GDL20KCSCBS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

I removed the old temperature sensor by cutting the wires. I attached the wires of the new sensor with wire nuts and mounted it in the same bracket.

First, unplug the refrigerator. Next, remove the lower panel on the back of the refrigerator that covers the compressor, condenser and fan compartment. Looking at the refrigerator from the back, the condenser fan is at the lower right corner. There is no information about removing the fan motor, so it took a bit of study. It became obvious that the plastic fan venturi (panel with hole in it for fan blade) needed to be removed. There were two screws that held the venturi panel in place. After removing these screws the top half of the venturi panel could be bent down and pulled from the cabinet. Note that there are tabs and slots on the bottom of this panel that will need to be matched up when replacing the panel. Next the fan blade needed to be removed. This is done by pulling firmly on the balde and it separated from the motor shaft. The most difficult problem was to remove the motor from the motor bracket. There is very little room to remove the two phillips head screws from the front of the bracket, so I used a socket ratchet wrench with an adapter that would hold a phillips bit. This allowed me to remove the screws which were at a right angle to the wrench handle. It took quite a few incremental ratchet movements to remove each screw. After the screws were removed, the motor and wire could be removed by prying the plastic motor bracket apart. There is a insulated cover that is tie wrapped over the motor plug. This was removed and the plug was removed. The steps were reversed to install the new motor. Be sure the venturi panel is positioned correctly and that the fan blade is pushed firmly onto the motor shaft.

The most dificult was the diagnosis. The condenser fan was turning slowly and the entire compressor/coil unit was too hot to touch. Removing the rear cover panel and placing a small desk fan behind the refrigerator cooled the compressor coil unit and allowed the freezer to get back to the 1 degree F operating range. This made my wife happy because she could continue to use the refrigerator and was willing to put up with the fan noise.

The Part select recommendation page stated that the most common cause was a control board failure [which was ultimately true] but I orderd a control board, a compressor fan motor and a themostat to be able to fix it in one exercise. The parts took ~3 days to arrive and during this time the desk fan kept the freezer at correct operating temp.
Replacing the control board and repowering the refrigerator [ took 1 hour] immediatly brought the original compressor fan motor up to speed. However it took the unit another 2 hours to get back to the 1 degree operating condition. The temperature had risen from 1 degree to 4 degrees in the time the unit was powered down.

went to your website and viewed exploded view to find the sensor( there are two I just picked one to replace for now), pried the cover off carfully and pulled out the sensor. I snipped the wire in the middle leaving plenty to work with. I shortened the wire on the new piece, spliced the wires together and with some 3M rubberized, tape wrapped them up, replaced the sensor back into the cover and snapped in place.

put fridge into test mode, failed One sensor. Took it out, Tested it, Ordered part also picked up splice kit from electric store spliced it truned on and good to go

Took panel off back of inside of freezer section, took off old sensor from the evaporator, spliced new sensor into the existing wires, waterproofed spliced connections, snapped sensor back onto evaporator, then put panel back on the inside of the freezer. Really, it took only 10 minutes to fix. Now refrigerator defrosts like it used to, and temps have settled in at specified temps.

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!

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.

Noticed the problem in November 2009. Replaced Hi Limit Sesor for Defrost thinking it was the freezor temperature sensor. Did not fix the problem. Replaced Motherboard. Did not fix the problem. Called Sears Repair. They mis-diagnosed the problem and told me it was the sealed system. I doubted them and sent them home. Replaced the correct freezer temperature sensor that connects to the motherboard. FIXED.
Removed a panel, cut two wires, soldered and insulated two wries, reinstalled panel.

No self defrost. Measured heater coil with ohm meter which was OK (not open). Ordered 2 temp sensors (there are 2 in freezer, 2 in fresh food sections). The original and the new all meaured ~150 ohms. Replaced one by one. This did not fix problem. Ordered defrost thermostat. Original measured ~150 ohms - new one was ~100 ohms. Unpluged refridgerator. Removed coil panel (4 nut screws) in freezer and light cover (1 small phillips screw). Locate defrost thermostat clipped to top of coils (orange / pink wires). Cut wires and unclipped thermostat. Stripped insulation off of wires and reconnect using wire nuts. Clipped thermostat back to coils. Ran refridgerator without panel on coils to see if coils frosted up again and listend for fans/compressor to stop ( took hours). Opened freezer and viewed glow of defrost heater. Problem resolved.

The valve is not a direct replacement,seems they
are not available,had to bend mtg. brkt. so valve
would mount in same position and cut off screw
type pressure fitting so could slide discharge
tube into new type connection, no instructions
come with replacement valve,asked several
places for info wanted to be sure before cutting
off end of discharge tube. Now valve shuts off
but water still in base of refrigerator must be a
leak in inlet tube behind freezer compartment.

The door seemed like the seal wasn't holding the door shut tightly, also the door wouldn't close on it's own even after adjusting the level so it leaned slightly backwards. I thought at first something had happened to the door seal, but it looked in tact. Then I noticed that there was some rubbing on the steel near the lower pin hinge of the main door. I removed the door, by first removing the 3 bolts that hold the upper door hinge. Then lifted the door off the lower hinge. The door is very light and easy for one person to lift. I found that the lower hinge pin slides into the door which has a plastic bushing called a thimble. This is a washer with a collar on it. For some reason, this bushing was missing it's collar. I simply slid the old one out, and replaced it with the new, slid the door back on it's lower hinge pin, then reinstalled the upper hinge pin after sliding the pin into the uole in the top of the door.
The door closes better now than it ever did, and works very freely when opening. Replacement of the thimble also created a better alignment of the door to the refrigerator body, and now the door seal holds tightly, and once again gives that bit of resistance when you open the door.

I removed one screw to loosen the cardboard panel that covered the old valve and one screw to remove the valve assembly. I disconnected the two wiring connections and unscrewed the two water line connections. Replacement was really easy since the bracket was the same as the old valve. The down stream water connection was different for the new (push in) than the old (threaded) but I cut the old threaded connector off and figured out that the new push in connection was solid (directions would have really helped here) Reconnected the inlet tubing and electrical wires and replace the panel and it was done.

Part arrived very fast as ordered..need to pry old switch out from top..use care to push the retainer down..after old switch was 1/2 out, I used a putty knife for better leveridge.Remove wire connector...after plugging in the wire connector to the replacement switch, make sure the switch is properly positioned so the switch will depress when door shuts.