GBE21DYKFRFS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

The handle was already broken. Wish I would have checked the mating clip surface of the handle. But, after getting all set up saw this problem, and ordered a handle. Taking off and installing is simple. Tap the freezer handle end to the left using a soft mallet on the right end. I suspect a hammer would work, but without protecting the handle could bend it or at least scratch the paint. I suppose a folded rag and a hammer may work. Anyway, once off, replacing the clips on the door is a Phillips head screwdriver to unscrew and replace the door clips. Then, carefully tapped the handle from the left end to slide the mating piece in the handle back on and tap tightly. There were many YouTubes on the thing since it seems to me to be a very poor design. But maybe we are too hard on the handle???

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.

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.

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!

Removed ice bucket, and unplugged ice maker. Removed light cover. Removed ice maker. Pulled fan blades straight up and removed. Pushed new blades on to motor shaft. Fairly easy .

Replaced Temperature Sensor and now it is getting cold.

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

Totally followed the instructions of the video that came with the sensor. Unplugged the the fridge, defrosted the freezer. Cut off the main sensor that usually is the one that goes out. Installed the the new sensor with new wire terminals, crimped them and covered with electrical tape. Fridge works like a charm. Partsselect is excellent. Saved me a few hundred dollars versus having a GE Tech come and do it.

Took cover off, pushed blade on, and replaced cover

Repair was made simply and quickly by removing broken parts and replacing with new. No problems

On the internet forum I read that if the control board needs to be changed , do the same for the Run Capacitor/relay.
The Ge profile refrigerator was 15 years old. First I disconnect the power cord,
I removed the control board at the back of the fridge, replaced it with a new one and did the same for the run capacitor.
Plugged the power cord back and it works fine. GE repair service did not want to come to do it. DIY is fine.

Unplugged the unit took out valve and water line put new valve and water line back just the way it was in 45 min had ice cubes being made no leaks

Very limited working space in this model. Must remove grill and disconnect elect connector on motor. One additiional tool suggested: Extendable rod with magnet on end because you will most likely drop something. First, remove two screws holding motor to metal strap. Tool must be inserted between blades of fan in order to get to the screws and this is the hard part. Fan and motor are removed as one assy and this takes some manuvering. Might have to remove front screw on metal strap to gain more room. I did not attempt to remove fan shroud. My fan was attached to the motor shaft with a metal clip. Spray a good lubricant such as PB Blaster on the shaft, wait a few minutes and press it or tap it out gently. Save misc parts on old motor for reassembly. Your set up may be different so check out everything before starting.

What an awesome site! After putting in my model number and finding the problem I was having, I simply picked the 2 parts that were most likely to solve the problem. I bought a defrost thermostat, and defrost heater. To a high certainty, they would solve my problem. They didn't however! I ended up having to buy a temperature sensor on another order a few weeks later when the problem resurfaced! My own fault. I should have bought it the first time. As others have written: the longest part of the job is defrosting the ice from the coil. One thing I did that I didn't see suggested: plug the drain hole below the coil. I put a couple towels in the bottom of the freezer and ran the hair dryer. Didn't take long. I read that the amount of water created will overflow the pan under the refrigerator, so I plugged the drain hole. Once you clean that mess up, the repair is pretty straight forward. Great site. Even through I had to make two separate purchases, I still saved a lot of money. Thanks!

First, I had to remove the freezer drawer front. This is 8 large phillips head screws. then remove the plastic cover over the drawer slides. to do this, remove the white center screw from the slide near where it attaches to the drawer front. then the plastic cover will slide off pushing to the rear of the slide. take off the slides from the freezer walls by removing the phillips screws and pulling them towards you. They have tabs/slots in the rear. remove the center tray support and support bars, too. the icemaker has to come out, that is just 2 phillips screws but you also have to disconnect the electrical connector. just squeeze the locking wings and rock/pull. a screw in the top center of the back panel comes out. Lift and pull the back panel out. The evaporator coil appears. The thermocouple is attached to the coil in the upper right. Cut that one's wires and take it out. Just cut back about an inch from the back of the thermocouple, there is not much slack. Seperate and strip the wires back about 3/8 inch. Do the same for the new thermocouple. I twisted the wires together and used a solder sleeve to join the wires. The sleeve is just a little plastic tube that has a ring of solder in it that melts with heat gun heat. You can join the wires using butt connectors or whatever method appeals to you. I just wound the extra wire and put a cable tie around it, there is plenty of hiding space in that area. Make sure the new thermocouple is contacting the coil firmly.At this point, for a test, I left everything apart, propped the drawer against the opening and plugged the fridge in. Note that the evaporator fan will not start spinning immediately! It will just sit there making little bumps like it wants to go. The temp in the coil has to get settled before the electronics in the refridge will tell the fan to spin. It takes maybe 20 minutes. Reassemble. Fridge and freezer work great. It does take several hours for all to get cold again.