GTS18ICSWRBB General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I applied some tips learned by reading other reviews. So before I started I grabbed my trusty vise grip pliers and a small screw driver. I locked onto the switch actuator, the part that the refrigerator door pushes in, with the vise grips and pulled on it just hard enough to get the screw driver inserted in the right side to push in the catch clip so the switch could be pulled out further each time the catch clip was depressed to the next detent. Then I used the screw driver on the left site to encourage the switch past the detents on the left and very quickly the switch was out of the mount. The wires from the refrigerator pulled out with the old switch. I unplugged the old switch from the wires and plugged in the new switch and shoved the new switch back into the mount, wiggled it a couple of times to make sure it was secure and the job was done. Once I applied the vise gripes at first, the whole job took less than a minute.

when the ice maker runs through its cycle, you should be able to hear the solinoid valve open, letting water into the ice maker. this was not happening for me. you can dissconnect the plug on the valve and put the two probes from a multimeter in the plug and set for AC volts. when the ice maker runs its cycle, at the end you should see the meter jump as power is applied to the valve then turns off. this means you do have power to the valve so the valve is defective. turn off water supply to the valve, disconnect the water supply tube to the valve, remove the screw holding the valve, disconnect supply tube to icemaker then hook up supply tube to bottom of valve, screw braket back to refrig, install suppy back to valve, turn water back on and check for leaks and your ice maker should be working properly again.
these guys were really fast on delivery too!

Unplugged the refrigerator and turned off the water to the ice maker valve. Removed the water line at both ends (small crescent wrench). Removed the cover from the water valve area (two Phillips head screws). Removed the valve (two screws - small nut driver) and pulled off the two electrical connections.

Installed the new valve with the reverse procedure though the holding screws didn't line up with the existing holes in the refrigerator metal frame. I let it go with one screw holding ... didn't have a drill with me to make a second screw hole.

Replaced the old water line (from the wall to the valve) with a steel-reinforced hose.

Cut the female metal connector from the old water line up to the freezer and it fit nicely into the push-in outlet from the new valve. Turned everything back on and waited for the ice maker to cycle.
To my dismay, the leak had been coming from the plastic line that goes from the valve up to the ice maker. It had split, spraying water. Replaced that and everything works fine.

Lesson learned: Don't assume water near the icemaker valve actually is from the valve or its water connections. Watch the whole system cycle a couple of times to see what's really happening. Glad to have a new valve but the basic problem was the icemaker tubing.

Could not haven been easier. Simply unplug fridge, remove air duct mounted on rear panel, release panel itself, pull fan blade off, disconnect grounding wire, detach fan motor bracket, disconnect wire harness to release fan motor, install new fan motor and reconnect, secure with bracket, reconnect grounding wire, reposition fan blade onto motor shaft, reinstall rear panel and secure screws. Remount air duct and plug appliance back in. VOILA. All done in less than 15 minutes!!!

The Fridge and freezer were not very cold except for in the very back of the freezer (where the coils are). So I opened up the back of the freezer by first removing the dome light cover and removing all the visible screws. I then lifted up and pulled out the vent in the center of the back panel and removed the two remaining screws on the back panel. At that point I removed the back panel exposing the coils and fan. I saw that the fan was not spinning so I used a screw driver to manually turn the defrost timer found on the top of the inside of the fridge. Once I had turned the defrost timer once complete rotation, and the fan didn't turn on, I was pretty sure that it was the fan. I still wasn't sure that the fan was the only problem, but I couldnt see anything else that wasn't working properly. I decided to take a chance and order the fan motor (not the entire assembly. it is easy to replace the moter only leaving the original fan blades and housing). Once I got the part, I unplugged the old fan motor, put in the new fan motor, and pugged it in and it started spinning right away. I put everything back together the same way I took it apart and it has worked great ever since.

The valve is not a direct replacement,seems they
are not available,had to bend mtg. brkt. so valve
would mount in same position and cut off screw
type pressure fitting so could slide discharge
tube into new type connection, no instructions
come with replacement valve,asked several
places for info wanted to be sure before cutting
off end of discharge tube. Now valve shuts off
but water still in base of refrigerator must be a
leak in inlet tube behind freezer compartment.

Poped out with screwdriver the old swithch and unplugged the two wires. Plugged in the wires to the new swithch and pushed it back in the hole where the old switch was before.

This was a simple parts replacement. I had replaced the cracked plastic tube a few weeks earlier and destroyed the retaining star washer inside the solenoid valve while removing the old one. It worked for a while and then started to leak when the tube had partially worked its way out. The star washer is not a replaceable part so this repair was simply replacing the valve with a new one. It is very straight forward - disconnect the electric plug, remove the old valve, insert the tube in the new valve (it goes through the plastic bushing in the valve - do not remove the bushing - it can easily be mistaken for a shipping plug) and reattach the supply line being careful to avoid kinking it. Reattach the valve, the electric plug and support clips for both the supply line and the plactic line to the ice maker.

Just replaced it.

I removed one screw to loosen the cardboard panel that covered the old valve and one screw to remove the valve assembly. I disconnected the two wiring connections and unscrewed the two water line connections. Replacement was really easy since the bracket was the same as the old valve. The down stream water connection was different for the new (push in) than the old (threaded) but I cut the old threaded connector off and figured out that the new push in connection was solid (directions would have really helped here) Reconnected the inlet tubing and electrical wires and replace the panel and it was done.

While the switch did last for 9 years, the design is poor due to the failure mode. The failure should be to fail off or not able to turn on the lights which would be inconvenient but would not warm the refrigerator contents. Arcing at the contacts eventually caused the switch to "weld" closed. It is not obvious that this is occurring so it took some time to recognize why the temp inside the ref was high while the freezer was OK. Replacing the switch was easy once it was recognized as the problem. All that was required to replace the switch was to remove the screws holding a fiber cover and then pulling off the aluminum cap which covered the switches. Unplug the switch an squeeze the keeper on the switch to release it and pull down. Pop the replacement switch in place and plug the wires harness back in. All in all it took much less time to replace than it has to write this up. T Pope

The existing light switch was very hard to remove. I ended up having to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. Once it was out, it was very easy to put in the replacement and it seems to be working fine.

The new gasket was a little out of shape, because of the way it had to be shipped, however, I unpacked it, shaped it like it should have been, and just let it sit for a few days. Time to install the gasket and it was so easy...just popped out the old one and slipped in the new one, and it is working perfectly.
Thanks so much

Unplugged the appliance for safety. Removed two 1/4" screws that held the assembly in place. Carefully removed the wire guard that retains the glass shield. Unscrewed old light bulb and replaced with new part. Reversed the steps after cleaning glass cover.

First, using a nut driver, I removed icemaker and back panel inside freezer. I unhooked the wire connectors at each end of the heater defrost element and replaced with new element. I reinstalled the back panel and the icemaker.
Second, using the same nut driver I removed the casing located inside fridge on the top. I pulled the casing down & unhooked the wiring harness. I removed the control temp switch which was held in by two clips. I replaced with new switch, plugged harness back in, reinstalled casing and BINGO....it is as good as new....beats buying a new refrigerator anyday!!!!
THANK YOU Bernard S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Mom of three boys