DTS18ICRNRWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I applied some tips learned by reading other reviews. So before I started I grabbed my trusty vise grip pliers and a small screw driver. I locked onto the switch actuator, the part that the refrigerator door pushes in, with the vise grips and pulled on it just hard enough to get the screw driver inserted in the right side to push in the catch clip so the switch could be pulled out further each time the catch clip was depressed to the next detent. Then I used the screw driver on the left site to encourage the switch past the detents on the left and very quickly the switch was out of the mount. The wires from the refrigerator pulled out with the old switch. I unplugged the old switch from the wires and plugged in the new switch and shoved the new switch back into the mount, wiggled it a couple of times to make sure it was secure and the job was done. Once I applied the vise gripes at first, the whole job took less than a minute.

My husband put on the defrost timer. At first I thought the part was not going to fix the problem. After about 5 hours my refrigerator was still warm. I went to work and when I got home that evening my refrigerator was cooling and down to 28 degrees. So if you replace this part wait at least 12-24 hours. Give it time to stablize. My husband says it has to go through its cycle. It works on a 24 hour timer. My refrigerator is working fine and this has saved me alot of money. My husband says, once you put on the timer you may have to use a flat screwdriver and turn the small dial clockwise one click to start it. He removed the kick grill and replaced the part. Dont forget to shut breaker off to replace this part. Turn power back on and start the timer. We are so happy that we now have a working refrigerator.

I first shut off water flow to the fridge. Examination of the package (which was not exact in appearance to the original) demonstrated that the electrical connectors were well-insulated so I arrogantly and successfully proceded without disconnecting the power. My fridge is old enough that the model doesn't appear exactly on anyone's list so I wasn't alarmed that it took an extra 10 minutes or so to noodle out how to adapt the slightly different inlet cowling and electrical cord with extension, but the device is pretty simple.
Soon I loosened the two mounting screws with a nut driver, used a screwdriver to pry away the plastic snap-in housing over the electrical socket on the fridge inner wall and pulled away the electrical plug. The original water fill tube remained in its cavity, ready for re-use.
The new unit's mounting points matched the original screw locations perfectly, as did the fill cowling - which on the replacement icemaker has two possible attachment points. The new unit's electrical connector required an extension pigtail to adapt to my socket, but it was included in the package. The extra cable posed a minor cosmetic issue because it hangs in the collection basket a bit, but that will soon be remedied with a tie wrap.
After the water was restored and an anxious wait of a few hours, we had well-formed ice cubes that weren't all stuck together and the stalactites haven't reappeared.

I unplugged the electrical connection. Then I removed the 2 screws holding the icemaker in place. I lifted out the old icemaker unit and put the new one in place. Then put the 2 screws back in and plugged in the new unit.

The icemaker started making ice very soon after turning the unit on.

used a screwdriver to remove screw and unplugged part. Plugged in new one and secured with a screw.
Simple

popped off front grille, removed 2 screws for bracket, then had to remove one screw for timer. unplugged old timer, reversed procedure, all works.

the first thing i did was replace the water valve at the bottom of the refrigerator but that didn't work so then i spent more time researching the problem on your site and your diagnostic said to replace the ice maker so i ordered it, took the old one out, plugged the new one in and we had ice the next day.

There were not two screws as the instructions said. There was only one screw and I had to firmly pull it out after taking out the one screw. Then, to put the new one in, I had to line up two slots on two knob-like things and push it in firmly. Then screw the one screw in.

Other than the two-screw problem, it was easy.

The replacement ice maker that GE supplies for my old refrigerator is a little different than the original. The electrical plug changed from a round plug to a square one. They include an adapter for it, but DON'T USE IT. There's not enough room for the bulky cord and connector. I got a much cleaner installation by taking apart the old and the new ice maker, and then splicing in the old connector into the new ice maker. You need to carefully unscrew a circuit board inside to wire it in, and it'll be more secure if you solider 3 wires instead of using crimp connectors. The instructions also tell you to use your old 'ice breaker', but it won't fit on the new ice maker. I just left the new ice maker's ice breaker on, and it seems to work perfect.

when the ice maker runs through its cycle, you should be able to hear the solinoid valve open, letting water into the ice maker. this was not happening for me. you can dissconnect the plug on the valve and put the two probes from a multimeter in the plug and set for AC volts. when the ice maker runs its cycle, at the end you should see the meter jump as power is applied to the valve then turns off. this means you do have power to the valve so the valve is defective. turn off water supply to the valve, disconnect the water supply tube to the valve, remove the screw holding the valve, disconnect supply tube to icemaker then hook up supply tube to bottom of valve, screw braket back to refrig, install suppy back to valve, turn water back on and check for leaks and your ice maker should be working properly again.
these guys were really fast on delivery too!

Had to remove inside panels to expose coils in freezer. Used hair dryer and towels to de-ice. Reading online learned about defrost heater (long thin glass tube with wire coil in it I could not see b/c up under the inside of the coils). Who would have guessed freezers have heaters in them!! And learned the defrost timer (inside the fridge) is just a continuous clock turning on and off the defrost heater. Anyways I used a screwdriver to turn the timer to defrost mode and by disconnecting the wires from each end of the heater and measuring the voltage, I found 70 volts there. Hmmm. I didn't know what was the right volt amount.
Reading online I also found out the defrost Thermostat is basically a temp actuated on/off switch for that heater, so that while the timer is sending *120* volts to the heater (which gets red hot by the way) the therm switches the heater off when the temp gets high in the freezer.
I eyeballed the therm ( it looks like a little can) and I saw that it was coming apart. The key at this moment is you can cut out and bypass the therm to see if the heater works. If it does you know the therm is the bad boy. But only do this as a momentary test or the heater will probably set your fridge on fire after a while!

Always remember to unplug the fridge when you are messing with the wires! And dry it up inside before putting your hands and tools in there!

So I ordered a therm using the model # of the fridge. Had to cut the old out and strip / wire nut the new one in.

Took too long b/c I was hung up on the heater being bad (after all it didn't heat up when I put the timer in defrost) and not knowing about the rights volts to the heater.

PartSelect helped out great! Thanks!

Frig and freezer were defrosting and refreezing other than normal. Home warranty contractor told me ice maker was faulty. Purchased new ice maker. Unplugged frig, loosened 2 screws with nut driver. unplugged old ice maker, lifted old ice maker out. Took old fill cup off old unit and put on new unit since new fill cup was a different size. Swapped ice maker insert from old to new unit. Plugged in new ice maker, slid over the 2 screws, tightened, and plugged in frig power. New ice maker works fine but still have defrosting and refreezing problem. Figure old ice maker probably works just fine. New contractor still trying to solve problem. Have had problems with this GE Monagram keeping proper temps since it was new in 2005, don't recommend it.

Unplugged the refrigerator and turned off the water to the ice maker valve. Removed the water line at both ends (small crescent wrench). Removed the cover from the water valve area (two Phillips head screws). Removed the valve (two screws - small nut driver) and pulled off the two electrical connections.

Installed the new valve with the reverse procedure though the holding screws didn't line up with the existing holes in the refrigerator metal frame. I let it go with one screw holding ... didn't have a drill with me to make a second screw hole.

Replaced the old water line (from the wall to the valve) with a steel-reinforced hose.

Cut the female metal connector from the old water line up to the freezer and it fit nicely into the push-in outlet from the new valve. Turned everything back on and waited for the ice maker to cycle.
To my dismay, the leak had been coming from the plastic line that goes from the valve up to the ice maker. It had split, spraying water. Replaced that and everything works fine.

Lesson learned: Don't assume water near the icemaker valve actually is from the valve or its water connections. Watch the whole system cycle a couple of times to see what's really happening. Glad to have a new valve but the basic problem was the icemaker tubing.

Could not haven been easier. Simply unplug fridge, remove air duct mounted on rear panel, release panel itself, pull fan blade off, disconnect grounding wire, detach fan motor bracket, disconnect wire harness to release fan motor, install new fan motor and reconnect, secure with bracket, reconnect grounding wire, reposition fan blade onto motor shaft, reinstall rear panel and secure screws. Remount air duct and plug appliance back in. VOILA. All done in less than 15 minutes!!!

The Fridge and freezer were not very cold except for in the very back of the freezer (where the coils are). So I opened up the back of the freezer by first removing the dome light cover and removing all the visible screws. I then lifted up and pulled out the vent in the center of the back panel and removed the two remaining screws on the back panel. At that point I removed the back panel exposing the coils and fan. I saw that the fan was not spinning so I used a screw driver to manually turn the defrost timer found on the top of the inside of the fridge. Once I had turned the defrost timer once complete rotation, and the fan didn't turn on, I was pretty sure that it was the fan. I still wasn't sure that the fan was the only problem, but I couldnt see anything else that wasn't working properly. I decided to take a chance and order the fan motor (not the entire assembly. it is easy to replace the moter only leaving the original fan blades and housing). Once I got the part, I unplugged the old fan motor, put in the new fan motor, and pugged it in and it started spinning right away. I put everything back together the same way I took it apart and it has worked great ever since.