GFS185/MN11 Caloric Refrigerator - Instructions

First defrosted it to makes sure all Air flow was opened. Tested the Defroster heater with omh meter, it was OK. Found the location of the defrost timer on the online diagrams. Used nut driver to remove cover.
Replaced timer. The hardest part was decieding how to wire it up, tis was a universal kit and depending on how it was wired as to how often the defrost ran. The firt choice was every 8 hours. Since this was going to be opened often, I picked that one.
Plugged it with in 24 hrs freezer wall mesured -5 and the fridge was at 30, so had to warm it up a bit.
Now all complaints gone, Ice making has been doing better also.

I first unplugged the unit.
Secondly I unscrewed the back panel and removed it.
Third, I unplugged the fan, unscrewed it, removed it, and replaced it with the new fan motor.
I then plugged it to confirm that it worked and then put everything back together.

most of the time spent on repair was removing the food from freezer compartment other than that removal of a couple screws and disconnecting and reconnecting wires not a huge ordeal

I removed all the shelves and the back shelf hanger. Removed two screws on the back plate.Pulled it out.Removed the screws that hold the fan housing. Pulled it out so I could write down the three wires color and location.Unpluged them.Removed the old fan and installed the new one.and put everthing back together.

Removed the shelves from the freezer and the brackets holding it along with the covers for the light and plate for the ice maker (we don't have one). Pulled the ground wire from the tab off the port for the ice maker. Removed back plate exposing the fan motor and then the 4 hex screws holding on part #23 of the diagram which the fan motor is mounted to. Flipped it over, unscrewed the 2 hex screws from the fan motor mounting and removed it. Removed and replaced 3 wire connectors on new fan motor. Installed new fan motor and new grommets but used the old screws because the provided screws were larger. Pushed the new fan on to the motor shaft. Reassembled. Half hour most.

Removed the ice brucket,
Removed the light shield by releasing one screw using a nutdriver.
Replacing the bulb and reinstalled the light shield.

Your web site is one of the best and most helpfull service sites I ever used. Just wish that in the future you will ship parts overseas.

I replaced the defrost relay folling instructions I read on the internet--and it still didn't work--So I replaced the compressor start relay which was easier than the defrost relay--it worked and the fridg is working good.

Removed freezer shelving. Removed 3 shelving brackets (dovetailed) by sliding them up off of the small square mounted on the freezer wall. This was a stumbling block until
I figured out how to remove these brackets. Removed three Philips head screw in freezer back panel (24) with nut driver. Removed light bulb cover to get some grip on back panel. Lifted the back panel up slightly and then folded in down a bit then rotated it to the left. Removed 4 hex head (1/4in) screws on fan shroud (23) and brought down into the freezer. Disconnected electrical spade connectors from motor and removed entire unit from freezer to work on motor. Removed two hex head screws (18) holding motor to the brackets. Pushed new fan on to new motor using a 1/4 nut driver and hammer. Mounted motor to old brackets with two screws (18). Placed motor/fan/shroud unit in freezer and reconnected electrical spade connectors. Replaced motor/fan/shroud in freezer with the 4 hex head screws (15), dropping one behind the coils. Just replaced it with a look alike. Turned power back on to check if the fan was operating normally. Put back panel in place and screwed it in place then put shelving clips back into place and then all the shelving. Appears to operating quietly so far. About 30 minutes to complete the job.

My fridge did not have icemaker add on. The evap fan is in the freezer behind the back panel. Empty the freezer section (into a cooler) and turn the fridge off. Remove all the shelves in freezer section. Remove the shelf support tabs by lifting them up. use phillips head screwdiver to remove back panel in freezer section. Use nut driver to remove fan shroud. Remove old fan and save the mounting arms. Install mounting arms on new fan and install fan. Install shroud, back panel, shelf mounts and shelves. Thats it!

The parts were reasonably priced, shipped promptly and received in a couple of days. I reviewed a YouTube video before starting that was beneficial. Huge savings over retail repair service. A+ replacement parts house and I would highly recommend.

Remove bottom of freezer by sliding out the gaskets on each side.

Remove back of freezer. 6 screws.

Remove fan cover. 4 screws.

Remove fan. 3 wires to disconnect. 2 screws to take out.

Install the fan. Connect the 3 wires. Fastened with 2 screws.
Put fan cover back on. 4 screws.
Put back of freezer back on. 6 screws.
Put bottom of freezer back in. Slide gaskets in on each side.

The repair was easy, I removed the cover on the top front of the fresh food compartment. It housed the defrost timer which was easy to identify and replace. Just removed a screw, unplugged the wires and replaced with the new part. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem. I also had to replace the defrost element that the timer sent power to. While I was at it, I replaced the defroster thermostat. The entire repair took under an hour, diagnosing the problem took the most time and effort.

After the front panel was removed, disconnected the timer and installed new in reverse order. The provided instructions could be more straight forward, I spent more time reading it than the installation itself.

Unplug unit turn off gas, remove only bottom front panel first tried radient flame sensor was not the problem it was the coils which were infront easy to acess with small screw driver remove two prong coil and replaced then the three pronged coil being sure to line them back before tigtening left off cover and watched for ignition once it turned on and ran replaced cover and done.

The Defrost Timer is located in Refrigerator section (not the freezer) where your temperture guages are. Move panel and replace the non working Defrost Timer with the new one. It took my husband about 30-40 mins to fix. This was about 2 weeks ago and my Freezer and Refrigerator are working like new. I bought this Kenmore Reftigerator brand new in 1996 and I lost the manuel to it. Thanks to my daughter who found the Defrost Timer on the Internet, I thought I was going to have to buy a new one. This was real easy to fix. The instructions that came with the part was easy to understand and very self explanatory. It also had very good diagrams to follow.