33346-1 General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I purchased the replacement part (no instructions sheet) from another company, not this one, that cost 2X's a much as this company. So I sent it back and ordered from this company. Got it faster then the post office sends us the stamps we order by internet and this ice maker had instructions.
Our's is a side by side refrig, so working space is limited but do-able. The old ice maker has made a clicking noise for years while trying to push the cubes out of the tray. They would get stuck and refreeze, sticking half way out of the tray.
I loosened the 2 screws with a socket driver (which are difficult to see), raised the unit up and off the screws. Unplugged the power & out it came. Removed the bracket on the side as instructed to attach to the new ice maker and in the trash the ol' ice maker went. Set the new ice maker on the screws, plugged in the power, tightened the screws and walla. A quiet ice maker. In fact, it would startle us the first day as we didn't hear the clicking noise indicating it was stuck. All of a sudden the cubes just dropped into the container. Alright! Don't know why I didn't do this years ago.

Removing the old unit was easy enough, just loosened two screws that attach unit to side of freezer and disconnected the wiring harness. But the new unit never goes in quite as easily because it's always just a little different from the original. In this case, the wiring ended up being about six inches longer and the excess had to be stuffed behind a shield at the rear of the unit. Theoretically, the wire could have been pushed back through the opening, but it got jammed and wouldn't go. I had to remove side rails and pry the shield forward in order to get the wiring back out of the way. The unit is a narrow side by side, so there wasn't a lot of room to move around. But it wasn't difficult, just tedious. I had to make sure the wiring did not come into contact with the heating element at the bottom of the icemaker. Once installed it worked great.

It was fairly easy. Only had to remove the back cardboard. Remove 3 screws and the power plug.
Replacing the screws took a little time the motor mount didn't seem to be tapped exactly for the screws supplied and it was in a tight area. Its working great now.

First of all Don't panic! you can do it and you can save a lot of $$$ if you do it yourself. A friend advice me to look it up online resources and came accross part select on YouTube .

The process:
Defrost the fridge. Take down the panels on the fridge to have room to unscrew the back panels. Once you've taken the back panel out. You will see the thermostat right away. Replace it and voila you're done.

Followed the steps in the video on your site, really easy to do.

Removed supports with pliers and used center punch to push broken plugs out of hole and inserted the new supports.

-unplug power cord.(safety first!
-Removed evaporator cover in freezer. found defrost thermostat defective.
-use hair dryer to manually defrost coil from ice build-up.
-unclip thermostat from coil.
-cut wires close to the defrost thermostat; remove defective thermostat.
-clip on new defrost thermostat.
-connect wires using included butt connectors including shrink tubing (also included)
-replace coil cover.
-plug power cord back in.

I removed the old gate by using a flat head screw driver to pry open mouth. I then removed 2 bolts that held on the cage that hols the ice crushing blades. Then I inserted the new gate and used a screw driver to pry the mouth open again (it was more difficult to insert than remove). I then popped in the new gate and re-assembled the cage. It worked on the first shot with no problems!

This is the 3rd time I have attemped and successfully repaired major home appliances myself after the warrenty ran out. I'm sure I could buy a new appliance for the money I saved.

un plug fridge. removed ice maker from fridge. loosen 2 mounting screws. lift unit in slots to get over heads of screws. unplug wire harness. remove cover. remove 3 screws from control housing. remove 2 motor mounting screws. unplug motor wires from switches w/needle nose. installation is the reverse. plug in fridge turn on icemaker. takes 10 to 15 min to start to cycle.
easy and cheaper than new fridge or ice maker

Very easy. I at first misunderstood the instructions. the fridge door remains closed. You pull out the water catch tray "outside" the door. someone said ice tray, thats why i thought i had to open the door to fix it. there are 3 screws that the water catch hides. once removed the control panel comes off which unplugs from bottom easily. then there are screws behind the control panel just removed. after those are unscrewed the rest tilts enough that u can uncrew the little metal bands that hold the arm. replace arm & reverse your efforts & your done. took less then 10 minutes.

The most difficult part was the removal of the existing fan and shroud. There is very little room to work between the condenser and the coils where the fan is located. The old shroud had to be removed as it was not compatible with the mounting for the new fan motor and blade. Make sure to unplug the refrigerator and give the coils some time to cool down. The first step was to remove the old fan blade... it simply pulls off. Next you need to remove the two bolts holding the fan shroud to the floor of the refrigerator. Then you need to remove the old fan motor from the shroud... unplug the wire connection and remove two small bolts that hold it on. I was lucky to have a VERY small ratchet to get into these tight spaces. Now is the really hard part, removing the metal fan shroud takes a lot of twisting and turning to get it out. The coils have a little play in them, but you must be very careful of the tubing and connections. Also, the coils are very sharp. Once this is out, IF you can get it out....I had my doubts along the way, you can start to put the new parts in... beginning with the new fan shroud which fortunately is made of plastic and has some give which makes it easier to get in. Then you can mount the new motor to the shroud with the three new screws. Plug in the wire connection, add the foam tape to the shroud and mount the shroud to the floor of the frig with the original two bolts. Lastly, attach the fan blade. This replacement kit is well constructed, fits perfectly and contained all the necessary parts (fan motor with wiring connection, mounting screws, wire connection adapter, fan shroud, foam tape and fan blade), but no detailed instructions come with it. I was lucky to get the old fan shroud out without doing any damage to the surrounding parts, but this part was very difficult for a do it yourself person. I would be interested to know if a professional has some other tips for this part of the replacement process.

Unplugged the appliance for safety. Removed two 1/4" screws that held the assembly in place. Carefully removed the wire guard that retains the glass shield. Unscrewed old light bulb and replaced with new part. Reversed the steps after cleaning glass cover.

removed ice maker box and disassembled crusher unit on front of box and installed new housing.

I simply unscrewed the original and replaced it with the replacement. It was very easy. I did have to order the label as the original one would not come off to be re-used. Hopefully, that will go on easily as well.

I followed step by step instruction in the hinge kit; Replacing the old hinge with a new hinge and two new plastic cams in the kit. The kit hinge has an adjustment to level the right door with the left door. Everything is done in 20 minutes for a senior guy like me. Very easy.