TFJ20JAXAAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

unscrewed 2 screws per rail, replaced with new rails with 2 screws each - couldn't have been easier

Pulled out the shelves, unscrewed the old rail and removed it. Two screws put the new rail on, and then I put the shelves back in. It was so simple, and inexpensive too. This is a great service you provide. Thanks!!

I looked up the brand (Kenmore) and found that there are replacement parts for the drawer rails. I put up with this problem for three years not knowing this could be repaired. I unscrewed the broken left rail and replaced with the new one. I bought a right side rail just in case all the stress of the other side being broken would cause the right side to give up too. So far so good but I will keep the new right rail for a future date. It was so easy to repair and I wasted all those years putting up with the hassel.

First removed the old sliders, then screwed in the new sliders, replaced all four within minutes.

Got the part in and needed two screws to installed on left side. Service was great on the part as it was delivered in 3 days from the time we ordered. Thanks for the quick service

Removed the door by removing the top hinge and lifting it off the broken bottom hinge/cam assembly. Removed the broken hinge/cam assembly found out why the cam broke the doorstop was bent so I had to order the doorstop also. The ordering of the parts was so easy. They shipped them on Monday and they arrived the next day. I will use Parts Select again

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.

my freezer quit freezing, it would freeze for one day, thaw the next, so I went online, found PARTS SELECT, LOOKED UP MY MODEL #, come to find out it needed three parts to keep my freezer to freeze, first part was a thermistor a small PART took me longer to remove all the covers, and shelving, PULLED THE OLD OUT, CUT THE WIERS TO SIZE, AND REINSTALLED, IT WELL! THAT WASN'T ENOUGH THE FREEZER STILL DIDN'T FREEZE IT THOUT IT WAS A COOL WORMING OVEN, HAD TO INSTALL THE THERMISTOR I, SO I DID, TEN MIN, NOW I THOUGHT THAT WAS IT BECAUSE IT STAYED FROZEN FOR A WEAK, HAVE YOU EVER EATEN SOUPY ICE CREAM? SO BACK TO PARTS SELECT, THIS TIME I BOUGHT ONE MORE PT, THE RUN CAPACITOR, FIVE MIN, THAT/S ALL IT TOOK TO INSTALL. I DID NOT KNOW AT THE TIME YOU NEED THE THREE OF THEM TO RUN THE FREEZER ONE TO KEEP THE TEMP., ONE TO KEEP THE FAN RUNNING THE WAY IT SHOULD, AND THE THIRD TO MAKE SURE THE OTHER TWO KEEP RUNNING. NOW I CAN SET IT AT 4- 5 AND. FREEZE.

Installing the part repaired the fridge and freezer immediately.