39541 General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I don't know exact details. My husband replaced parts while I held the door.

We removed connections for the door on the bottom (propped up on books). We installed the new cam, the old one cracked and broke, and the new shim and the door is now even with the top of the fridge. It was not before, and the seal near the bottom of the fridge was not solid. Now it is. It was very easy.

First we removed the door. Then we had to hammer the old part off including the old rivot. We fould a screw that fit and put this piece on. We held the door in place and screwed the hinge on the main unit.

Had to defrost a bit and then was able to remove rear freezer panel by simply removing the 2 screws holding it in place.
Old motor easily removed from its mounting bracket. and replaced with the new. Had to use the two wires sent with the motor. I clipped off the male connectors and joined them with wire splicers to the black and red wires clipped from the old motor. Then reinstalled.
The replacement motor works great. I was afraid the old fan blade might not fit but it slid on perfectly.

Turned off water to ref , removed bottom kick plate , got a towel and disconnected the water line plastic fitting and un screwed the (2) tube clamps un screwed the coupling and ((carefully )) slid out the tube from the compression ferrels ! ( Be careful and do not break or distort them + remember exactly the order they are removed ! Slid the protector spring shroud from the plastic tube , took ogg the top hinge cover then remover the top hinge . Carefully lifted the door off feering the plastic tube through the bottom hinge with my foot ! Got the door off removed the bottom hinge + put the new on on, then removed the door cam which was broken on the bottom of the door , lifted the door up and carefully fed the water line through the new bottom hinge . Attached the top hinge and reassembled the rest same as I had dissambled it . Turned on water ( checked for leaks ) ! All working 100% a-ok ! This company is the best ! Ordered the part at 1 pm and had the part at 2 pm the following day many thanks : )

I replaced both lower hinges without removing the doors. First a couple of observations. The hinge kit consists of two parts; the lower part (bolted to the case) consists of an “L” bracket with a plastic cam, and the upper plastic cam (attached to the door). For some reason the upper cam is available as a separate part . If both cams are plastic both are worn out. Don’t bother ordering the individual cam. If one hinge is worn out the other probably isn’t far behind. Consider replacing both at the same time. Examine the door check. It is an inverted “T” shaped bracket bolted to the door that also holds the door cam. The crossbar of the T are metal tabs that check the door swing. Way too fragile IMO. On mine the refrigerator side was cracked and broke off when I removed it. Since the stops are the same right and left. I just swapped them when I replaced the hinges. Saved $22. Replacing the hinges without removing the doors. {Warning if this technique goes wrong you will be stuck with a loaded door you can’t open.} Remove the vent grill. Stack three 2x4’s along the bottom of both doors ( 26” is about right ). Shim the door(s) up to compensate for the cam wear. About 1/8”) Use a 5/16 socket to remove the hinge from the case. Pay attention to placement of the shims and spacers. Then remove the door cam and stop bracket. Install the new door cam. Leave the screws a little loose. Replace the lower hinge and tighten the screws. Do both sides. Then carefully remove the shims and 2x4’s. Finish tightening the door hinge screws. Check the door swing. I used this technique twice. One to replace the refrigerator side hinge, then again to replace the freezer side hinge and swap the door checks. There were no problems and I saved the hassle of unloading and removing the doors.

Empty freezer;
Remove shelves and ice trays;
Unscrew and remove the rear vertical panel;
Unscrew and remove fan housing;
Unscrew and remove fan from fan housing;
Fan blade slides off the motor shaft without tools.
Reverse order to reassemble with new fan motor.

I did have to use the wire extensions that were included as the replacement motor had the electric connections in a different location from the original motor.

Overall, this was an easy replacement.

Did not do the repair because the unit arrived damaged. The packaging was in good condition. The plastic around the plug in shattered, and some of the plastic was inside the motor. Very good, and fast on adjusting the order.

I first rolled out the refrigerator, unplugged it, and emptied the freezer contents into a cooler.

Then removed the shelving (side by side freezer / refrigerator) and the four screws holding the back panel.

The coil and defrost heaters were covered with ice, so the paint heat gun made quick work of defrosting them.

The heaters were held in by two screws each, so replacing them with the new units took little time.

Then it was a matter of routing the wiring and thermostat to the top of the coil, and plugging them in.

Replaced the back panel and shelving, and plugged in the refrigerator.

Saw that everything was operating, so I rolled the refrigerator back in place, and replaced the freezer contents.

In a few hours everything stabilized in the refrigerator and we were back to normal.

Emptied the drawer and removed it. Then took off the old slide rail. Then I got some hot soapy water and cleaned the walls of the refridge while I was down there and had everything out. I then installed the slide rail put the drawers back in loaded the fridge and sat back and said I just saved myself about $200.00. You guys are awesome we got the part 2 days after we ordered it Thank you for the great service.

Tony The Birdman

I followed the troubleshooting instructions for freezers with ice build-up. First defrost the freezer. This makes a huge mess. The tray for water buildup is very small. I suggest covering the hole so no water gets to the tray and collecting the water as it melts in the freezer. (DO NOT pry the ice off with a knife. I did that when I was 14 and punctured the freon lines.) After the ice was gone inside the freezer, I removed the back panel of the freezer (a pair of 5/16" nuts on the bottom and a pair of #2 phillips screws at the top). The panel will then just pull straight out. Make sure the ice has melted from behind the panel as well before testing any of the components.

First component to check is the defrost timer. Pretty straight forward, using the instructions on the PartSelect home page and a multi-meter (looking for continuity or the lack there of). You need to remove it and check it out of the fridge. In my case the defrost timer worked correctly (bummer since it was much cheaper than the defrost heater kit). Next step was to test the Defrost Heater. I used a common since approach which was not mentioned in the instructions. I manually turned the defrost timer until it clicked. Then I put my hand next to the glass tubes that incased the heater elements. They did not get hot. I then turned the defrost timer until it clicked again. Again, the heater elements did not get hot. Since there are only two setting on the timer, it means the defrost heater was broken. If you can hear the refrigerator/freezer running, then you are not in defrost mode. Turn the thermostat for another click. All noise will stop...and heat should be found at the tubes (behind 6" thin tin covers), if they are functioning.

Removing the defrost heaters and thermostat was simple. There are four #2 screws (2 on each assembly). The thermostat is just clipped on. It is impossible to put the defrost heater assembly in wrong. Put the panel back on and your ready to go. The 30-60 minutes is not repair time but de-ice and repair time. I used a space heater to speed up the de-ice process.

First I took everything out of the fresh food door, then I removed the top hinge cover using a philips head screwdriver, and a nutdriver for the two screws holding the upper hinge. Lifted the door off the bottom pin, and placed it on the floor. Then took off the bottom hinge and used the Dremel tool to grind off the rivet holding the broken door cam on the bottom hinge. Used a nut and bolt to hold the new cam in place, and put the lower hinge back on. Then replaced the other cam on the bottom of the door itself, using the nutdriver. (Be sure to buy two cams, and have the bolt and nut to replace the rivet). Reinstalled the bottom hinge, put the door on, replaced the top hinge, and presto! Works great! Thanks to the others on this site for their stories - really helped make it an easy and quick repair!

Removed guard at bottomof frig. Located timer & performed tests. Manually rotated timer motor until defrost cycle start. Watched timer for several hours. Timer did not come out of defrost.. Rotated timer more until compressor started. Cooled fine several days then started to get warm again. Manually defrosted and started compressor again. Ordered part. Followed wiring diagram on timer for push on lugs. Frig now back to normal operation.

First I removed the top hinge of the refrigerator door and then lifted it off the bottom assembly. I had to turn the door on its side to work on the bottom where the broken part was located. I unscrewed the bottom assembly and replaced the broken part with the new door cam. Put it all back together and now the door closes but must be manually pushed to close. When the door was working properly it would shut automatically when released from any position. I think I need to install an additional part - maybe a shim? to make it close automatically. That will be another story.
This was a fairly simple jog to do but since I did not have the proper tools it did take me longer than usual to remove the bolts. I'm happy I did it myself and saved a big repair bill! Thanks to the people at PartSelect.com.

remove the 8 screws 2 for each rail
installed the new rails
slid in the meat drawer and glass
slid in the vegetable drawer and glass
presto - like new fridge !

I knew that the compressor was cooling because the freezer was half-working. The back wall was frozen-up and found that the iced-up coils where blocking the air circulation. So even if the fan was running, there was no air circulation. Hence the deforst cycle was not working.