TFX20SABKWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

After viewing on Youtube I knew exactly what to expect in the repair process. It was easy, easy and saved me a 90 dollar service call plus an over priced replaement part. Time to repair was 25 minutes and included my kid taking the screwdriver.

Followed the video on the computer. Was fixed in no time. Works great.

0. As a safety precaution, unplug the range or hit the relevant fuse breaker before you start. You might also want to grab a flashlight. Definitely do not try to do this while the oven is hot.
1. Pinch the wire over the light bulb cap to remove it. This is inside the oven at the back.
2. Pop off the hemispherical glass cap.
3. Unscrew the old light bulb, and screw the new light bulb in its place.
4. Put the cap back.
5. Secure the cap by putting the wire back in its slots on the cap.

No tools needed, the cap is just held in place with pressure from the wire.

I found the frig not cooling as good as it used to and did some research on the net and found some common failures. I started with the easiest test and ohmed out the defrost heater and also noticed it had blackened spots on both ends of element. The ohm reading confirmed it to be open. Replacement was easy for a "diesel" mechanic so basically anybody that can follow directions should be able to replace thiers as well.

I unloaded the door and took the cover off at the top of the upper hinge (1 phillips screw) I then unbolted the upper hinge (2-28mm bolts) and lifted the door off. I was surprised how light it was. I laid the door down and installed the new cam riser on the door. I then unbolted the lower hinge (2-28mm bolts)and installed the new hinge.
I lubed the 2 hinges with vaseline and put the door back on the lower hinge. I then reinstalled the upper hinge and cover. It took about 15 minutes, and a lot of that was cleaning up. Oh yes, to get at the lower hinge you have to pull off the lower grate that covers the coils. It just snaps off and on. It was a very easy job.

It seems my refrigerator was old enough [1987] that the spacing on the holes for the bracket were different than the part that is currently sold. The holes on the new bracket were 30 mm apart on center, but on the old bracket they were 20 mm apart on center.

Clamped the old and new brackets together in a vise to use the old bracket for spacing and drilled a new hole through the 4mm of steel.

After which it was a snap installing the new hinge assembly.

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.

Parts select sugested checking the freezer side on the side by side if there was frost on the back panel. I took the back panel off on the freezer side inside the freezer. I found that the freezer coils were full of ice.Had to use a hair dryer to melt all the ice. The heater element was bad on the bottom of the freezer. I ordered a new defrost element an installed in 40 minutes and is running fine.You can still use the refrigerator until the new part comes in if you melt off the coils.It will last about 2 weeks.

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.

First I removed the two screws that hold the element in place. I then pulled the element out about 3 inches and disconnected the two wires..

First I placed a 2x4 under the frig door to keep it in place while I removed the hinge on the bottom of the door. I removed two screws holding the hinge and one screw holding the washer in place. I also loosened a screw adjacent to the washer so that I could more easily remove and replace the washer. The parts went in easily. The repair took much less time than I anticipated.

I had this problem before and I knew it was related to the heater located in the freezer section. With the help of the drawings in the parts selct webpage I was able to identify the part I needed within 5 minutes. I ordered the part abd in 3 days I had it delivered.
I followed the instructions that came with the part step by step and I got my refrigerator up mand running in about 45 minutes.

Well, first I googled the problem and the model and found my way pretty quick to you guys. I sent a note to Tom P., who confirmed that I was looking at the right things. Then I offloaded everything from the freezer and fridge to the RV fridge and chest freezer, unplugged it and used my hair dryer to melt the ice on back plate so I could remove it.

I removed the two small screws at the top of the back, below the icemaker and light bulb, and slid the back cover up and out. Since my coils were pretty heavily iced, it took about half an hour to melt enough that I could get the defrost heater out and check it for continuity, which it failed.

The replacement design is slightly different (2 heater coils vs 1 and connectors on one end), but functionally the same. When putting the new one in, you need to re-run the blue wire down the same side as the pink wire because the connectors are on one end. Mine was long enough to work, but they include a splice kit in case yours isn't.

It took me longer to get the cover back on than to replace the heater assembly! Everything is back to normal, had ice cubes within a couple of hours...
Thanks for your help!

Considering that I am a woman who knows nothing about repairing or let alone anything about refridgerator parts etc.... It was very easy.

First I went on line to see if I could even figure out what may be the problem with my refridgerator. After hearing similar stories on this site I thought I would try to order a new heating element since it wasn't that expensive and hopefully save me lots in $$$ have a repair man come out.
I removed the shelves in the freezer portion and then removed the back panel. I had to wait for the freezer to defrost, then I removed the burned out heating element which is about 10 inches long and replaced it with a new one.
It was so simple and probably would have taken less time if I had the freezer already defrosted.
Now the refrigerator is working like new and I fixed it all by myself without the help of my husband!!!!

This fridge had this same problem 4 other times, each time about 1 yr apart. Being as I considered myself ''mechanically challenged'' my wife always contacted her favorite appliance repair man. However, he was unavailable, so wife was gearing up to go ahead, bite the bullet, and buy a new fridge. We really didn't want another bill to worry with so she suggested I try the repair myself. She'd watched the repairman do it the last couple of times and ensured me it would be ''a piece of cake'' plus save us some bucks and put off an added expense at least a little longer. Ordering the part from this site was simple. The fridge did have the old 1 bulb element and the new one was the 2 bulb element so I was afraid I'd have to do some splicing, but lucked out and the wire was easily redirected and reached without any stress or problems to plug into the new part. She watched the install video and was able to talk me through it without any problems. We saved at least $125 install bill, plus put off making a big item purchase a while longer. I hope the new 2 element defroster does a better job and we might just get 10 more years out of 'old faithful'!