I had a very similar problem where water would leak in front of the refrigerator.
I'm not entirely sure if your case is the same but I will explain how I diagnosed and fixed my problem.
First, you must locate where the leak is coming from. Mine came from inside the refrigerator side (not the freezer portion.) I removed the lower drawers and notice the water dispenser mount to the back of the fridge, right after I used the water dispenser, a leak appeared. It was pressure sensitive, so once the pressure came back the leak was gone.
So I went online, found a replacement water dispenser for my refrigerator model and a few days later it came to my door.
If you have basic tools (flat/Phillips screw driver, various sockets, and needle nose pliers is what I used) this shouldn't take to long.
Pull the refrigerator unit out so you have access to both front and back of it. Turn the water supply off and begin to remove the back cover. You should see a compressor, fan, various tubes, etc. (careful, some of the copper tube are hot.) Look where your water supply is meeting the refrigerator via copper wire. You should see a small pump with 2 plastic hoses connected. One of the hoses should be running up to the top of the fridge, don't mess with this one. Remove the pump unit out so you have better access to it. Disconnect all the electrical connections and begin to work on the plastic hose running underneath the fridge. There is a white plastic washer like tab that is snapped onto the pump housing. Grab your needle nose pliers and wedge the ends underneath it and wiggle it away from the pump, it should come off and remain on the tube. Now either use your hands other means to pull the tube out (this may take some force), but grab some towels and a cup so excess water doesn't go everywhere. Remove the washer like tab and put it off to the side to use it later.
Once the water stops pouring out, you can go to the front of the fridge. On the bottom is a grate, pull it off to gain access to the other water line. This one is much easier. All you have to do is screw off the connection, with towels nearby, and disconnect the tube. There are some mounts that are holding it in but you only need to pull away from the fridge to dislodge the tube. Now I had to cut the tip off to remove the nut, so unless yours come right off, cut the tip off and set the plastic nut off to the side to use it later.
Now open the fridge and remove the couple of screws holding the water dispenser in. Now the fun part of removing it. Before you just yank it out, go to the back and grab hold of the tube you removed from the pump. You should notice that it goes UNDER the fridge. So to make this easier on you, grab some strong twine of some sort (I used cooking twine for reference.) and shove it into the tube until it cannot remove it with out some muscle (needle nose pliers helps to shove it into the tube.) Now easily pull the tube out, guiding the string behind it. If all goes well, as it should, the tube should be out with the string still inside. YAY!
Now, pull the tube in the front, from the back, so it’s with the other tube now. I cut the excess off and discarded it, as you wont need it anymore. Now either mark the ends of the tubes so you know which one goes where, or have a friend/family member help you out to see which one goes where. Pull the water dispenser out noting which tube come from the holes. Now you can set the old dispenser off to the side, keeping the screws. Now place the new dispenser in, guiding the tube into their proper hole (another person helps to pull the tubes out.) Now grab the tube the goes to the front, from the back of the fridge and push it until you can grab it from the front. Now put the plastic nut on it the tube and screw it into place, check for a secure connection. Now to the tricky part. Grab the other tube and get all the kinks out of it and make sure it has no interference from other parts. Do the same as before and shove the string into the tube until it will not budge loose. Now ease the tube into the hole with the string in it and use the string to guide the tube to the other side by pushing the tube in. Once it’s on the other side, you can place the washer like tab onto the new hose and push it back into its place. Make sure you hear a "snap" when pushing the tab onto the pump. Replace the connections and turn the water supply back on and check for leaks. If no leaks are present, now is a good time to clean the dust and hair from underneath and behind the fridge.
After no leaks, go to the water dispenser and press the button with a cup ready to catch water. Watch as the container fills up so you can detect any leaks as they appear, if any. Once water comes out with no problems, replace the removed trays, grate and cover. Push the refrigerator back into its place and give yourself a pat on the back, for you just potty trained your fridge.
I know there are some errors on here, but I hope this helps anyone that has read this. And remember, I don’t hold any responsibility to any other problems that may occur, though I do hope this fixes the problem.
I'll keep an eye on this page for awhile (today is 8/19/2007) to answer any other questions about my guide.
KJ, August 2007
