GCA23LBYAFSS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

about an hour to figure out what was causing the vibration and noise and about an hour to put it back together and 5 min. to order a new fan blade thank you.It started making noise during thanksgiving dinner so we toke it apart after dinner and I cut the other 2 blade to match the broken one so to cut down on the noise and vibration semi put it back together and 7 days later the part arrived.

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.

followed part select video instructions

Took set screw and allen wrench and screwed set screw into place.

Used a 2" putty knife to lift off the old switch. Disconnected the broken switch and replaced it with the new one. Took about 1 minute.

as per video

frig ran to much and pump on to long noticed light switch sticking when door was opened replaced the light switch took care of the problem the switch controlles more than just the light popped out with a screwdriver careful to find the side of it that has the retainer clip on it and the direction of the switch in correct position so it goes off when you close the door flat side facing the back a 2 minute job at most

Installed shelf.

no brainer,watched the video,worst thing was to thaw the freezer,it was realy frosted,works like new,very happy thank you.

The thermostat was set at 0 for the freezer, but at 37 for the refrigerator. The refrigerator was showing a temperature of 20 degrees and would not stay at 37. After learning the 3 choices it could be (air inlet cover, thermostat, and computer), I went for the air inlet on the basis of percentage of repair. With this particular refrigerator with this problem; this is repair has the highest chance of success. Nice on-line decision making tool! I went with choices of previous buyers and followed previous buyers instructions. All I needed was a couple of Phillips head screw drivers, and cleaning the dirt I was finding in the refrigerator was the biggest job.

This website is awesome! It basically tells you exactly what is wrong with your fridge. Our food side of the refrigerator was getting way too cold. Some items actually froze. I looked here and it said the fan/ damper assembly was broken. All I did was remove the part they said was broken and sure enough the little damper door that lets freezer air into the fridge side was broken. I ordered the part, replaced it and presto the refrigerator holds perfect temperature again! The replacement was super easy...only tool needed was a screwdriver and 15minutes! Thanks

I can't tell you how luck I feel after finding your website I ordered the temperature sensor after watching one of your videos on-line and the repair went just as on the video. I pulled the "bad" sensor out, and replaced it with the new one. Keep in mind that this is the first time I ever touch an appliance, needless to say I'm feeling pretty good about that! All in all it took me about 20 minutes to complete my repair and it now has been about 4 days and the refrigerator is working like new again!

Located temperature sensor on condenser in the freezer section( as per instructional video ). Cut off bad sensor with wire cutter then soldered on the new sensor and sealed with electrical shrink wrap.