GDS18SCRRS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Came home one evening and found the refer compartment evaporator fan making a noisy/grinding noise. While waiting for the part to arrive the motor finally quit working and the frige lost its ability to cool, but the freezer still worked fine. This is the fan that is inside the frige between the refer & freezer compartments - NOT the fan motor that is located in the bottom/rear next to the compressor. This grinding noise sounded like it was coming from inside the frige and could be easily heard under the vegetable trays and above the freezer compartment. To access this motor you need to go after it from inside the bottom of the frige compartment - there's NO need to remove the refer door. Pull the vegetable trays and remove the small phillips head screw located down in the lower air flow groove toward the front of the refer. Next, pry up & out the front white trim piece that runs the width of the frige. Once that piece is removed you can lift & slide back the whole lower frige trim/tray. Now lift out the large foam block compartment and you'll have complete access to the evaporator fan motor and the evap coils. Simply pull the fan motor assy out, still attached to the triangular bracket and disconnect the electrical pigtail. Next, pull the fan blade straight off the front hub, split & disassemble the motor bracket, & replace both fan motor grommets. Reverse the steps to reassemble the fan motor to the bracket and reinstall back in the bottom of the frige and plug in the electrical pigtail - the fan should (quietly) fire off instantly and begin the cooilng process. Reinstall the foam block, lower frige tray, front trim piece, reattach the phillips screw, close the door, and give it some time - it took our frige overnight to completely cool down. This is not a tough job, I spent more time figuring out how to access the motor then the actuall replacement. Hope these steps help to speed up your repair! And remeber Red Sox 4 Life!

From instructions found on the site I was directed to the defrost timer part being bad. And from the information others posted that have had the same problem I was able to replace that part by removing the bottom grill just below the door and on the left side was the part. Removing one screw to remove the bracket from the frame and then another screw to remove the part from the bracket. I found it easier to remove the part from the bracket before I pulled the part out so I would have more room to unplug the connector. Just reverse the steps to replace the new part. It took about a day or so for the refrigerator to get to the proper temp.

I visually inspected the compressor and narrowed down the source of the noise to the freezer area. Then I removed the doors and the screws securing the divider panel. Next I removed the bottom panel of the freezer, the styrofoam insullation panel and the evaporator motor. The motor is mounted between two grommets. I replaced the grommet facing the fan blades. The aluminum reflector below the styrofoam insulation panel had also come loose. I reattached it and reassembled the refrigerator in reverse order. The noise is gone!

Ordered the icemaker replacement. unplugged the unit, followed the simple instructions and got it done in less than 30 minutes. It did take a LONG time to start making ice. But it's working now.

I ordered the wrong part, the ice maker assembly, because your diagram was not marked properly. I returned the part and you credited my account. Thanks. Ordered the new bucket. It worked fine. Now I have ice and crushed Ice whenever I want. Thanks.

p.s. I didnt use any tools, but to satisfy you I select nut driver.

Was concerned that new icemaker was quite a bit different than the one we were replacing. Called GE to confirm it was correct.

Went ahead and installed the unit, using the supplied electric cable adapter.

A little difficult to deal with the extra cable, but everything worked OK and it's making ice normally.

Parts Select made this an effortless process. From finding the part, ordering, to the online diagrams.

I'll be back...

I pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and turned off the water to the refrigerator and unplugged it from the wall. After removing the icebucket from the freezer I located the mounting screws, loosened them, unplugged the electrical connection below the icemaker and carefully removed it from the freezer. I unpacked the replacement icemaker, matched it against the original and attached the electrical connection adapter. Using the slots provided on the new icemaker I placed it over the mounting screws after aligning the water inlet pipe properly. I tightened the mounting screws while maintaining the icemaker in a level position. I plugged in the electrical connector. Then I replaced the icebucket, plugged in the refigerator back into the 110VAC outlet, turned on the water and repositioned the refrigerator in it's normal position.

two screws and a connector were removed to replace the timer.
Timer was located on the top front of fridge

Installed the new timer.

Performed self test.turned off ice maker switch four 5 minutes.Then turn on switch,within 10 seconds,pushed ice paddle 3 times,with 1 second in between each push.Push all the way back and release. Ice maker should cycle and squirt water. My ice maker did neither.I unplugged cord from fridge.So i replaced the ice maker.After a couple of screws had ice again !

removed broken bin , slid new ice bin in closed door. I bought the complete part.

I ended up needing to order a new ice maker because the one I had is discontinued. I'm a 65yr old grandma and I did it myself!!!! The hardest part was finding the tool to loosed the nuts. I took the old one out and just put the new one right in it's place. Easy as pie.

My son did it , and showed me what he did when he was finished.

My GE GDS18SBPBLSS is now 21 years old (they do not make them like they used to) so I took extra time to not break any of the brittle old plastics. For this replacement you will only need a Phillips head screwdriver.

Parts list:
2 x PS284959 Fan Motor Grommet
1 x PS2359960 Evaporator Fan Motor Assembly

• The first thing you want to do is to unplug the unit refrigerator to prevent any shorts or the fan from starting while you are handling it.
• The evaporator motor is in the refrigerator section, so leave the freezer door shut to preserve the temperature.
• Open the refrigerator door as much as possible and take out the two vegetable/fruit drawers. If your door is right next to a wall and you cannot open it more than 90 degrees, take the drawer furthest from the door hinge first. Then take out the remaining drawer and gently shimmy the center plastic rail guide to allow you to take it out diagonally.
• The front lip of the floor of the refrigerator is clipped in, so pull the plastic trim forward to remove it. If it does not move, lift the center of the plastic trim piece in front of the screw a bit to convince it loose, but it prying it upwards is not advisable because the ends are under the side walls.
• Once the trim piece is removed, remove the Phillips head screw.
• Pull the plastic floor of the refrigerator towards the front and then up to remove it.
• A large foam block secured down with tape needs to be removed next. Once the tape is loosened, lift the foam out carefully with vapor barrier attached under it. Watch for the two foam pieces at the back wall on each side. If they fall off and drop, find them in the freezer later.
• The fan assembly and bracket will be in view, and my suggestion is to take a photo. This way, you know how it should look when it comes time to reassemble everything.
• To the left rear is a small foam block that is taped down. Removing that will reveal the connector clip for the fan motor’s power line that you squeeze the sides to disconnect. Pull the motor wire out of the foam guide.
• Lift the motor bracket assembly out – it is not attached to anything and sits on the foam block.
• Carefully pull the fan blade off by pulling it straight along the motor shaft.
• Undo the rear motor bracket by unscrewing the two Phillips head screws – the right rear motor bracket screw holds the wire guide in. When undone, take the guide off the wire.
• Once the rear bracket is removed, discard the two motor grommets and the motor.
• Put in the new motor with the new motor grommets into the bracket and screw in the left rear screw.
• Clip on the wire guide on to the new motor wiring and then finish mounting the motor with the right rear screw with the wire guide in place.
• Clean off the fan blade thoroughly before pressing into the shaft. Once on, spin the fan to see if it rotates smoothly and easily. Note: Avoid pressing the fan blade too far down as you do not want it to contact the grommet.
• Place the assembly back into the foam block – use the photo from before as a guide if needed.
• Route the motor cable through the foam groove and clip it into the power connector.
• Plug the refrigerator back in to see if the fan spins and to see that there are no issues. If there are no problems, unplug the unit again and continue the reassembly.
• Place the small foam block back into the rear left to cover the connector area.
• While making sure the vapor barrier is positioned correctly above the coils, put the foam block back into place.
• Clean the plastic floor of the refrigerator and then slide it into place, making sure the back and side are flush. Use the screw hole to align the floor properly and then screw the Phillips head screw back in.
• Clean the front trim piece and then slide it back into place.
• Put the drawers back in.
• Plug the refrigerator back in and leave the door closed for a while so the unit cools the internal temperature back down.