TFJ20JAXAAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

i put a new evaporator motor in and now it works fine

I opened the back panel of the fridge and exposed the compressor. Unplugged existing run capacitor and installed new one with the addition of the sleeve that is stated must be installed around the run capacitor.
Everything I read and on this web site says that based on these symptoms, that the problem is the run capacitor. I searched and search for a part called a start relay which plugs in to the compressor. This run capacitor plugs in to this other part which I take as the start relay.

Installing this run capacitor did not solve the problem. The fridge compressor keeps cycling on and off. Freezer doesn't keep as cold as it should.

This is a built-in unit. Remove the external bezel at the top of the unit. Reach through the unit and unplug the frig. On the compressor unit, you'll see a vertical metal panel. Remove the metal panel and the timer is right behind it. Remove one wire at a time and switch it to the new timer. Remove timer and replace with new one.

Just an added comment, GE Service wanted to put an "ice kit" into my unit. The full repairs would have cost $1,000. While I described how to replace the defrost timer, the problem was the tray heater. But that's another story.

The fan was the correct part. It arrived one day after my well trained son-in-law had left for Texas. I had to install the motor myself. He had trained me well; it was not hard. the most difficult was getting the two tabs on the fan housing to fit back into the frame of the refrigerator where they belonged. Thanks. the part & delivery were overpriced, but I needed seed and convenience. Thanks for getting it right the first time.
John Moragues

Door cam disintegrated after 20 years. This was a terrific site for suggested repairs. My problem was not paying attention to how the door shim, cam and spacer were placed on the hinge. Most of the site's instructions did not forewarn the obvious...pay attention when doing repairs!!

Instructions from others were generally pretty good but as adept as I am at D-I-Y I still did not pay attention to how I took something apart so it could be assembled properly.

I don't think that ordering an entire door hinge set is necessary. It does not appear that shims and/or spacer come with the hinge assembly. Door cam was all that was needed. I thought about replacing the cam on the freezer side but won't do it until absolutely necessary.

This is a very good website and my thanks to all of the posts for the instructions!!

UNPLUG UNIT. Open freezer compartment, top door. You may want to let it warm up a bit before beginning work. Next remove single screw from small square plastic grate at top left back of freezer compartment with phillips screw driver. Remove green ground wire connection behind removed grate with nut driver. Next remove 2 screws at top of freezer compartment holding plastic air diffuser bracket in place and holding back panel. Remove metal back panel of freezer by pulling top towards you, then angle out of compartment. Evap. fan is now exposed. I inspected and removed fan by removing two screws with nutdriver on bracket behind fan blade. I inserted nutdriver (with long socket driver)between fan blades to screws on bracket behind blade - 1 each side. After these two screws are removed, pull fan and bracket assembly out from plenum. Remove wiring from motor and remove motor to workbench. Remove round metal clamp from fan hub with needle nose pliers and slide off fan blade from motor. Also remove bracket and rubber bushing. Disgard old motor. Inspect and clean blade. Replace if necessary. Reattach rubber bushing, bracket THEN fan blade to new motor. New fan has atleast one terminal in new location and I had to use one wire extension that came with kit. Route wire behind motor and plug in new wires to back of motor. Insert fan and bracket to plenum, hold in place with one hand while reattaching screws with nutdriver between fan blades. Once fan is in place and nuts secure, I tested operation by plugging unit back in to make sure new motor ran and fan spun freely. Reattach back panel, top diffuser bracket and small grate with 3 screws. Shut door, set temp. and wait 24 hours before loading freezer. Unit good as new!

I stacked three 2x4's that were approximately as wide as the door in length. This required lifting the door about 1/4" but it also got the weight of the door off the cam so the bracket assembly that the cam was attached to could be removed. I drilled out the rivet that held the old cam in place and like previous DIY's had to use a small bolt and nut to secure the new cam in place. Reattached the bracket with the new cam and that was it. The only problem was that the head of the bolt I used was not flat enough to allow proper clearance for the door to swing freely without feeling some drag and the wife noticed that immediately. I told her to wait until the weekend and I would again remove the door and file down the head of the bolt to allow the required clearance. After a few days of use, the door itself ground enough material off the head of the bolt so that the door began to open and close properly. So now she's happy, I'm happy and the dog is happy.

took out 4 screws - lowered timer cover - replaced timer- put it back together

The door closing cam on the refrigerator door was a snap to replace. However, I'm still baffled on how to replace the freezer door side. The condensation tube from the door runs through the door pivot and joins to a compression fitting behind the bottom trim piece. The compression ring is behind a formed lip on the tube and won't slide off. I could cut the tube but I really didn't want to do that. If anyone has done this and knows the trick to replace it, I would appreciate it.

Ed. Please post your question at our repair forums, forums.partselect.com.

First, I had to remove the back panel in the freezer. This exposes the cooling coils and the Defrost Heater which is located toward the bottom underneath the cooling coils. There are four screws that have to be removed before the old Defrost Heater can be taken out. There are two wires that go from the Defrost Heater to the power connection. These wires are blue and pink. I had to remove some pieces in the back at the top of the freezer to expose the power connection for the Defrost Heater. These pieces were held in place with phillips screws, so they easily came out to reveal the power connection. The power connection is a simple plug-in type. The Defrost Thermostat is also included with the new Defrost Heater. This is a round piece which is clamped onto the Cooling Coils. I removed the old Defrost Thermostat. It is connected to the same power connection with the Defrost Heater. After I mounted the new Defrost Heater and Defrost Thermostat and connected the power, the refrigerator has worked perfectly.

disconnect the power to the unit. remove the retainer sctrews on the mounting bracket. remove fan motor from unit. using the rerquired tools remove the fan from the old motor and install on the new one. torque the nut until all slack is out then 1/4 turn. reinstall motor assy. and reconnect power. test the system .

I removed the shield over the timer and the part that supported the timer. Just unpluged it and pluged in new timer and put back shield. I had already replaced the defrost heaters which had totally burned up. I also replaced the thermostat while I was making the repairs although the old one was still o.k. All the information that I needed to make the repairs I obtained through your website. After looking at several websites to compare prices-etc, I found yours to be the best overall. Thanks-a-million your website is worth it's weight in Cold Food !

This repair replaced two riser cams - one attached to the bottom fridge hinge and one attached to the bottom of the door. The two cams
mate together. So, don't just buy one cam, buy two.
1. Removed all contents off the inside of the door as well as the bins.
2. Unscrewed single screw holding plastic cover over top hinge.
3. Unscrewed 2 screws holding top hinge to the top of the door and removed the top hinge.
4. Pulled door up and off bottom hinge and layed
on floor.
5. Removed plastic grill on bottom of fridge.
6. Removed 2 screws holding bottom hinge in place.
7. Using a vice to hold the hinge, I used a hacksw to cut through the rivet holding the riser cam to the hinge plate.
8. Used a small bolt & nut to secure the new riser cam to the hinge plate.
9. Reattached hinge plate to the bottom of the fridge.
10. On bottom of the door remove two screws holding riser cam to door.
11. Position new riser cam in place and reattach to bottom of door.
NOTE: on my door, the metal SHIM that goes between the cam riser & door was also broken. I ordered the replacement SHIM but it turned out to be made of PAPER. So, I didn't bother putting it on. If the riser cam wears out again, I'll just replace it again.
12. Put door back on and secure the top hinge to the top of the fridge and you're done.

From instructions found on the site I was directed to the defrost timer part being bad. And from the information others posted that have had the same problem I was able to replace that part by removing the bottom grill just below the door and on the left side was the part. Removing one screw to remove the bracket from the frame and then another screw to remove the part from the bracket. I found it easier to remove the part from the bracket before I pulled the part out so I would have more room to unplug the connector. Just reverse the steps to replace the new part. It took about a day or so for the refrigerator to get to the proper temp.

We took the drawers out unsrewed the slide rails, screwed the new ones back on and replaced the drawers. the door cam was alittle harder because we had to lift the door to put it in but it still took under 10 min. altogether it took about 25 minutes. I am also planning on buying a few more parts from the company so I will end up paying about $50 to fix a fridge that I got for free. WHAT A GREAT DEAL!!!!!