TBF21RBD General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Removed the ice bin and maker, then removed cover from the rear that covered the solenoid that controls the dispensing mechanism. Replace solenoid. The tricky part here is that there is a styrofoam cover around the solenoid pin that needs to be superglued into place and oriented properly during replacement. All electrical feeds snap out neatly and are easily replaced. Reassemble ice dispenser and bin, and viola, your back in business.

I removed the 3 screws that held the motor and fan. Exchanged fan blades and reinstalled the fan and new motor

I was surprised to find the motor. The refrigerator/freezer was over 28 yrs old. Works fine now

The temperture control was mounted on the back wall of the refrigerator. One screw and a couple of tabs appeared to be the only attachments. After removing the screw, the freezer control appeared to be an issue since it was also attached to other parts. A little careful pushing revealed that the control knob simply snapped into the cover over the thermastat. Once unsnapped the thermastat and it's plastic cover were only attached by the three electricl connections. Pulling them loose off the terminals left the unit free. Simply examining how the old thermastat was mounted in the cover, and replacing it, and then reinstalling it in the frig was as breeze. All was well again.

The old part had fallen completely out so I just had to put the new part back into place, it was a bit tight, and you had to twist it into place, but the directions that came with the part really helped. It took me longer then it should have as I could not fit my hand up into the chute very easily. Once I figured out the layout of the chute and could get the part in the proper place to twist it into place it worked well.

It took me about 15 minutes to complete the repair, 1st I emptied the ice maker, then I removed 4 screws from the rear of the ice maker tray and took the plastic piece off of the auger. I reversed the steps and put it back together.

Moving the frig out and cleaning was the hardest part of this job - lots of dust collected over the 17 years the frig was in place. Once all the cleaning was done, with the frig out and back cover off (10 -12 screws taken off with nutdriver),I plugged the frig in and observed the the problem was a noisy fan motor. The motor is at the very back of the frig with easy access to the 3 brackets holding it in place.
Pull off the electrical clip. Remove the screw holding the bracket to the frame on the front bracket, leaving the bracket attacked to the fan. The other two screws remove from the fan, leaving the brackets in place.
Reverse the procedure when you receive the new part from PartSelect(great company to deal with)!

This is a 25 year old unit. The ice bucket had warped over time causing the face plate to move forward of its ideal position pulling the entire assembly out of the drive. Removed dispensing unit face assembly. Removed drive shaft assembly. Replaced all washers. Reversed old broken drive cup. Married old drive cup to new drive cup...lining up drive slots. Drilled 6 ea. 3mm holes evenly spaced around circumference into the face of the old drive cup. Fastened drive cups together in vice and with C clamp...then using phillips head screws installed 3 ea. from opposing entry points on each side of this homemade shaft extender. This "mechanism" increased the effective length of the dispensing shaft assembly allowing for a proper fit of the drive shaft to the motor drive connection. Unit now works perfectly. Total cost @ $40.00 and two hours work which would have taken less than one hour if I had remembered to install the ice bucket seal the first time. New ice bucket would have cost @ $185.00. Home warranty does not cover ice makers or any of the associated parts. DIY...it isn't that difficult.

Unplugged fridge removed the three screws that held fan on to fan frame unplugged condensor fan removed brackets from old fan and put them on new fan installed new fan plugged in fridge and now it works great!

Contact points on original defrost clock burnt out after 36 years of continued use. Hotpoint does not stock replacement defrost clock. PartSelect replacement clock was a simple substitute which fits directly into the original mounting bracket. Space is tight to get the part out, so remove screw in upper right hand corner of bracket to disconnect clock from bracket. Then remove bracket and pull clock out. NOTE: Original part had wire color codes on the clock and the replacement part does not. Make a note of the order of the color connections and connect new clock in the same order. Replacement part has no ground wire since housing is entirely plastic. Push clock back behind frame. Reposition bracket. Install screw to mount bracket to clock. Then screw bracket back into frame. Glad I found Part Select online... saved me the hassle of getting my old spare fridge out of the basement!

Unplugged frige, removed top shelf, pulled broken fan blade off. Replaced with fan blade just purchased from PartSelect. Very simple repair. Orderd and recieved the right part.

Unplug refrig! Removed back cardboard covering (~5 screws)
(1) Cleaned all the dust out (hardest part!)
(2) Removed power wire to motor
(3) Removed 3 bolts holding motor to frame
(4) Removed motor/fan blade to the left
(5) Moveded fan blade to new motor (clean it!)
(6) Replaced motor, reinstalled 3 bolts
(7) Plugged power wire to new motor
(8) Tested it - worked fine, failed safe, drained to bilge!
Replaced back cover (had to tape it since I horked it up removing it)

Pulled frig out. Removed back cover. Unplugged frig, unplugged motor. Removed fan from old motor first then 3 screws from bracket that holds motor and removed motor. Reattached motor back on bracket, reattached fan on motor. Plugged fan back in and then frig. Everything worked fine no more soupy ice cream !!

Turn of power to fridge. Removed all shelving in freezer section. Unscrewed back panel from freezer area. Removed old defrost term t-stat from top of evaporator coil assembly. Cut existing two wire leads, spliced in new T stat wires. sealed wire splices from water egress and clipped new t-stat in same position as old one. Reassembled rear panel, installed shelves. Turned power back on.That's it.

the temp control is suppose to shut unit down at certain temp....this was not happing , so I tried the new temp control .....that did the trick ...

Removed the three screws from old motor body-bracket assembly , pulled off 1/4'' spade terminals and removed shield from terminal block for re-use.
Removed fan from old unit and installed on new,
screwed new motor in place, replaced terminal wires, plugged back in refrigerator.
Now my old rerfrigerator is whisper quiet