Hello, I have a performa fridge and the icemaker has quit working. In the past I have had some difficulty with it but have moved the shutoff lever in the ice hopper up and down and it starts up. I have now moved it away from the wall and slapped the water line against the back of the unit but this has had no effect. Any suggestions? Thanks

The first thing you have to do is to wash out the condenser coils to make sure it can get cold enough without burning up the compressor. Remove the back cover and front kick-plate so you can see everything. Spray the fan blades and coils down with spray cleaner that will cut grease and then wash off with spray of water from a hose nozzle (while unplugged from wall). Leave unit unplugged and pull off cover to ice maker. Inside you will see a micro-switch that the lever operates. Unplug one wire from the switch and test it with an ohm meter to see if you get zero ohms when you put the lever down. If not, replace it with a generic switch you can get at any appliance or HVAC supply house. There is also another micro-switch that controls the water valve next to a plastic cam. Test it by taking off one wire and pressing button on it to see if it works while having meter on terminals. Next, in the back you will find the water valve for the ice maker (and sometimes one for water). Trace the line to make sure you have the right valve. Unplug the wires that plug onto the top of the valve to make sure you get a reading. You could have anything from 1-3 kilo-ohms. The only other part on that machine is the thermostat in the icemaker. It closes at about 20° or as low as 0°. Make sure to replace rear cover before starting unit back up and keep coils clean. Here are some manuals: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8010163/Maytag%20Refrigerators.zip
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8010163/Whirlpool%204322537A%20How%20to%20use%20Test%20Equ ipment%20Service%20Manual.pdf
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8010163/R-106%20Whirlpool%20Icemaker%20Troubleshooting%20Ser vice%20Manual.pdf
This icemaker service manual is for an icemaker identical to yours, most likely, as there are only about two types used in all brands made by Whirlpool for Maytag, Amana, etc.

How do I keep the lever within the ice maker to stay up when I have enough ice in the bucket? It is a Maytag Performa ice maker. I can keep lever down when needing ice but since I do not use a lot of ice I need to have it stop making ice. There is a diagram on inside of the door but can not seem to keep lever up as diagram suggests I do to stop producing ice.

Look in these to see if you can find a solution: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8010163/Maytag%20Refrigerators.zip
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8010163/R-106%20Whirlpool%20Icemaker%20Troubleshooting%20Ser vice%20Manual.pdf
The last one is for an ice maker that is made by the same manufacturer as yours because most ice makers are made by two or three manufacturers for all brands. Look for an on-off switch, too.