Customer Questions and Answers for Ice Auger (Ice Bin) by Whirlpool

Hello John, Here's what I have found to cause this. The shaft, (item 30 on the parts explosion of the motor and ice container WP2188917), has a rubber like ring (item 26) around it which holds it up in position to mesh with both the top and the bottom. The shaft will actually slide down and not mesh at the top. If you go into it and slide it up too far, it will then not mesh with the bottom. As a technician, I have spoken with the manufacturer about this and was told to reorder the parts involved and this would take care of the issue. Guess what. That's right, the new parts were identical to the old ones and I was left to re-engineer the assembly to satisfy the customer. Here's what I had to do to correct the situation. Remove the crusher/ice bin. Remove the two 1/4 inch screws that hold the triangular plastic part in place. Remove the plastic piece and, being careful to keep the parts in their correct positions for re-assembly, remove the cam and the shaft. When you get the shaft in hand, using a matchbook as spacer material, fold the matchbook cardboard 3 to 4 times and insert into the bottom of the shaft so it cannot drift down too far again. This should raise the shaft by about 1/8 of an inch. None of this is in the service manual and as I said, re-ordering the parts will leave you in the same position. This is the only way I have found to correct the situation permanently. You may have to play with it a bit to get the upper and lower ends of the shaft to mesh properly as I have found that in some instances, I had to space differently because the plastic door liner is configured a bit differently. One note, when you get the two screws and triangular plastic parts off, you can fish the shaft out with needle nosed pliers or a magnet. In some cases I have found shattered couplings, (item 16 W11629923). This isn't as often as I find the out of position shaft.