GSR23YBPCWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Replace the motor fan on condenser and clean the condenser

I followed the partselect videos for the temp sensor and defrost thermostat and the refrigerator has been working well for a about a week now. The refrigerator is old enough that I was just going to replace it. When I called the repair company I use, they said it would cost $200 to $300 for the repair, but I didn't want to put that money into an old refrigerator. I did a little research, found this site and figured it would be worth buying about $20 in parts and giving it a try. I have absolutely no experience working on refrigerators, but the videos were so easy to follow, everything went smoothly. The old thermostat was definitely broken when I checked it with a meter, so I'm pretty confident that the problem is fixed.

The repair did not go exactly the way it was described in the YouTube video, but basically it was similar. After unplugging the power cord, emptying the freezer, removing the shelves and the ice reservoir, I removed the ice maker assembly by unscrewing a Philips head screw and unplugging the power connector. The connector had little retaining tabs on each side that I pried open with a straight blade screwdriver. Then the ice maker lifted right out. Next I removed one screw holding the auger motor assembly, unplugged the power connector, and lifted out the assembly. This where things got difficult. After flailing around a bit, I removed the panel on the back wall of the freezer below the evaporator fan assembly, exposing the evaporator coil. I saw that the fan assembly was attached with two screws at the top and two screws at the bottom. The top screws were easily removed, but when I removed the bottom screws, which were situated in very tight quarters, I DROPPED BOTH SCREWS DOWN BEHIND THE EVAPORATOR COIL. Be prepared with a magnetic nutdriver so this doesn't happen to you. I could not retrieve the lost screws, but fortunately it appears that the top screws hold the assembly securely enough. The assembly was loose, but it was still attached by a power cord that I could not disconnect. I removed the tracks on the side walls for the ice bucket, and then I could maneuver the fan motor assembly just enough that I could reach over the top of it, grab and pull off the old fan blade, and slide the new fan blade onto the shaft. Reassembly was straightforward, replacing each part (except two lost screws) in reverse order to disassembly. After getting everything put back in and plugging in the power cord, I was amazed at how quiet it ran.

Freezer section defroster heater was inoperative.
turned off the refrigerator by turning the right knob in top rear refrigerator to 0.

Used hose on a vacuum sweeper blower side to feed warm air into the bottom rear section. Removed the top plastic panel behind the ice maker to allow air flow to exit through the fan to defrost the freezer coils.

Placed a flat oven pan into the area beside the vacuum hose and sponged up the melted frost water. After 30 minutes, water ceased to drain.

Removed freezer shelves, and 5 screws on rear freezer wall. It took about 2 minutes to remove the heater & braw assembly at the bottom of the coils. 2 screws have to be removed and wires just clip off and back on again. Replaced the 2 screws.

Replace rear coil wall cover and turn on the refrigerator to 5 to 7 and replace cover and shelves.

Removed the back cover over the control board, and made sure that the board was the same. It didn't look exactly the same, but figured that it was the same, just updated. Took out the board, moved the wires to the new board and reinstalled. Plugged it in and it came on, so I reinstalled the cover. Seems to be working to this day.

Take off all , then install.. following the version..

Looked it up on You Tube and basically followed the very simple instructions. Two minor differences: 1) I took the old gasket off while the door was still attached to the fridge. And 2) because it was a side-by-side freezer/ fresh food, I didn't have to take off the freezer door at all and the fresh food door was only attached at the top with 2 screws covered by a hinge cap. So I undid the screws and lifted it off the lower pin. We put the door on a table handle down and slightly off the table edge. Inserting the v-shaped rubber part of the gasket into the groove was easy- pinching it together with my fingers with a little hammer tap at the corners. Reinstalled the door and voila. 27 minutes!
Most of my DIY projects take twice as long as expected. Much time is spent taking off the old part then not as easy as expected to replace the new part. This was a breeze!

For troubleshooting, I took off rear panel inside of the freezer compartment & determined that icing of the coils was not the problem & it did not apprear to be a defroster malfunction. All components appeared to be working properly except the compressor would not turn on and only room temperature air was being circulated by the fan. After narrowing the probable causes down to a faulty Main control board by reading as many similar posts as possible,I ordered the new control board. When it arrived the following morning via UPS(less than 24 hours!), I unplugged the wiring connections attached to the old board, (which was somewhat different in appearance), and then gently popped the circuit board off of the plastic retainer studs by pushing in the little retaining clip part of the studs in with a small screwdriver so the board could be released easier as I pulled outward. I popped the new board on the studs by gently & evenly pushing with a larger hut driver over the studs until it was locked in, being careful not to damage or over stress/bend the board. I placed the wiring connecters onto the pins on the board.....every connecter had a different amount of pins so improper connection was not possible. I placed the ground wire connection of the new board between the metal cover plate @ an adjacent screw location to ensure grounding to the back of the fridge sheet metal. I plugged in the refrigerator and was quite relieved when I heard the compressor start up after a second or two! Within moments the temp began to fall until it reached the proper temp in both compartments. Success!

I used the screwdriver to pop out the broken door switch and physically pushed in the next one. 2 Minutes maybe!! On the bezel light, I unscrewed the old one and screwed back in the new. Also, I had to pop and unpop the light cover. Make sure you move it side to side not up and down pop out.

removed and replaced grill, really easy.

The three bulbs would then remain on, so I loosened them to keep them off. I didn't know that the cooling system also would stop when the door was open, so for two days only the side freezer was operational. When I discovered that, I hot glued the switch button off, while I searched for a replacement part. The replacement part was an exact duplicate. A simple prying out of the old switch - using a screwdriver, and the reconnection of the two wires connectors to the new part, and clicking back in place ... done. Seriously, it took two minutes.

1 opened door 2. pryed cover off from cieling 3.cut and stripped wires on 4. sodered wires from old wires to new sensor. 5 insulated conection.6 put cover back on. This did not fix the problem it was the control moduel.

Pulled out the fridge and unplugged electric cord. Took off the back lower right side panel. Unplugged all the connectors and removed the motherboard. Replaced the motherboard and reconnected connectors. Replaced the panel and plugged it in. Works great!

pulled the board away from the 4 plastic pins, unplugged the wires and plugged them directly into the new noard, pushed board back onto the four plastic pins.......job completed in under 5 minutes. Fridge working fine now for over a week......no problems.

Called the repair guy, he came and said the heater was ok and changed the thermastat.Well that didnt work and the heater looked real bad.So i got one and changed it. Well that worked for two weeks, next i got the motherboard. I looked into it and they have alot of problems with them.And My water and ice machine quitto, so i got one an put t in. So far its not freezing, its been two weeks. But my water and ice machine still wont lite up or work.I was told not to buy Ge buy a service guy before we got it. But the wife went with her cousin and when they got back that is what she got.