DDC4498AEL General Electric Dryer - Instructions

After having a friend who repairs appliances come and diagnose the problem, I was able to find the parts I needed very easily at PartSelect. They came quickly and I removed the front panel, followed the instructions (they were not very detailed) and also had help reading some of the other posts from people on the website. I replaced the parts and the dryer is now quiet and running fine.

I noticed the original blower wheel was worn, the hole for the motor shaft was reamed out and the blower was not spinning with the motor. Air was not being circulated so the clothes were not drying well. Replacing the wheel was relatively easy. I did see other people commenting on the difficulty of getting the drive belt re installed properly. I noticed a small "lip" bent into the motor frame, and found the arm for the belt tensioner would fit into this lip and it held it out of the way while I reinstalled the drum and reouted the belt onto the motor pulley. Once the belt was in place, I gently let the tensioner out of its holding position and everything went back into place nicely.

I was unsure of how to disassemble the machine to reach the belt, but a YouTube video gave me confidence. Thanks to Partselect.com, the great customer service, and fast delivery. I had my dryer up and running really fast! The process was really not difficult at all and it gave me a chance to vacuum out years of trapped lint. I am so happy to have saved hundreds of dollars, not having to buy a new dryer.I would urge other folks to tackle these relatively simple repairs, the right parts are a phone call away. Frank

I watched Youtube videos on how to troubleshoot the dryer but I did not go through all the testing of the fuses and the heat sensor. I did not want to take the dryer apart if I didn't have to. I turned on the dryer and looked into the bottom grate and saw no glow from the igniter (it should be very bright) so I started there. (The Youtube videos test the igniter last). Unplug the dryer. Turn off the gas. Pry off the grate. Unplug the igniter connector and set the multimeter to tone on continuity. There was no tone so it was bad. I used a flashlight that I put inside next to the gas valve to see. Remove the top flat cover on the burner assembly, 2 screws. (Had to do all this laying on my belly in front of the dryer. Very uncomfortable.) Remove the old igniter from the clamp. It fell apart as I took it out. Now the tricky part: The clamp is very tight and the igniter is delicate. I tried to slide it in from the top holding it between my index and middle finger and lining up the slots for the igniter 'wings'. I struggled with that until many-swear-words-later, I decided to slide the igniter in sideways. Put the 'wing' into the clamp's left side opening and then gently but firmly squeezed the 'barrel' into the clamp. It worked. Plug in igniter plug, put burner cover back on carefully without banging igniter, turn on gas, plug in dryer. Turn on dryer. Igniter should be very bright when it lights. It takes a little while to heat up the heat sensor that will open the gas valve and the burner should light.

Unplug dryer and turn off gas to appliance. Remove small vent door front of dryer for access to burner assembly. Reach inside and remove all three wires attached to the valve. Using a backup wrench remove the union that attaches the 3/8" gas line to the burner assembly. Remove the two bracket screws holding the assembly. The entire burner assembly can now be pulled out. Replace the faulty igniter by spreading the retainer clip and inserting the new part. Use extreme care not to touch the new igniter with bare skin...best to use a helper to assist holding the assembly while you insert the igniter. Then replace everything as you found it . Soap all gas fittings, plug it in and enjoy your dryer.

Watched the video on YouTube and everything went great!

Removed drum, replaced bearing. Installed new belt. Reinstalled drum. No problem

I watched video supplied from parts select, only took about 30 minutes, hardest part was putting belt back on, couldn't fit hands in easily, but once I did it, dryer is like new, can't hear a thing.

Researching on the web I thought the trouble might be lint buildup or trouble w/ one of the parts involved in spinning the drum. However I cleaned out all the lint and replaced the belt and idler pulley and this didn't improve the smell (drum bearing was fine). I then concluded the trouble was the motor. Running the motor w/o the drum in place confirmed this was where the noise/smell was coming from. Replacing the motor was fiddly--I had to remove the clip holding the motor (pried the top w/ a screwdriver), wires (made a diagram so as to put back in same order, they were hard to get off--a pliers did the job), clamps holding the motor on the duct, the motor mount, the duct, the fan. Putting all this back together took a while (not hard just fiddly). Tested the motor w/out the drum in place and it sounded fine. Put the drum and back/front/top panels back and the dryer runs fine now. All parts came quickly and exactly matched the parts in my 1993 Hotpoint dryer. As others have said the pulley kit is not needed--these are included w/ the motor. BTW I am a 53-year-old lady. Thanks to all who took the time to write up their experiences--big help!!

disassembled chassis of dryer, unbolted top, lifted top to expose drum. bolted top back on. resumed repair next morning. unbolted top. lifted drum (it moved up and down about 1 inch) and got new belt around it. rebolted top down. tipped dryer to its back. unbolted and removed panel at bottom, exposing drive motor and tensioner spring. positioned belt around drive motor spindle and tensioner spring. replaced panel. reconnected dryer to electricity. reconnected gas using new flexible connector.

Had to tap three holes in the rear bearing to match the three attachment screws. Screw up with the part.

What to do if you have a load of wet laundry at 23:00, the dryer won’t start, and you have no spare start switch.
Removed rear access panel and discovered the wire from terminal #2 (goes to heater coils) on the start switch had melted and disconnected. The start switch showed signs of overheating but not melted. Removed the switch and found the switch’s actuator button was jammed in the ‘in’ position (dryer won't start). The switch was a friendly one in that it was possible to disassemble it. Most switches today are molded/glued together, but this one could be pried apart. The contacts inside were still in fair condition and, after dressing them, the switch was reassembled. The actuator button had a burr that was filed off and the switch action worked fine. All of the 1/4" male QC contacts on the switch were cleaned with a wire brush. The burned wire was cut back about 6” and a new piece of 14ga wire was spliced in with a wire nut. A new 1/4” QC terminal was crimped to the wire and all wires were re-attached to the switch.
This fix would probably last for a long time to come, but I bought a new switch and installed it and will keep the old switch as a backup.
p.s. The load of laundry was dry by 02:00.

I didn't know what was wrong at first, only that the dryer would not start. I bought it used so had no fear of taking it apart to diagnose. Found the broken belt inside, ordered a replacement, installed the new belt, then crossed my fingers. Was pleasantly surprised that was all that was wrong and that for less than $20, including shipping, a few hours of my time, and a little help from YouTube videos the dryer is working again!

The same procedures as posted in the video, but as applied to the model. Belt had broken. Bearing and front supports were worn, but the cause of the noise was a worn tensioner pulley bearing/arm, causing damage to the belt until breakage. Save the time and effort of a second repair and purchase a tensioner arm/pulley anytime the belt breaks as this is likely the cause of the original breakage. The hardest part on this older GE was getting under the drum to engage the tensioner and belt to the motor, as clearances we very tight. Review the diagrams, watch the video, and enjoy a quiet and well running machine for your efforts. PartsSelect is the only place to shop for appliance parts, my hat's off to excellent service, fair pricing and fast shipment. Thanks PartSelect!

It wasn't so bad taking it apart, but getting the drum back on was a problem. So what i did was too turn the dryer over and cut the heads off of three long screws and slid the drum over top of these and it lined up with the bearing housing.After a few tries it finally lined up and then i put the regular screws back in to hold the drum in place, one at a time.