loose. I unscrewed the 4 cross-slotted screws on the panel behind the faceplate and could easily see the solenoid. I released the solenoid connector from the printed circuit board and removed its 3 screws. It slides out. Replace with new part in reverse.

Determined that the little door that opens to allow full size cubes to fall was not opening. If you open freezer door, hold door switch in, select cubes and push in the lever that the glass pushes in you should hear the solenoid lift open which opens the little door. Mine was doing nothing. Removed ice bin and then removed icemaker motor/solenoid section from back of freezer by disconnecting two wire harnesses and one screw. Found that solenoid smelled burnt and could see that inside of the solenoid was swollen out of round and burnt. Simple to replace.

Used ice pick on bottom of water/ice cover plate to pop it loose. Removed 4 phillips head screws to gain access to the solenoid. Removed and replaced solenoid. Reinstalled parts removed to gain access to the solenoid.

I was this close to calling a repair man when I stumbled upon this site. I would not have been able to attempt this relatively easy repair has I not seen the posts from people with the same problem. It was simple to pop off the cover and replace the selenoid using only about 8 screws total. Thanks to posts by other DIY'rs it was an easy job--this site is Great!

Using a small phillips I removed the plastic module containing the ice/water selection buttons by sequentially inserting the screwdriver into 3 holes just underneath the module in the chute opening and pushing up on the tabs while pulling out on the module. Pulling the module away exposes 4 screws that are easily removed allowing you to remove the chute assembly. The solenoid is removed by removing 3 screws and pulling the clip containing the solenoid wires off the electronics board. Reverse the process to replace.

I removed the face plate (ice/water, selection panel) from the freezer door to access and remove the solenoid which was badly rusted and replaced with a new one, and a new spring too. Very simple repair for a chronic pain.

Replaced Water Filter (twist off old filter; twist on new.)

I followed the instructions that were posted on the partselect website and the video tutorial. It really was as simple as everyone had commented. Like others have noted, once the small tabs on the bottom of the faceplate were released, the cover came right off. Unplug the wire connectors, don't force them off. Remove the four screws and voila, there's the whole system laid out in front of you. It took me longer to clean up all of the gunk that had built up over the years. Once the new part was installed, everything went back together veray easily. The machine works like new again. Thanks partselect, you saved me some serious $$$.

Remove dispenser assembly in freezer door & replace solenoid.