GSS20IETAWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

First, I must say that I was told that the mother board might be the problem. I called my husband to tell him what I was told the problem might have been and how much the part was. A little expensive, but still cheaper than calling a repair man. He told me to order the less expensive part first to see if that fixed it. The fan motor. We hung up the phone and for kicks I scrolled down the page to see if it might give any more information on the part and what it controlled, etc. I don't usually read comments, but was amazed at the ones I read. The second comment on the page said that his refrigerator made a whooing sound like a ghost. Our Frig has done this since the day we bought it! He replaced the mother board and the "ghost" moved out! The third comment was that his refirg made a clicking noise and the ice maker doesn't work! I immediately called my husband back and told him I was ordering the part! It arrived the next day. So extremely easy to put in! I removed 3 screws from the cover, disconnected a couple of wires, a few plastic clips; pushed the new part on the clips rehooked the wires and put the cover back on. I bet it took less than 10 minutes! My husband thinks I'm a genius!! Thank you so much for all of your help!

I replaced the motor that runs the fan in the freezer compartment. Had to remove a number of shields to get to the fan and then some wires and screws to get at the motor. It came with a plug with 4 wires in it and I was supposed to pull 2 wires out of the old plug and place them in the new plug. Long story short the pins would not extract from the plug and the wiring harness was molded in solid plastic, so I ended up cutting the 4 wires to the motor and splicing in the new one and taping them with electrical tape. So far no more moaning and the ice cream is still hard, so I think we nailed it.

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.

Once I got the correct part, (the expanded view of the icemaker is confusing as it shows the partition at the back of the diagram) I removed the ice dispenser from the tub by removing the screws and disengage the tabs holding the dispenser assembly in the tub. The most difficult step was getting the disenser disengaged from the tub. I used two kitchen knives to wedge between the walls of the tub. It was then easy to remove and replace the broken inside partition and reassemble the dispenser. Works like new.

As advised by the forum just replaced the defrost heater assembly now the refrigerator works perfect. did not have to replace the thermostat.
My nephew had exactly same problem on ge refrigerator - replaced the defrost heater assembly and the problem is solved. Just remove the back panel in the freezer compartment, disconnect the cable, remove the nuts and replace the assemble. It is very simple. Bought both assembly from parts select.com - got next day delivery. they are great. would do business in future.

I found if I would put pressure on one connector on the board the unit would come on. So the board had a short. I ordered it, it came in 24 hours and I installed it and problem was solved.

Removed the ice bin and maker, then removed cover from the rear that covered the solenoid that controls the dispensing mechanism. Replace solenoid. The tricky part here is that there is a styrofoam cover around the solenoid pin that needs to be superglued into place and oriented properly during replacement. All electrical feeds snap out neatly and are easily replaced. Reassemble ice dispenser and bin, and viola, your back in business.

Remove and empty ice maker from freezer . Remove two screws from bottom to remove the front panel (cover bucket). Remove one screw which holds the deflector on top of the bucket.(tray which holds the ice curbs). Remove one screw that holds the clip that holds the wire actuator rod.

To remove the the ice crusher/dispenser mechanism from the bucket I used two table knives Spread one side of the bucket with one knofe and pry up with the other to get the retainer wedge free from the bucket side. Repeat on the other side. Once the retainer wedges are free the ice crusher/dispenser with the auger attached can be lifted free from the bucket.

With a spanner wrench remove the nylon nut from the shaft. NOTE: THIS IS A LEFT HAND NUT. Note the orientation and relationship of the crusher blades. They must be replaced properly for the system to crush ice and dispense cubes correctly. Remove blades and spacers from Auger.

Reassemble in reverse order. Be sure to get the actuator rod in place in the cam for the dispensor cover before sliding the crusher/dispenser mechanism totally in place. If not in the cam correctly the crusher/dispenser may have to be removed again.

Although a little difficult the first time the project is easily done by an adventourous handy person.

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.

First I removed the shelf and light cover, then removed 3 screws from the ice make. Then I removed 6 screws from the moter cover (back wall of the freezer) and removed it. I then removed the 2 screw holding the moter. This is where the soldering iron comes in. The wire leads from the old motor were molded into a 3" rubber holder and the end wire plastic connector held 6 prongs (2 from a thermo tube). The new motor only held the 4 moter prongs, 2 were empty. To resolve this problem I cut the wires on both the new and old motor. I then attached the old connector to the new moter with the soldering iron and shrink tubing. Replaced all the parts I had removed and started it up. Works like a champ.....

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.

I am a single mom of two with limited funds. I had a repairman come out and find the problem and give an estimate. We were told that it was the evaporator fan motor and and the main control board. The repair would cost $400 and no guarantee. So I checked the cost of parts and it was $200 so for no guarantee I figured why not try it myself and possibly save $200. So I ordered the parts from partselect. Even though I paid the cheapest postage they arrived the next day. So from what I read and saw this would be a piece of cake. Well let me just say if the freezer section was gutted to begin with it might not have been that big of a deal. As it was getting to the top screws of the panel that covers the evaporator fan required the removal of the icemaker and all. I am not a tall woman nor am I a thin woman and fitting my body in that small freezer section was not easy. There were times that I had to have my teenagers reach a long arm in and hold a part up for me. After that I discovered that the fan I had purchased only had 4 wires. The one from my old fan had 6. I discovered that 2 of the wires went to some sort of sensor. Long story short I rigged it. I was able to remove the 2 prongs for the sensor and insert them into the empty holes on the new fan harness. It wasnt easy. I have limited tools too and I wont even get into how I did it. They did not fit the greatest so I used the electrical tape to cover the whole connection. I put the whole thing back together and debated on trying it without putting in the main board but I decided to trust the repairman this time and go for it. Getting to the main board was no big deal. But what disturbed me was the main board I held in my hands did not look exactly like the main board I was about to take out. I watched the video 3 times my how easy it looked. I then read the directions that came with it. It talked about removing a pin and cutting a wire. Well I about had a stroke worrying. I finally found the serial # on my frig and thankfully mine was not on the list. However the directions did still say something about if there wasnt a wire in pin 2 proceed to step 3. Well I had a wire in pin 2. So it was confusing. My serial # wasnt one of the models #'s given but I did have a wire in pin 2. I just took a chance and trusted the serial #'s and ignored the rest of it. I plugged the wires on the new board one at a time. Put the cover back on and prayed as I plugged it in. A soft purr began. It was running. The freezer was around 60 degrees. I put a room thermometer in to make sure it was going down. It kept going down. Around 3 hours after I finished there was a loud noise from the freezer. It had made ice something it had not done in months. I stayed awake most of the night watching and listening to it. It got down in the single digits I was afraid that maybe it would never shut off. It finally shut off as I was making the kids breakfast the next morning. Of course I was worried that it would not restart. So I opened the freezer and fanned in room air. It worked. Since then we have purchased no more dry ice or regular ice. We bought a tub of ice cream and more than one day of school lunch stuff at a time. Bottom line it works. Thanks to everyones post and to partselect for the video. I hope that I never have to do it again though.

Cause: Failed relays on main circuit board. Fix: Main circuit board replacement: Unplugged refrigerator. Removed 10 screws securing main circuit board metal cover (located on back of refrigerator) using a nutdriver. Disconnected 7 multi-pin electrical connectors from the circuit-board by firmly pulling each connector from the circuitboard sockets using a needlenose plyers. Depressed the small locking prong on each of the 4 plastic circuit board mounting pegs while pulling the board off the mounting pegs.
Pressed new board in place over mounting pegs. Re-plugged in all connectors (no confusion because each connector has unique pin counts). Replaced all mounting cover bolts, making sure to pin green ground wire to last bolt. Plugged in refrigerator. Done.
Note: I determined the main circuit board was bad by removing the auger motor assembly from the freezer and testing the auger motor harness power pins. AC voltage should jump when ice demand lever is pushed (while pressing the internal door light off switch). If no voltage jump, then auger motor relays on main circuit board have failed, indicating board replacement is needed.
Another check would be connecting an extension cord to the auger motor terminals and plugging it in. Motor should run. If it does, then motor is good and main circuit board is bad. If it doesn’t then auger motor is bad and needs replacement.

I have unlock the black panel. With a screw driver I have removed 2 screws and removed 3 conectors from circuit board. So, I had access to solenoid set. From this point on was intuitive. Very easy.

I recomend these parts be replaced once time for each two years.

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.