GTS18KHPDRBB General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Unplugged refrigerator Removed the cover in freezer compartment
Removed old thermostat and installed new
Replaced cover and plugged in refrigerator

with a jewelry screwdriver I pried the lock tab in and pulled switch down carefully, the hardest part was that the power wire connector was stuck on good but the pliers and the jewelry screwdriver was its match for a bout 5 minute for one connection a simple pull off prong connection. After the wire connected back to switch it popped back in SNAPP

Pop out switch, pull wires, attach wires to new switch and pop back in. Easy smeasy!

Installed it by hand with my son and myself. Hard ot figure it out and found another part broken. Did not figure out how the screws went in or what they attached to.

Find a video on youtube. Remove 6 screws. Pull the Styrofoam part up before removing the panel. Unplug and Remove the fan assembly.
You will need a NUT DRIVER to take the bracket off the backing plate.
I ordered the red grommet and the red bumper. You need TWO of the red grommets if that is the problem. My freezer was about 8 years old, and the grommets were worn and compressed, the bumper was not. Replacing these parts DID NOT FIX the problem. I needed a new motor.
I probably disassembled and reassembled this stuff about 7 times before I got all the parts and tools. Each time I had to unload the freezer.

I followed the video for my model refrigerator on parts select. My hint: when returning the back panel of the freezer, it's slightly adjustable left and right to avoid grazing the fan.

I followed your video and completely dismantled the refrigerator evaporator motor, fan, brackets, and grommet, I completely cleaned the refrigerator including the cooling coils. I then ordered the evaporator motor ,fan, grommets, lid bumper, and brackets. The order would take a week to arrive. In the meantime I cleaned and reassembled all the old parts, waiting for the new ones to come. Guess what! The refrigerator was quiet as a mouse. I really did not need the new parts, but I kept them anyway just for good luck. Not bad for a refrigerator that's twenty four years old.

Had to defrost the freezer to melt off all the ice before servicing. Once that was done the icemaker replacement only took about 15-30 minutes to complete. The new icemaker came with many accessories and adaptors that were not needed and the instructions were based on replacing an older model and not really clear for my model. They mentioned not being able to use the new stripper but it was exactly the same as the old one so I left the new one in place. All in all it was easy and did the job.

I didn’t do the repair because I ordered two grommets. When they arrived, one of the packages was empty! Instead of just sending me another one, they refunded the part so I still need one. By the way, I was not refunded half the shipping either which was more than the part itself.

I have not yet done the repair. After watching this repair video two problems came to mind. First I only ordered one grommet not knowing that there were two (or more I don't yet know). The second problem is that this video must be for a fridge from like the 1940, but it looks NOTHING like mine from 2008. The manual shows a bazillion parts and frankly I'm just a wee bit afraid to get started, and I am generally very handy, buuuttttttttt I don't know about this one

Turned water supply off; pressed dispenser sw to release presure ; cut tubing holding reservoir ; nuit driver to release screw holding reservoir and pulled out ; took outside and used hose nozzle to try to clear; did not clear at first then took weedeater string and disloged something and water flowed freely; turned out had to change waer solenoid valve (both) as the one for the water dispener was also plugged which did not show up before.
P.S. Had back flow water thru system before and changes of parts. Water flowed freely.

Remove ice maker and all of it's accessories in order to remove the panel covering the fan. Don't drop the screws!
Unscrew the lower fan bracket. You will see the lower red rubber grommet. Hold fan motor with one hand and push the fan off the shaft and into the compartment above. Then remove the round retainer thing below it by holding it and pulling down on the motor assembly. Install new grommet on upper part. and put it all together.
REMEMBER where the fan is on the shaft. It has about one inch of shaft placement. I put mine so that most of it was above the hole that the fan goes into and about 20 percent showing below the sheet metal.
Also check to see if your fan is damaged. Mine was not.
This refrigerator has been awesome! I have had many issues but have been able to fix all of them for the last 15 years!

Up plug from wall removed rear access cover in freezer let thaw out and replace two wire sensor had previously checked out knowing the defrost strip was good and the defrost thermostat was visually deformed and tested open at freezing and 40 degrees

Bent the motor bracket down, then using a rat tail file, elongated the holes in the back panel of the refrigerator to secure the fan in the "centered" position. This was a problem that was with the refrig. since it was made. The parts involved were perfect. NO problem at all installing them.

Separately (from a different site) purchased new compressor fan and motor. I purchased the grommets here because the other site listed the grommets as temporarily out of stock. I did watch one of the videos on PartSelect about the grommet replacement. Repair was pretty simple, biggest challenge was getting to the screw on the far side of the motor. Removed the two screws holding the fan motor into place. Removed motor and blade. Reinstalled with new fan blade, new grommet and new motor.