GSS20DBPJCC General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I first bypassed the thermostat by cutting wires and splicing them together. This made no difference. I then saw that the defrost heater glass looked dark and may be burnt out. I replaced thermostat and defrost heater in 15 minutes with the parts from part select that arrived in less than three days. I believe the thermostat was the problem and now freezer works great.

I followed the onsite video and had no problems. Shut off refrigerator, removed storage trays and bind, removed the rear panel under the light, identified the orange and pink electrical wires and cut them. Spliced the new wires of the thermostat with refrigerator wire and capped them, applied electrical tape to insure no moister makes contact with wires. Replaced rear panel and storage racks and bind. Plugged in the refrigerator and it is operations like new. I was about to purchase a new refrigerator for $ 1,300.00 and the thermostat costed $ 13.00. What a Christmas present!

I diagnosed the problem using the guidelines on the website using the refrigerator model number. Refrigerator was warm and freezer had frost buildup on back panel. I followed the instructions in the video and removed the back panel with a screwdriver. The coils were completely covered in ice. I let the ice defrost by itself as this is a spare garage refrigerator and I had the time. Once the ice was melted I was able to remove the defrost heater harness with a screwdriver. The tube was black as described by others. Installation of the new heater harness was easy and the wires didn't need splicing because they were long enough. I also replaced the defrost thermostat as well as the sensors since I had the thing apart anyway. I am a 69-yr old woman DIY-er. Videos were very clear and I was able to save at least the cost of just a repair visit before parts and labor. Fridge has been running great for two weeks now.

I made my wife fix it.

I followed the instructions provided on the video emailed to me. I had some trouble only because my refrigerator was slightly different and it was hard to get the old condenser fan motor out. Other than that I was super pleased to have found Partselect.com. There is no way I would have been able to tackle such a major job without their step-by-step detailed help. I am enormously grateful to them. They shipped my parts the next day which is evidence of their sincere concern and understanding of the urgency of my problem. I can surely say they saved me many hundreds of dollars!

replaced lights in refrigirator and freezer

all i did was follow the video.

absolutely flawless tutorial.

the video is on the website.

I followed the instructions from the repair video that was posted in the part description. It was exactly the same as shown in the video.

The most difficult part of the repair was the melting of the ice and preparation. I did change a single element heater for a dual element heater, which required a little manual flexing of the sub-frame, but it assembled with little issue. I was lucky, I did not have to splice the extended harness connection. Rerouting my existing gave sufficent length.
Not sure if the single elements were changed for dual, but it did have the same PN as the unit I replaced.

First I removed the ice tray rack lifting it out of the way to reach the back cover of the fan. Then, the whole back inside panel had to be removed. Two screws removed the fan and bracket from the freezer unit. The missing bumper lid just snapped into place. Replaced everything in reverse order. Pretty easy job.

This is such an easy fix!
1-Unplugging the fridge and emptyi it. Remove all shelves.
2-remove the 2 screws at the top of the back panel with a 1/4 inch nutdriver. You'll have to tilt ithis panel forward and sideways to get it out.
3- DO NOT CHIP AT THR ICE COVERING THE COOLING COILS? Replace one shelf and rest a hair dryer on low heat on the shelf.. Plug the drain hole at the bottom with a rag so all the melted ice water doesn't flood the floor under the fridge. Soak up the water with a rag and bucket- this should take 20-30 minutes.
4-Remove the red and blue power cables from the element. Only 2 philips head screws hold the defrosting element in place. Once it's out you can tell it's burned out because it looks black like a burned out lightbulb.
4-Plug in the red and blue power cables to the new unit. You will need to reroute the blue power cable because the new unit has both power connections on the same end.
5-Replace the cover panel by sliding it in at an angle and replace the 1/4 inch screws.
6-Replace the shelves and plug in the fridge.
That's it!

Replaced both the Defrost Thermostat and Defrost Heating Element. The You Tube repair video clips were extremely helpful for both operations. My difficulty was getting access to the parts that needed to be replaced in a very tight side by side freezer space. Otherwise, the repair went smoothly and the refrigerator is back in normal operation in time to save the perishable food inside.

Removed cover in freezer over evaporator,unbolted element ,plugged ,and replaced, very simple. Should be first thing checked when theres a problem.

i unplugged the fridge, first i removed the racks, then unhooked the grounding clip. the i tool off two 1/4 nut screws holding the backplate. then i used my wifes hair dryer to thaw out the ice. after it thawed out i unscrewed the element bracket which is secured by two philips screw. after taking the screws off, its just unplug one end at a time and plug it to the new one to avoid confusion. then reverse install to put back together.

By the time this failure (failed defroster heating element) is evident (top of freezer starts thawing), the entire freezer coil is encased in a block of ice & frost is visble on the back freezer panel.
Empty the freezer & unplug (or turn circuit breaker off) then remove all racks and the light bulb then remove the two lower drawer guides using a phillips srewdriver (2 scrwes each). Use a 1/4" nutdriver to remove the two panel screws on either side of the light bulb socket and pull the panel out, unclip the green grounging wire and set panel aside. this exposes the freezer evaporator coil which is probably encased in ice. If so, use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt the ice away. This takes a half hour of heat application and a bowl or other catchpan should be placed under the coil to remove some of the resulting melting runoff so the evap. pan under the fridg/freezer unit won't be overwhelmed with the excess water.
Replacing the defrost heater & bracket assembly itself is just a matter of removing two phillips screws on either side of the bracket assembly, pulling the bracket free and then uncliping the two electrical terminals. Clip in the new unit to the eletrical terminals & replace the screws, reinstall the rear panel (don't forget to reconnect the ground wire), install the drawer backets, light bulb, shelves and drawer & reapply power. Replacing the bracket itself w/o the defrost proceedure takes about 15 minutes.

Note: If this symptom occurs and is diagnosed (the heater tube will be black and electrically read as "open" using an ohmmeter) and you cannot get the heater assembly & bracket assembly immediately, you can use the heat gun (hairdryer) manual defrost proceedure noted above to get the the unit running while you await the parts arrival. I used the manual defrost procedure and there was just some moderate frost on the coils after five days when I was able to install the replacement part.