GTMX General Electric - Instructions

The very first symptom here is important! The door water dispenser is not working but the ice macine is working. You may only have a frozen water tube in the door so do the following before diagnosing that your solenoid valve is bad: 1) the tube usually runs under the front of the refrigerator and usually has a quick disconnect. Undo the connection and press the dispenser. If water comes out of the tube you have a frozen or blocked tube in the door. 2) Immediately adjust the temperature in the freezer and warm the freezer compartment as much as you can without destroying the freezer contents. Wait 24 hours. This will usually unfreeze the line. Do not waste your time with a hair dryer. NOW, if this doesn't work and you are convinced you need to order and replace the solenoid, follow these steps. Assemble your tools first. I needed a good ratchet set and a screwdriver. A shop towel is helpful for spilled water. A light is handy. Pull out the refreigerator to gain access to the rear of the unit. Unplug the power and close the water valve (older homes, you may need to actually shut the house water supply). Remove the screws which hold the cover over the lower half of the refrigerator. On the left you will see the solenoid. It's always good to see that your new part matches the one you feel needs replaced. They may not match perfectly due to changing design but they should be very similar. One screw holds this part in place and access is very simple. Now simply unplug the electrical connections. In my case, one blue "blade" type connection (powering the water) and one red "blade" type connection powering the ice maker. They are not the same size and this coupled with the coloring means you will not accidently switch them. pull the tubes clear of the solenoid. This is simple and needs no explantion. Grab your new solenoid and reattach both the electrical and water lines (two, remember, ice maker and drink dispencer). Replace the single screw. Re-attach the rear, lower refrigerator cover and go to the front of the unit to check the water. You can listen carefully and hear the power engage from the new part bringing you water. Clean up, replace the refrigerator back to its place and look really tired when your wife sees that you worked "so hard"! You probably saved at least $50-$80 from a service call which can now be used to take the family to dinner after your "exhausting" 15 minute workout of removing about 10 screws and wheeling the unit in and out of place. Writing this article took longer! My 4 year old worked harder holding the flash light!

It was pretty easy. After already taking apart the dryer to install a new belt I knew exactly my plan of action. I removed the two screws that hold the top panel of the dryer to the front panel. I then removed the top panel and removed the screws that hold the front to each side panel. I than pulled the front away from the cabinet and drum. I put the new slides in place and installed a new felt strip. I put it back together and that was that. Very easy.

Removed the 3 knobs. They just pull off. Removed 6 screws on the back side of the control panel. The front (plastic panel then just separates from the back). Then look at how the switch is mounted on the plastic panel. There should be 2 small pieces of plastic that holds it in. Carefully twist the switch in the appropriate direction so it comes free. Before you remove any wires from the old switch remember what colors go where ! I used needle nose pliers to remove the connections from the switch. Make the new connections, mount the switch, put the screws back in the panel. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. UNPLUG THE ELECTRICAL CORD !!!

I removed the two screws at the front above the drum opening (with the dryer door open). The top panel then lifts off. I removed the screw at each side that holds the front panel to the side panels, tilted the front panel forward, which disengages the front of the drum from the front drum glide bearing. I then lifted the front panel slightly, unhooking the bottom of the panel from the dryer base, and swung the front panel aside. I removed the existing top drum bearing guide, which was disintegrated, and snapped in the new bearing guide, with the nylon slide strips installed in the bearing guide. Next pulled out the old felt strip, and pressed the new one in place. I then put the bottom of the front panel back into the bottom of the dryer front, and while lifting the drum to asure it fit over the bearing guide, pushed the front panel back to a vertical position to mate with the side panels. I then replaced the side panel screws, replaced the top, and replaced the front top panel screws.

I used a digital camera and photographed the assembled unit and the metal blades before I started the repair. Then, I removed the top screw on the clear shield. Flip over ice tray and removed two Phillips screws on bottom. Exterior plastic white cover comes off next. The cover sides have hard push-in white plastic tabs. Push them in; pry up top cover with small flathead screwdriver. Slide white top cover up and you will now see the metal blades and assembly. Auger is held in place with a metal c-clip and washer on the end. Use flat head screwdriver to pry off c-clip. Then you will see a nylon round slotted nut. The threads are reverse, use pliers and loosen nut. It is not that tight but pliers are needed. Then it all is loose and ready for removal. I slid all the blades off at one time and kept them stacked together. Slide out auger and clear flat shield cover. Install new auger, clear shield, and metal blade stack. When you put it all back together take a look at the long metal J-hook on the bottom make sure it is in the slot before you make everything tight. Failing to do this will prevent cubed ice from dispensing.
It is not that hard to do the repair it just takes some patience and paying attention to details.

Basically, I followed the same steps a prior person posted.
1.Removed the two screws inside the door, on the top part of the opening.
2.Lifted up and removed the top.
3.Removed two screws holding the front panel in place.
4.Held up the drum while removing the front panel. I carefully turned the panel so I could get at the drum bearing without pulling the wires connecting it to the front panel. The wires are not very long, so I had to be careful not to pull on them.
5.Carefully pried off the old drum bearing, using just my hands. It was fairly tight, and popped out just as I started to worry if I was putting too much pressure on it.
6.Checked to see how the old felt was installed, then I pulled out the old felt.
7.Inserted the new felt, being careful to insert one end into a slot the same way the original was installed.
8.Inserted the new slides into the new drum bearing. The gray slides went in at the eleven and one o'clock positions, the white slides went in at ten and two o'clock.
9.Removed a surplus plastic piece from the new drum bearing (where the light comes through).
10.Inserted the new drum bearing, putting the bottom tabs in first, then pivoting it into place. I squeezed it into place to make sure it was tight.
11.Lifted up the drum and put the front panel back on.
12.Screwed the front panel back on, using the two screws.
13.Carefully put the top back on.
14.Screwed in the two screws inside the front door to fasten down the top.
That was it! I started up the dryer and it worked fine. No more squeaking.
About the only thing odd about the repair is why PartSelect sells each slide separately (i.e., I had to order 2 white slides and 2 gray slides). I can't imagine replacing just one, so why not package them in pairs, or maybe even all four in one package.
At any rate, the repair was easy, and a lot cheaper than having someone come out to fix it.

After checking the stories, the consensus of opinion was to change the mother board. I had a tremendous help from Tom Paone at quality@applianceeducator.com. He also told me to change the motherboard but to make sure that the coils were totally defrosted before starting up the refrigerator after changing the board.

Took off three nuts around the board at the back of the unit. Removed the input wires and you have to push in the plastic tabs holding the board in. Then just put the new board in place and push till the tabs click. Re-install the wires and put the cover back on.

Really simple task,

It is now a week since doing this and the unit is working perfectly. No soulds and good nights sleep. The ghost has moved on.

Pulled off old knob and aligned new knob and pushed on. Videos sent with order was very clear and great customer service tool.

Disclaimer - if you aren't confident about doing this repair, call a repair specialist in. Also, take care not to damage the freezer coils as they have refrigerant in them that I'm told is harmful if it leaks. It may also be under pressure. The instructions that follow won't require you to touch the coils. There is no need to unplug the refrigerator or disconnect the water supply to do this repair. The screw driver you will need is a phillips (the one withe the + head).

1st, take out your frozen food (which, if you need to do this repair may not be frozen) and put it in a cooler or the refrigerator.
2nd, remove the ice cube bucket and dump the ice cubes in the cooler to help keep the frozen food cool. Turn the ice cube maker off.
3rd, remove the freezer shelves.
4th, locate the panel covering the freezer coils. It's a panel at the back of the freezer. It hides the freezer coils and protects them from damage. It's held in place by two screws located at the top left and right corners of the panel.
5th, unscrew the screws holding the panel to the refrigerator.
6th, detach the clip at the top of the panel.
7th, remove the panel. You should see the coils now. The coils will be covered in frost if the defroster heater has failed. If the coils are not covered in frost, there may be another reason for the refrigerator failing to cool.
8th, even if the coils are covered in frost, you should also inspect the defroster heater at the bottom, underneath the coils. The business end of it is a long tube running horizontally between two wires. If it's black like a badly burned out light bulb, then it's failed. If the bulb appears fine, you may have a different reason for your refrigerator and freezer frosting up. We'll assume that the defroster heater has blown out, and proceed.
9th, place a towel at the bottom of the panel space, to soak up any water that melts and runs down. There is a drain under the coils. It collects water that melts during the defrost cycle, but I'd rather mop up the water instead of relying on the drain.
10th, use hot air blowing from the hair dryer to defrost the coils. Just play the air from the hair dryer over the coils, starting at the top, and working down. The frost will quickly melt and the water will be soaked up by the towels. If you want things to go faster, you can throw hot water on the coils to melt them faster, but that produces more water to mop up, and makes a big mess. It's also dangerous to have water lying around if you then decide to use the hair dryer to continue defrosting the coils.
11th. MOST IMPORTANT. Don't use your screwdriver or any other sharp object to pick away at the frost on the coils. If you damage the coils the refrigerant could leak out. I'm told that it's dangerous stuff. Furthermore, I expect that you'd have to buy a new refrigerator if you damaged the coils.
12th, once you've defrosted the coils, locate the defroster heater and bracket assembly again. It's held in place by two screws, and has two insulated wires running into it on either side. Unscrew the screws, disconnect the wires and remove the assembly. Throw it away - there are no useful parts in it.
13th, install the new defroster heater and bracket assembly by connecting the wires to it, mounting it back into its place, and rescrewing the screws.
14th, put the panel back in place, replace the clip, and screw the panel back in place.
15th, turn the ice cube maker back on and replace the ice cube bucket and shelves. Put your food back into the freezer.
16th, use the freezer and refrigerator as normal. If the defroster heater fails again (I'm on my third one in less than six years), you'll notice frost building up on the panel at the back of the freezer before your freezer and refrigerator stops cooling. The frost build up is your signal to defrost the freezer and buy another defroster heater and bracket assembly. I don't know why this part is so weak, and don't know any fix except to keep replacing it.

The repair was so easy when I got the part, I did it myself without any help in 5 seconds!

Swapping out the ice dispenser damper door was pretty easy- just used a combination of screwdrivers to remove the dispenser assembly, popped the old damper off, put the new damper on. Replacing the control board was only a bit more complicated- unplugged the fridge, removed the control board metal cover (beware the somewhat sharp edges), unhooked all the cables from the board, used needle-nose pliers to pinch each plastic spacer/fastener as to not damage them while removing the old board, mounted the new board where the old board was, and plugged in all the cables (they were all different enough from each other that I didn't have any trouble figuring out where they were supposed to connect). I now have my fridge plugged into a surge protector- hopefully that will protect this new board I've installed. Thanks a bunch,PartSelect.

It was so incredibly simple! The site made it foolproof to find the right parts - and the actual replacement job itself was easier than we ever could have imagined. Background: I love to do laundry - I mean A LOT! So - I use the washer and dryer every night to wash the familie's clothing and blankets and towels. After heavy use - the outer knob stripped out. We threw it away and were using pliers to turn the small plastic knob underneath. After a few months - that plastic wore down and we could not turn it on at all!

I went to a GE repair center to explain my problem, the service center reccomended that I have a techinician come out o look at it. $75.00 for the visit and what ever labor and materials wuld cost.

I went on line to see if there were others having this same problem and found that there were many with the same problem.

After reading some of the ways that people found out what was wrong ...it became a matter of three components, the timer, heater or thermostat.

I tried the most common component and the less expensive one first , the thermostat switch I installed it very easily snipping two wires and attaching the news using wire nuts I used the diagram on this website to pinpoint the component and there has not been a problem since.

(1) open dryer door (2) remove screws holding door on and put door aside. Probably doesn't have to be done but I think its easier and safer so you don't accidently bend the hinges. (3) remove 2 screws holding top onto front. of dryer located in recess that door sits in (3) pull up on top and remove (from slots by the control panel) (4) remove final 2 screws holding front onto frame of dryer. You can disconnect the connectors from the front panel back to the dryer to make the job easier or work with it without disconnecting. I'd take your time and clean any lint dust, etc. (5) the Drum Bearing removes fairly easy as it is just snapped into 2 slots. insert slids into slots.... make sure you order all 4. Mine were all beat!. (6) replace with new Drum Bearing. (7) I did the lower felt seal as well. Pay attention to how you took the old one off and replace the same way. Remember it stretches to fit into the slots. Put all back together. Remember to front panel has to sit correctly into bottom slots before you screw the top screws back in. All in all.... a simple project, and no more noise!!!!! Great to have websites like this. Easy ordering, quick shipping, great diagrams.

I have a fridge in my garage. I have found that a glass of ice water or a cold drink outside is very important to me. When I discovered melting ice dripping onto the garage floor I was very upset. I spun the fridge and found that the compressor and fan weren't starting. I got out my multi-meter and discovered that power was not making it to these components. I did some research and found the wiring diagram online. There really isn't too much going on with a fridge and the most likely candidate seemed to be the run capacitor. I ordered the part, replaced it in a few minutes and the fridge began working again.