GDE21DSKAKSS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

This story starts with a GE side-by-side refrigerator that has always had wide temperature swings and a temperamental water dispenser. The ice maker was not making ice, and the built in digital thermometer showed it was running warm. I suspected that the heat exchanger was full of dust and so looked there. What I found was that the condenser tank was hot to the touch and the fan wasn’t running. As an experiment, I aimed a fan at the it for a while I saw that the freezer temperature dropped back to normal.
.The fan is marked as 11.2 DC so I checked for voltage at the fan and found some. With three wires and no wiring diagram I wasn’t sure this answered all the questions, but hooking the fan to a 12 volt power supply didn’t get it to spin.
I priced parts at a couple websites before using partselect.com . They also have a good diagram to look at (Sears diagrams are really poor). I ordered the part with 2-day shipping; it arrived on time, was correct and fixed the problem.

Removed rear and front grills,brushed and vacuumed area- probably caused the fan motor to fail- unplugged fan, removed fan,motor,and shroud in 1 piece, carefully slipped fan off motor shaft, unscrewed shroud and motor. assembled in reverse order. Frige is in tight area, .I'll now roll it out and clean often

I visually inspected the compressor and narrowed down the source of the noise to the freezer area. Then I removed the doors and the screws securing the divider panel. Next I removed the bottom panel of the freezer, the styrofoam insullation panel and the evaporator motor. The motor is mounted between two grommets. I replaced the grommet facing the fan blades. The aluminum reflector below the styrofoam insulation panel had also come loose. I reattached it and reassembled the refrigerator in reverse order. The noise is gone!

First I removed the ice tray rack lifting it out of the way to reach the back cover of the fan. Then, the whole back inside panel had to be removed. Two screws removed the fan and bracket from the freezer unit. The missing bumper lid just snapped into place. Replaced everything in reverse order. Pretty easy job.

Remove the screws from the two door pivot covers. Remove the covers and set aside. Remove the screws from the control board; disconnect the electrical connections; remove the door light switch, install door light switch then reinstall everything.

I followed your video and completely dismantled the refrigerator evaporator motor, fan, brackets, and grommet, I completely cleaned the refrigerator including the cooling coils. I then ordered the evaporator motor ,fan, grommets, lid bumper, and brackets. The order would take a week to arrive. In the meantime I cleaned and reassembled all the old parts, waiting for the new ones to come. Guess what! The refrigerator was quiet as a mouse. I really did not need the new parts, but I kept them anyway just for good luck. Not bad for a refrigerator that's twenty four years old.

Very limited working space in this model. Must remove grill and disconnect elect connector on motor. One additiional tool suggested: Extendable rod with magnet on end because you will most likely drop something. First, remove two screws holding motor to metal strap. Tool must be inserted between blades of fan in order to get to the screws and this is the hard part. Fan and motor are removed as one assy and this takes some manuvering. Might have to remove front screw on metal strap to gain more room. I did not attempt to remove fan shroud. My fan was attached to the motor shaft with a metal clip. Spray a good lubricant such as PB Blaster on the shaft, wait a few minutes and press it or tap it out gently. Save misc parts on old motor for reassembly. Your set up may be different so check out everything before starting.

I identified the noise was coming from the coils / and the fan. Cleaning the fan helped reduce the noise a bit but it still kept recurring. I ordered the part, which was really easy using the diagram on the website. The instructions and the video were really helpful and was able to remove the old motor and replace it with the new one with relative ease. While there I cleaned the fan blade and vacuumed the surrounding area. This whole repair went quite smoothly and has given me the confidence to take on other repairs before calling out the repairman.

The repair is a snap, you can watch the video and it will put you on the right path. My story is more about the service that Part Select gave me. I used a small box fan on low as a temporary fix. My model number was worn off from the box wine we store in that particular place. So I ordered the part based on looks, well it was wrong. Called Part Select and we talked, the nice lady on the other end said OH it must be this fan motor. Send us back that one, and I'll get this out too you. I'll credit your account for $7.99, and it cost me $8.99 to ship back the wrong part. Wow, the next day I received the new motor. They sent it overnight! I thought it would be 5-6 days! Unbelievable. I will use this company for any, and all my repairs.