TFJ20JABGAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

After easily finding the lower hinge here through Google, I paid about $30 w/shipping and had the part in 2 days. My Hotpoint fridge was made in 1987, but it still runs well...why not fix the door?

Part repair couldn't be easier. No instructions needed...just empty the fridge door of food, remove top hinge, replace bottom hinge and plastic bushing, and reverse order to button everything up.

PartSelect.com did a great job supplying a high-quality replacement hinge for my old fridge, and it's got a new lease on life now!

My right door (food door on side-by-side) stopped closing - I found pieces of the plastic washer (cam riser) on the floor. After reading the stories on the web I decided to order the new part - and YES there are many universal parts that work for Kenmore/GE. The part comes with two parts (hinge and cam riser) - you should install both to insure a good fit. I took 3 blocks of wood and a shim and supported the bottom center of the door, unscrewed the hinge off and dropped it out (3 minutes). The "only" tough part was unscrewing the cam riser from the bottom of the door - it required a very small socket and you will only have about 6-8 inches of work space. Be sure you have a socket that fits before you take the hinge off. The entire repair took less than 30 minutes and contrary to some of the posts, you DO NOT need to take the door off. Good as new again!

I followed the easy instructions included with the replacement part I ordered. I removed the back of the freezer, unpluged the broken heater and replace with the new heater. The heater just plugged in, very very simple. I put the back panel bach on with the two screws and it perfectly. Not back for a girl!

The repair itself is super easy. The heater harness comes with instructions that is easy to follow. The only issue I encountered is that my refrigerator had 1 heating element and you will get one with 2 heating elements. Because of this, the new connectors are on 1 side. Since my old heater had 1 connector on each end, 1 wire is too short if you route both wires the same way as before. The kit comes with an extra wire and directs you to splice the short wire and attach the extra wire with the included connector. I figured a refrigerator with a spliced wire is not a good combination so I rerouted the short wire to the other side along with the other wire. This allowed me to connect both wires without using the extra wire.

Removed shelves and light bulb cover. Then removed the two screws that hold the back wall of freezer compartment in place and removed cover. Thawed ice jam with hair dryer. Removed the two screws holding heating element in place and pulled element out far enough to disconnect the two wires. Reconnected wires to new element and put everything back together.
Installation instructions which came with new part were accurate and very easy to understand.
It took about 30 minutes total.

I had done this repair almost exactly 2 years ago. I also read in this forum about a guy who said he had to do it every 2 years... bad part design.

However, GE has replaced the original single element with a dual element, and that is what PartSelect sent me. I had to splice one wire, but the instructions were clear and it went like a breeze. Oh, and the part arrived less than 3 days after I ordered it with standard shipping. Way to go, guys! Thanks!

After reading posts on this website, I determined I needed to replace the defrost heater. Removed heater to take a closer look and after testing with a voltmeter determined it needed replacing. Ordered part online and could not believe how quickly it arrived. Blue wire that travels down the left side of the freezer coils had some damage on the end of the plastic connector so was pleased to find that I was able to splice the extension wire provided in the defrost heater kit onto the blue wire and dispose of the damaged end. It's been about 10 days and I do believe my problem has been solved!

This is a repair INSIDE the freezer. Turned off unit.. Unplugged. Removed shelving on freezer side. Removed freezer draw rails (4 screws total.) Removed 2 screws that hold rear panel in place at rear of freezer side (this is inside the freezer). Carefully removed metal panel by pulling from the left (side that does not have shelving clips. As noted on this website and other users, the freezer coils were incased in ice. Thawed with a hair dryer (put towels in bottom of freezer-ice was pretty heavy in mine). When thawed, remove heater element by removing 2 screws that hold it to the aluminum bracket. Then remove wires on each end. Simply install the new emelment by attaching wires back on heater and screw new unit in place. (My original heating element was a single element-you could very easily see where the heating coil inside the glass tube had shorted out. My replacement heater was a 2 element unit. This did not pose any problem at all-installs in the same manner-good directions are provided.). Replace all parts in reverse order. It's that simple. Saved probably $150. This site is wonderful! Fast shipping and the users install tips/notes are fantastic!! Will shop here again if I have to (have a Maytag washer that isn't draining and going into spin-bet the fix is on here somewhere!

Removed shelves and storage drawer from freezer.

Removed the two screws that mount the rear panel cover at the back of the freezer
compartment. Disconnected the grounding clip on the cover exposing the evaporator coils and the defrosting heater at the bottom.

Removed the remaining ice chunks on the coils.

Removed the two screws mounting the single element defroster. Disconnected the wires on each end of the defroster.

The replacement defroster was a two element heater and the instructions clearly showed how to re-route the single wire from the left side to the right side. The harness kit included a short piece of wire and a crimp connector to ensure the length would be sufficient to connect the new heater.

The only item missing in the kit was the RTV required to water proof the wire connection. A quick run to the hardware store took care of that.

Reassembled in reverse order, plugged the refrigerator back in and by the next day temperatures were normal in both the freezer and refrigerator compartment.

A service repairman had quoted $60.00 for the defrost heater plus $250.00 for installation. Using parts from PartSelect the total cost was $44.00 including shipping and about 30 minutes of my time. I'll take the savings anyday.

Thanks for the easy to read instructions and multiple status email notes of the order.

The repair is pretty straight forward it is the preparation that takes time.
The food in the freezer portion of our side by side began thawing. We tried adjusting the temperature level to colder but to no avail. When we started emptying the freezer compartment I noticed a large amount of frost/ice at the back.
I turned the control to off and began defrosting the freezer using my wife's hair dryer. :) Once the outside layer was defrosted I removed the panel covering the coils. They were packed solid with ice and took over 30 minutes to defrost. Be sure to use a pan or container to catch some of the water because the catch pan under the refrigerator isn't large enough.
Once everything was defrosted I removed the heater tube assembly (at bottom of coils)it was a glass tube with a coiled wire element inside. The element had shorted out and the tube appeared black in that area.
I replaced this single tube heater with the double tube recommend on the partselect.com site. This required re-routing one of the wires and splicing in the plug/wire assembly contained in the repair kit.
Simply followed the instructions, reassembled everything and turned the control back on. No more problems. A very easy repair for anyone mechanically inclined and who owns a few basic tools.

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.

put the gratefruit knife behind the old switch pooped it out pluged the new one in piece of cake 5min.even vacumed the dust off the coil

Easy repair. No need to remove the door. Simply prop up the door with blocks or books - remove hinge and riser assembly - replace with new parts. Total repair time about 15 minutes. Tools needed only an open end wrench.

Extremely easy repair, the hardest part was getting the old switch out. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to squeeze the tabs in and it came right out.

First I removed the freezer compartment backplate by unscrewing three screws. Then I unscrewed the 2 screws holding the heater element in place. While holding it in one hand I pulled the wires off, one on each end of the element. Then replaced it with new part and put it all back together. Piece of cake.