GCE23LBTBFBB General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I replaced the motor that runs the fan in the freezer compartment. Had to remove a number of shields to get to the fan and then some wires and screws to get at the motor. It came with a plug with 4 wires in it and I was supposed to pull 2 wires out of the old plug and place them in the new plug. Long story short the pins would not extract from the plug and the wiring harness was molded in solid plastic, so I ended up cutting the 4 wires to the motor and splicing in the new one and taping them with electrical tape. So far no more moaning and the ice cream is still hard, so I think we nailed it.

First I removed the shelf and light cover, then removed 3 screws from the ice make. Then I removed 6 screws from the moter cover (back wall of the freezer) and removed it. I then removed the 2 screw holding the moter. This is where the soldering iron comes in. The wire leads from the old motor were molded into a 3" rubber holder and the end wire plastic connector held 6 prongs (2 from a thermo tube). The new motor only held the 4 moter prongs, 2 were empty. To resolve this problem I cut the wires on both the new and old motor. I then attached the old connector to the new moter with the soldering iron and shrink tubing. Replaced all the parts I had removed and started it up. Works like a champ.....

Took panel off back of inside of freezer section, took off old sensor from the evaporator, spliced new sensor into the existing wires, waterproofed spliced connections, snapped sensor back onto evaporator, then put panel back on the inside of the freezer. Really, it took only 10 minutes to fix. Now refrigerator defrosts like it used to, and temps have settled in at specified temps.

I knew almost as soon as I found the frozen milk that the air-flow diverter, whatever it's called, had broken. It's a plastic part that opens and closes to allow cold air from the freezer into the fridge side.

Step one: clear off the top two shelves and take them out.

Step two: remove the lower piece of the assembly. It pops straight out at the top and drops down after that. If you pull the bottom straight out, you may break the bits that holds it to the fridge wall.

Step three: remove screws holding in light, and then the screws holding in the AASM COVER FF INLET K (wish I had a better name for it).

Step Four: Unplug the unit from the fridge wall.

Installation, reverse, except maybe unplug the unit earlier.

Noticed the problem in November 2009. Replaced Hi Limit Sesor for Defrost thinking it was the freezor temperature sensor. Did not fix the problem. Replaced Motherboard. Did not fix the problem. Called Sears Repair. They mis-diagnosed the problem and told me it was the sealed system. I doubted them and sent them home. Replaced the correct freezer temperature sensor that connects to the motherboard. FIXED.
Removed a panel, cut two wires, soldered and insulated two wries, reinstalled panel.

I popped out the old one and popped in the new one.

After having replaced the main control board and three thermistors, the fridge was still having difficulting getting cold enough - it wouldn't get colder than 15F / 42 F. Uniform frost on the evaporator coil ruled out a sealed system leak, so the remaining culprits were the either the evaporator fan motor or the compressor.

I read that a failed control board is almost always the fault of a bad evaporator fan motor, so this item was the most likely suspect.

To get to the evaporator fan motor, I had to remove, in this order:

1) Icemaker
2) Auger motor and brackets
3) Icemaker bracket
4) Freezer lights and bulb sockets
5) Evaporator panel
6) Evaporator plenum cover
7) Evaporator fan motor bracket

The greatest difficulty lay in swapping the new fan motor harness. Two pins in the harness connector were used for the evaporator thermistor.

I had to carefully cut through the old connector (using a Dremel) to extract the crimped-on pins for the thermistor, then reuse them on the new connector.

The fridge is now maintaining -5 F / 35 F in the freezer / fresh food sections.

First I hired a repairman and he said that it was in the unit and would not be worth the expense to fix.

I started to research on the net and this was one possible source. ( evaporator fan). I had to take it apart to verify it. Then put it back together to use until the part came.

The next time went much faster as I did not have to take near as many screws out to access the fan motor. Very Happy to have it working fine again as a new relacement would cost $1200. Thanks much. Ron

No self defrost. Measured heater coil with ohm meter which was OK (not open). Ordered 2 temp sensors (there are 2 in freezer, 2 in fresh food sections). The original and the new all meaured ~150 ohms. Replaced one by one. This did not fix problem. Ordered defrost thermostat. Original measured ~150 ohms - new one was ~100 ohms. Unpluged refridgerator. Removed coil panel (4 nut screws) in freezer and light cover (1 small phillips screw). Locate defrost thermostat clipped to top of coils (orange / pink wires). Cut wires and unclipped thermostat. Stripped insulation off of wires and reconnect using wire nuts. Clipped thermostat back to coils. Ran refridgerator without panel on coils to see if coils frosted up again and listend for fans/compressor to stop ( took hours). Opened freezer and viewed glow of defrost heater. Problem resolved.

I lifted the old switch with a flat screwdriver, attached wires, and popped into place. Saved 80 bucks for a repair call.

I had to remove the fridge door (side by side), which took approximately 10min (most of which was retrieving the right size socket wrench from the garage). With the door removed, I could replace the broken door closing cam and door stop... with 4 screws. Not much to it. Had the door mounted back on in another 5min and that was it. :)

went online to an appliance repair site and found out that this model has problems with the damper malfunctioning. went to partselect and ordered what I needed and it arrived in two days. to replace the damper you just remove the light at the top of the frige and the cover around it . the damper assembly only has 2 screws and is easy to remove.

Unscrew the two mounting screws for the plastic vent plate on the bottom of the SS unit and take the remove the vent. Next, slide the end of the lever through the square hole in the bottom bracket and attach the hook end of the lever to one end of the lever spring. Pull on the other end of the lever spring and slip it over the spring mount finger that is a part of the bottom bracket frame. Finally,reattach the plastic vent plate with the 2 mounting screws. Total repair time was less than 15 minutes.

First, I removed all the shelves and the light guard. Second, I removed the nuts that held the fan guard and the freezer back in place (2 just under the fan guard and removed the freezer back. Third, lifted fan guard out of way (being very careful not to crack it..... cold plastic). Fourth, unpugged fan from pug then removed nuts that held fan bracket in place...removed fan. fifth, then removed fan blade and remove fan motor from bracket, removed two wires that went to freezer light (pay attention to where they go) and installed them into the new wireing harness. Sixth, installed fan blade on new motor, bolted new assembly in fan bracket, plugged in and reistalled fan into the freezer, replaced fan guard and freezer back (reverse order of above) and then replaced freezer racks. works beautiful.

I had taken the noise long enough and wanted to get this repaired. I didn't want to pay a repair man hundreds of dollars to do it so i decided to do it myself. I went on to YouTube and found a few videos that showed me how easy it was to do (very helpful).

I wasn't so sure all that noise would come from the Evaporator Fan motor so i ordered it and took the chance. For the small cost, it was worth the try.

All went well accessing the unit and removing the old part. Very fast indeed. However, the snag came when i went to plug in the new part electrical to the existing electrical adapters. The old part had 4 lead connections. The new part had 6. and the wires on the new part were different colors than the existing. I had to use some logic and courage to cut the wires on the new part and rewire the old adapter to this piece. Luckily, i wired everything correctly.

Calling Part Select got me a phone number for the parts manufacturer to help with the splicing but i opted to do it on my own.

The result is i have a noiseless refrigerator again. What should have taken 10 to 15 minutes took half an hour because of the wiring but overall, very easy.