What this usually means
On a Gorenje refrigerator, an ice maker that has stopped is far more often a water-supply or freezer-temperature problem than a broken ice maker. The two most common causes — a closed or kinked supply and a freezer that is not quite cold enough — are checkable in minutes with no tools. The ice maker module itself sits well down this list, and the part that fails inside it is usually the water valve, not the mechanism.
The symptoms, and the ones that mean something else
- The bin is empty and nothing has been produced for days — Complete stoppage, which points at supply or at temperature rather than at the mechanism.
- Cubes are hollow, small or fused into a block — The unit is filling but filling badly, which is a pressure or a valve symptom.
- NEAR MISS: water is pooling under the cabinet — That is a supply-line or drain leak and belongs on the page for a unit that is leaking water.
What it usually is, in order of likelihood
- The feeler arm or bin switch reading full — A bail arm knocked up, or a bin pushed out of position, tells the ice maker it has nothing to do and it obediently stops. Ranked first on a Gorenje refrigerator: these machines are specified for detergents and loads that a North American household often does not use.
- A freezer that is not cold enough to complete a harvest — The mould must reach its ejection temperature before the cycle turns; a freezer running warm fills and then simply sits there with water in it. Ranked second on a Gorenje refrigerator: narrow-depth cabinets leave very little clearance behind the machine, and that clearance is part of the design.
- Water not reaching the ice maker — A closed shut-off, a kinked line behind the cabinet or a frozen fill tube stops production outright while everything else in the unit looks healthy. Ranked third on a Gorenje refrigerator: European cycle logic is long and gentle, so a partial fault is tolerated for weeks and only the end of it is visible.
The order to work in, and the reason for it
- Look at the wire arm or the flap inside the ice compartment — An arm resting in its raised position is a stop signal, not a fault.
- Check whether ice cream in the freezer is genuinely hard — Soft ice cream means the compartment is not cold enough for the ice maker to cycle at all.
- Try the water dispenser if the unit has one — No dispenser water means the supply is the fault and the ice maker is innocent.
Owner-side checks, step by step
- Empty the bin, seat it properly and set the feeler arm back to its lowered position — Then listen for a fill within a couple of hours, which confirms the whole cycle is alive.
About 10 min
- Set the freezer to its coldest setting and give it a full day before judging — A freezer holds food safely at zero degrees Fahrenheit or below, and the ice maker needs that too.
About 10 min
- STOP HERE if the supply, the filter, the freezer temperature and the arm are all good — What remains is a module or valve replacement, which means a meter on live terminals.
Read this before you start
Safety
Switch off the water supply at the shut-off valve before disconnecting any line, and unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing a panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Never thaw a frozen fill tube with an open flame or a heat gun: a hair dryer on a low setting or simply warm water is enough, and the tube and the surrounding liner will not survive anything hotter.
When this becomes a service call
Call once water reaches the unit, the filter is fresh, the freezer is genuinely hard and the arm is down, and there is still no ice — that combination means the module, the valve or the mould heater, and testing those means a meter on live terminals. Call sooner if you find water inside the cabinet or under it while you work: a supply fault that has started leaking is doing damage while it waits.
The closest pages to this one
The limits of this page
This page covers the Gorenje refrigerator as a class, not one family or model line. Part numbers, wiring colours, torque figures and panel fixings differ from build to build and are deliberately not here. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit, that page is the more specific answer and should be read first.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
