The short answer
On the Amana 4w5j90 refrigerator family, an ice maker that has stopped filling the bucket points at the freezer temperature, because the harvest waits for the mould to get cold and a cabinet sitting a little warm never gets there. The brand-generic article puts the ice maker module itself at the top of this symptom; on this platform it sits fourth, behind causes that are quicker to rule out.
What you observe on these models
- Production has slowed rather than stopped — A gradual decline is a supply story; an abrupt stop usually is not.
- A sheet of ice under the bucket rather than cubes in it — Fill water is missing the mould, usually because the tube is partly frozen.
- Cubes come out thin, hollow or half formed — A short fill rather than a failed harvest, which points at water rather than at the module.
- NEAR MISS — the dispenser works but the maker does not — Water reaching the door proves the supply and moves the ranking on.
Causes, most likely first on this family
- Freezer not cold enough to finish a harvest — Ranked first here. The maker waits for the mould to reach its harvest temperature. A freezer sitting a few degrees warm never gets there, so the ice stops without a single ice-maker part being faulty.
- Fill tube frozen shut — Next. One overshooting fill leaves a plug of ice in the tube, and every fill after that misses the mould entirely. Nothing has failed electrically, which is why the module often gets replaced for nothing.
- Low water pressure at the valve, or a clogged filter — Third in order. The maker fills on a timed valve opening rather than to a level, so anything that slows the water gives a short fill. The result is thin crescents and a bucket that never fills.
- Ice maker module, ejector or its thermostat — Last, and the only one of the four here that is not owner work. When the harvest never starts, the mould stays full and the cycle stops there. It is a real failure mode, and it empties a bucket in exactly the way several cheaper causes do.
Check in this order, and why
- Put a thermometer in the freezer and leave it overnight — Start here. A freezer sitting warm stops the harvest, and the ice maker is then a symptom rather than the fault.
- Look at the fill tube where it enters the mould — Then this. A plug of ice there explains everything downstream and is cleared rather than replaced.
- Fill a cup at the dispenser if the cabinet has one, or watch a fill — Third. A slow or hesitant flow is a supply problem, and it explains thin ice without any part being faulty.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. If the cabinet has been pulled out, check the water line has not been pinched or kinked before it is pushed back.
Models covered by the 4w5j90 family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| 4w5j90-07 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-08 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-09 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-10 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-11 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-12 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-13 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-14 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-15 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
| 4w5j90-16 | amana:refrigerator:4w5j90 |
When to call a technician
Call once the supply, the shutoff arm, the bucket and the freezer temperature are all proven good, because what is left is the module or the valve. Call if the freezer cannot hold temperature, because the ice maker is then a symptom and the cooling fault is the job.
The other faults covered for this family
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