GTR18ABMBRWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

1) TURNED POWER OFF FROM REFRIGERATOR 2) REMOVED THE FREEZER SHELF FIRST BY GENTLY TAPPING THE LEFT SIDE UP AND OUT THEN THE RIGHT SIDE UP AND OUT 3) REMOVED THE 2 PHILLIPS SCREWS HOLDING THE EVAPORATIVE FAN COVER IN PLACE 4) GENTLY PUSHED THE COVER UP AND MAKING SURE THE 2 CLIPS WERE NOT DAMAGED 5) VERY GENTLY PUSHED UP ON THE STYRO FOAM SHIELD GRASPING IT FROM THE BOTTOM, BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO CRACK OR DAMAGE THIS 6) THEN REMOVED 4 OF THE PHILLIPS SCREWS HOLDING THE BACK PANEL 7) THEN REMOVED THE 2 SCREWS HOLDING THE FAN MOTOR IN POSITION ON THE BACK COVER AND LAID THAT ASIDE 8) I COULD THEN SEE THE MOTOR SO I UNCLIPPED THE RED/DARK WIRE CLIP FROM THE HARNESS WITH MY FINGERS, THEN TOOK MY NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS AND GENTLY PULLED UP ON THE GREEN GROUND WIRE 9) I THEN REMOVED THE 2 PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWS HOLDING THE MOTOR BRACKET TO THE WALL OF THE FREEZER 10) THEN REMOVED THE ENTIRE MOTOR AND PUT THAT ON THE KITCHEN TABLE 11) TOOK MY NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS AND VERY, VERY GENTLY PRIED OFF THAT LITTLE METAL RING HOLDING THE FAN BLADE ON (TRICKY SO LEFT UP GENTLY)...I BOUGHT ADDITIONAL IN CASE I DAMAGED IT 12) TOOK MY 5/16 NUT DRIVER AND UNSCREWED THE TOP METAL BRACKET HOLDING THE MOTOR 13) LIFTED THE MOTOR OFF AND LOOKED AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM GROMMETS TO SEE IF DAMAGED OR CRACKED (I BOUGHT ADDITIONAL GROMMETS IN CASE THEY WERE CRACKED OR DAMAGED, EASY FIX) 14) THEN ATTACHED THE NEW MOTOR AND BASICALLY SIMPLY DID EVERYTHING IN REVERSE TO INSTALL THE NEW MOTOR. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR SCREWS IN ORDER SO YOU CAN IDENTIFY WHICH PART THEY CAME FROM. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT PINCH AND WIRES WHEN RE-INSTALLING THE MOTOR. SAVED ME A REPAIR PERSON CALL.

Took out old put new in. Watched a u tube, no problems

Removed the door by removing the two screws holding it on. Do not try to do this repair with the door attached. Easily removed the old gasket. Getting the new one on the door was EXTREMELY difficult. I couldn't do it. After 90 minutes, I gave up and called my appliance repairman. When he arrived, he and I worked together to get the new gasket on the door. It took 2 sets of hands to do this. It still took us about 40 minutes. My repairman had a few choice words about the design of the system holding the gasket on the door. Ditto for me. So the cost of my repair was doubled because I had to pay the repairman to help me attach the new gasket. I should have just bought a new fridge.

Inspected freezer because food was not freezing, getting cold, but not freezing. Noticed fan was not blowing air, but making a little motor noise, like it's trying to turn. Removed cover panel, and found the fan blade rubbing on the panel, fan shaft was worn out and very loose, wobley. That told me the fan needed to be replaced. Found part on the GE Partselect website and ordered the parts via the website order process. This was easy. The parts were shipped quickley and were at my front door the next day. Couldn't believe it. The actual process was very easy: Remove cover, remove bracket holding fan motor, remove and replace motor, re-assemble parts. About 20-25 minutes from start to finish. Freezer is working like it's suppose to.

I found instructions on the web about how to do this repair, so I ordered the part with confidence. But the instructions simply said "pull out the old switchlight". That was actually somewhat difficult as the clip on the side intended to hold the part in was stubborn. I eventually used a utility to slice off the clip. From that point, it was just a matter of plugging in the new switchlight , which was very simple.

replaced lights in refrigirator and freezer

Disconnect the refrigerator, remove & installed new fan evaporator motor

Open the freezer panel which attached with screwws and locate the defrost thermmostate behind the back pannel. Cut off the old thermostat wires and connect the new wires.

Very easy. Bought a 6-1 screw driver for 1/4” and 5/16” nut drivers ends. 4 screws to remove panel that covers evaporator coil and motor. Remove the foam piece 2 screws, unplug wire plastic clip and motor come off. 2 screws to remove from bracket, replace motor. Put back together and reinstall. Watch video - it helped but very easy to do even if you don’t watch common sense is all you need.

The video that was attached to the part order was good, but not exactly the same as my unit. One thing I recommend is that you cover up the drain below the evaporator coil with a piece of paper and tape it down, because as I was putting the motor back I dropped a screw and it fell down the drain. So I had to go buy a new screw.
Give the cost of a repair man coming to fix a refrigerator that cost only $450 to begin with, doing this repair was well worth my time. (But I also had another refrigerator to move things to and could take my time and wait while they replaced the faulty part they shipped me.)

I wouldn't have tried it without the excellent YouTube video that gave step-by-step instructions! I set up a laptop next to the refrigerator and watched each step then did it myself.

The instructions were very detailed and all of the parts looked exactly like what I was seeing. The only difference was that I didn't need to remove the floor of the freezer to get to the fan motor.

I bought the fan motor, grommets (2), compression ring and fan blade because I wasn't sure which part was causing the problem, and figured that as long as I was in there I might as well put in all new parts.

As it turned out, I did not need the compression ring, because the new fan blade came with a compression ring on it. This was different from what was shown in the video.

Since doing the repair the freezer is now as quiet as it should be, which is a great relief. The project and the money spent were more than worth it. It was great not having to pay a repair man to do the work!

My husband did the repair in 45 minutes and said it was very easy. The video made everything plain and simple.

Located the model number on the inside wall of the unit. Wanted to make sure to order the correct product.Because of the age of the refrigerator I ordered the rubber mounting grommets. In this model the mounting frame is built at an angle that makes the removal and reinstall very easy. Remove two screws and the motor is loose. The fan blade easily pulls off the shaft of the motor . Clean up the fan and reassemble.

Started removing screws until I got to the fan (it's easy). Then just took out the old fan and put the new one back in the same way. The only challenging part was putting the clamp back on the fan, but I finally got it. The fridge is finally quiet and we can sleep again! PartSelect made it really easy and they were incredibly fast. Thanks!

Turned off the breaker to the fridge because I couldn't reach the power plug to unplug it . Use small flat head screwdriver to pop out the piece, disconnected the rubber prong connectors, inserted the new piece into the rubber prongs snapped it back into place. Flipped the breaker back on and prayed it worked. It did and I saved myself $120 service call.