How to Troubleshoot & Replace Samsung AP4335198 / DA97-00883E Refrigerator Ice Route Cover Assembly

The part was easy to order and relatively inexpensive. The ice dispenser chute cover / flap sits inside the door and creates a thermal barrier/seal between the internal ice box and dispenser and the exterior of the ice / water dispensing area. When the flap does not seal the chute the dispenser will ice up and not work; that's how I found out my flap was broken. The common issue seems to be that the flap is held closed by a spring that is mounted on a plastic "axle" that is part of the flap's structure. The plastic is not very strong, the axle is relatively thin and not reinforced, and is always under load. So, it can break and the replacement part is not built any differently or from different materials than the original. Unfortunately, I think the design is prone to breaking and expect this to happen again. The several procedural write-ups provide good guidance on what you need to do to access and replace the seal. The one thing I would highlight is that the short, straight leg on the spring that lies flat on the top soft part of the flap when it is not installed, MUST be secured in the cut-out groove that is located just above where the flap sits in the carrier. The flap will not work otherwise. The groove comes to an arrow-like point towards the flap and that's where the spring leg will sit. Get the spring fitted first before you work on seating the short axles on the sides of the flap. As mentioned elsewhere, you need to seat the long arm on the flap inside the white "cup" in the cover housing. I would install this side first after seating the spring. The arm sits in the large open area of the cup, which rotates when there is a call for ice. The smaller diameter ridge inside the cup will manipulate the arm to rotate the flap open, after which the cup will rotate again, release the arm and the spring will hold the flap closed. After you seat the long arm side, you may find that the other side is more easily seated if you slide the the short axle slightly below its seating location and then gently pry and work it upwards into the seat. Take your time and good luck. 

Samsung RSG257AARS Replaced flapper door for ice route. This is how I did it. Wasn't too bad a project. Unplug refrigerator. Remove 1 small screw under display unit. Locate two slots at forward, lower corners of display and insert screwdriver into slots one at a time and twist 1/2 turn and pull outward. When bottom coroners are loose grab display and pull outward and upward to remove display unit. Disconnect connector and set display unit aside. The ice route unit is now exposed. Move water line out of the way. Remove two screws and unlatch two black snap latches and remove unit with door. Unplug connectors. Pry door pivot hinges apart a little bit and push down on door pivot shaft on one side to unsnap and then do the other side. Install new door with spring by winding the short leg of the spring from the top of door seal into the slot in ice route housing. Pry door pivot hole and shaft slightly apart and snap in place by pushing upwards. Door should now be spring loaded to the up or closed position. Reinstall ice route unit, water line and display panel. 

I followed some of the other repair stories on appliancepartspros.com for replacing the ice route cover. It was very hard to get the part installed but I did find one trick - There are three items included on this part number, the spring, the black rubber pad with the white backing, and the black plastic arm that will swivel. The pad comes off of the black plastic arm - you can see the two clips on the back. Just push up towards the swivel and it will come off. WIth the pad removed it is much easier to slightly flex the part into a concave shape when you assemble it which gets you enough clearance to put the whole thing in. Once you have it installed, you can snap the pad back in place and re-assemble the fridge. 

Had to pop ice dispenser cover off the front. Insert screw driver into slots from below and release two tabs and the covers supposed to come right off. Nope. It comes loose but won't pop out. Various sources say force it off. Hard to pry against stainless steel without scratching it and afraid to break a much more expensive part. So as an old experienced husband I wait for wife to get increasingly mad until she finally says "Go ahead and pry it off, if it breaks we'll just replace the whole part." So relieved of the burden of being the idiot that made the decision to break the part, I wrap a larger screw driver in electrical tape to protect the stainless and pry the cover off carefully. It pops off with a loud snap but nothing broke. Two more screws and disconnect the wires and it's out. Replacing part in the actual dispenser channel was a little tricky. You had to hold your mouth right while you lined everything up to get it to snap in. Went back together in 5 minutes after that. I should note that like an idiot, I never pulled out the refrigerator and unplugged it. I don't recommend this. But being an old married guy I don't fear death. Probably took about an hour total over three days. If I had to do it again it would take about 15 minutes. 

Hardest part is getting the front plate off. first there is one Philips screw underneath to be removed, then use a panel screw driver or a screw driver that is small and long enough to reach the top of the panel as there is 2 tabs on each side. after that the rest is self explanatory. other review on this site were very helpful 

I ordered the new flapper assembly, disassembled the ice dispenser assembly and installed the new part. There are several good sources of assembly/disassembly instructions out there but one word of caution: The job is pretty straight forward but be very, very careful not to force anything. Watch where things are clipped. Most of this is flexible plastic clips and its easy to break them. I'm giving this job a 3 for that reason. You have to be patient and not force things too hard. I broke one minor clip that did not effect things going back together because a screw does all the real retention work but I wish I was more cautious. 

A spring fell out of my ice machine... I looked and notice the little door that to where the ice dispenser was hanging open. I googled the fridge model number and some keywords like ice dispenser door. I found something on youtube to help me understand how the front face of most ice machine come off (so i wouldn't break it) Of course there are little plastic clips that hold it in so using a flat head screwdriver knowing where to pry and how helps prevent accidentally breaking them. After that came off it was obvious to find a couple of screws to take the main door mechanism off. Then i was able to see the door hanging and was able to remove it and replace it... The tricky part was the spring... but i figured out that i needed to torque the spring before screwing the main mechanism back on so that the spring was pushing against the roof of where the mechanism goes against the door. Check the door with my finger making sure the door's spring was causing the door to close correctly. Put the face back on and was back in business! All the images on this site really helped me be confident that this was the correct part that i need to replace! 

We fixed it with a lot of patience & perseverance. It took 1h+20min to fix. Really appreciated the advice given, & benefited from your customer reviews. Followed repair advice from everyone, especially Marshall T from Huntsville,NC. At the end had difficulty prying door pivot hole & shaft slightly apart and pushing upwards. Kept checking instructions & we were very careful because we did not want to break any of the plastic parts. The "Assy Cover-Ice Route" was exactly the same as the Samsung one & your price was the best. Because we read your customer reviews, we decided to tackle the replacement ourselves. I know we saved hundreds! Thank you AppliancePartsPros. It was nice to know that you were available for advice if needed. 

The plastic piece that holds the spring broke so the ice cover door would stay open all of the time. We ordered this part which came very quickly and followed the instructions posted by another reviewer (Marshall T. • Huntersville, NC • September 23, 2014) of this product. I could not find specific instructions online pertaining to this part for our refrigerator after spending hours looking online. This viewers written instruction proved to be tremendously helpful - Thank you Marshall T! 

The ice dispenser door did not close because the tension spring broke off (3 months out of warranty, due in my opinion to a poor design/inferior plastic material). Did some research, found the repair manual online, ordered the part from appliancepartspros.com (with shipping, cheaper than ordering from Samsung) and effected repair. A bit tricky the first time, but I managed to complete it in under an hour. I contacted Samsung to complain about defective part because I expect the replacement to break prematurely as well. The part shipped quickly and matched precisely the original part. Very pleased with appliancepartspros.com