Your ice maker is probably frozen, not broken

Your ice maker is likely freezing up internally rather than actually failing — the cubes are forming fine but can’t get pushed out.

The most common culprit is a frozen ejector arm or ice stuck in the mold. The unit makes ice, waits for the harvest cycle, but the cubes stay welded in place. Detecting the issue is easy: if the ice is one solid block in the tray, the mold heater that’s supposed to slightly melt the bottom of the cubes is probably broken, or the arm is physically jammed.

Another possibility is a bad thermostat telling the control board it’s not cold enough, so the harvest cycle never triggers. That one’s less common but real. If everything looks clear and the arm moves freely, test the thermostat with a multimeter.

Start by unplugging the fridge and using a hairdryer (low heat) to gently thaw the mold and arm. Nine times out of ten, that gets you running again — and tells you the heater needs replacing.

Don’t call a repair guy before you’ve thawed it once. That’s the whole trick.