TFJ20JADAAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

I cleaned out the door and removed the top hinge. Lifted the door and layed it on the floor. Removed bottom hinge from refridgerator installed new hinge. Replaced plastic stop on door. Used broke hinge to align it and tighten. Lifted door onto new hinge and installed top hinge. Instead of buying $35 dollar hinge buy 2 plastic stops. You'll have to drill out a rivet on bottom hinge but it will save over $30.00.

Turned the wire protector to the side. Turned out the old bulb and replaced it with the new. Turned the wire protector back in place and I'm like new.

Not really sure of the age of this fridge, as we bought the house 2.5 yrs ago.

I'm one who if it can go wrong, it will, so not realizing how stable the door was from just having the top hinge and the magentic gasket, I declined to prop the door up on blocks the way some guys say the did, and instead removed the top hinge and lifted the whole door off the bottom hinge. I traced the outline of all parts with a felt pen before removing them, figuring I'd need witness marks to help with realignment after the install.
Nut driver might've been an easier choice than the socket set, but the only ones I have a brittle and I've broken the 5/16"...
All parts came out/off easily. The new bottom hinge and the old top hinge (both on the fridge side) practically aligned itself right on my marks, and the new cam (door side) just needed to be held while the screws were tightened. I used the extensioni rod off the ratchet to drive the screws most of the way (making a nutdriver out of it).
Parts were exactly as advertised, although there was a note in the package that stressed the need to replace both parts at the same time due to material differences in the original and replacement parts. Since the cam is sold separately without the hinge, it would be good for the website to reflect that before the purchase is made. Also, even though it was only the cam on the hinge and not the whole hinge that needed to be replaced, I could've bought hte two cams separately and drilled out the rivet as another person had done, but for the $5 difference in cost, why bother?
Door now closes itself as designed, albeit slower than the freezer side, but the Wife says it always did that.
Also interesting that when first assembled, the door DIDN'T close itself at first... not sure it it needed to wear a litle, or if it just needed the added weight of having items back in the door shelves.
Love the great website... just typed in the model number and the parts I needed, complete with drawings to make sure, were right there. Great UI.

took the panel out of the back of the freezer removed heating element put 2 screws back in the heating element for 2 screws back in the back of the freezer and the shelves

Removed the internal cover and used a hair drier to defrost the evaporator. Unpluged the conectorto the harnes. Placed new part in and pluged it in, replaced cover and tested.

remove screws in back panel and remove , defrost coils wit hair dryer,remove two screws that hold defrost heater unplug wire's.plug in new heater put screws back in ,put panel and screws in ...done

Remove the hinge cap on top, the loosen the bolts, remove the hinge. Pick up the door from the lower hinge, lay it down and place the cam riser on the lower hinge. Replace the door, install the top hinge and check the alignment and you are done.

Removed the evaporator panel's cover. The ice covers up the defrost heater. Use heat gun to melt the ice on the defrost heater then removed the 2 screws, pull it out and check its resistance (it was open). After replaced the deforst heater, the refrig. works OK.

Supported the door on the bottom them removed the 3 screws holding hinge to door. Installed new hinge assembly. Had a litle trouble installng screw in bottom of door due to alignment issues with cam & metal piece. It finally went in when I loosened 2nd screw in bottom of door.

Easy

The repair stories for this part are helpfull. The only problem I came accross was figuring out which part I needed to order. The parts diagram only showed one part labled 230, but when I used the drop down box to order the part there were 2 parts labled 230 for 2 diffrent prices. I called ge customer care and found out the less expencive part listed as 230 does not come with the wires etc. . The more expensive piece has the wire harness and every thing needed. I went with the more expensive part and it was a snap to install. . . .

Disconnect the broken one and install the new one

Take off the panel in the freezer side to expose the heater, defrost all the ice. Remove the screws that hold the heater in place and remove the wires from each end. Plug in the new unit and replace screws. Replace screws in the freezer panel, to complete the instulation. It will take the most time to defrost the ice, and clean up the water. To help defroct I used my wifes hair dryer. (She did not know it)

1. Unplugged refrigerator from wall power socket.
2. Removed the 2 1/4'' screws and removed the back panel in the freezer section
3. Defrosted all of the ice off the coils and heater using a blower dryer which took about 10 minutes and lots of towels.
4. I replaced the defrost heater by following the provided instructions. I had a single element defroster which was replaced by a double element defroster. The instructions provided showed how to modify the wiring and were simple enough to follow.
5. Installed back panel and plugged in the refrigerator.

I checked on the defroster 1 week later and was pleased to see no ice on the coil. Problem solved.