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Curtacoma
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Posted: Fri Sep 12th, 2008 17:03 |
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Model is GE GSS22JFMDWW side by side. Not sure exactly how old it is but the doors were replaced by GE under the recall before I bought it. I've had it about a year and it's worked fine until a few weeks ago.
Fridge side started warming and I called a local independent service tech who found it was not defrosting. He ran through some tests and concluded it was the infamous GE motherboard problem so he replaced it. I also opted to replace the heater as it looked just about fried (though it still worked). This all cost more than I paid for the fridge (used) but as the fridge is in great shape otherwise and we like it it seemed the right course.
A week later the fridge started warming again. The service guy came back (no charge) and re-replaced the board, plus the defrost thermostat (also no charge). I was a little more proactive in watching for icing this time and took the back panel off inside the freezer after about 4 days and it was all frosted up again (pretty even all over, a little less ice at the bottom). Another service call (different tech this time, the same guy's son, who suspected the "old man" had screwed something up). He checked the board and thermistors and opted to try a different defrost thermostat (different temp range I think he said?).
Well, needless to say 4 days later the coils are icing up again. The service guy will come back out over the weekend and tells me he's going to try a different board which I doubt will fix it. The heater can be made to come on by jumping the connection, the heater and thermostat are new and he supposedly checked the thermistors. At some point they're going to quit coming out to lok at this thing and I'm going to be stuck with it in my garage and a different fridge in the kitchen. Fortunately we have a chest freezer where all the fozen stuff is for now but paitience is growing pretty thin on all fronts.
Thanks for any help!
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Moostafa
The Ayatollah of Appliance Repair
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 03:38 |
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Curtacoma wrote:
He checked the board and thermistors and opted to try a different defrost thermostat (different temp range I think he said?).
Hello, my uncool friend. The above excerpt from the description of your dilemma leads me to suspect that your servicer, though honorable for standing by their workmanship, may not be using OEM parts. There is a specific OEM defrost thermostat for this refrigerator. Would you like to see it? Alright, it is here. Is this the part they installed in your refrigerator?
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Curtacoma
Apprentice Appliantologist
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 07:42 |
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Here's a picture of it, looks like the same part but I'm no expert. Whatever is going on I don't think it's the thermostat because there have now been 3 different ones in there all with the same result. Plus the heater comes on when the defrost connection is jumped.
After reading as much as I can find on this message board I'm starting to suspect the evaporator fan motor and associated thermistor. If that is the problem, is the new motherboard that was installed last week already toast? How hard is the install on the evaporator fan motor kit, can a novice do it ok?
Thanks.
Attachment: thermostat.jpg (Downloaded 83 times)
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Chat_in_RI
Sublime Master of Appliantology
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 11:43 |
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| In the picture above, the spliced in thermostat is a safety device to prevent overheating during defrost. The white thermistor below it is what actually sends information to the mother board about when to defrost. Be sure this was replaced along with the other items you already discussed...
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ROBBYRIG
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 12:49 |
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Curtacoma wrote: Whatever is going on I don't think it's the thermostat because there have now been 3 different ones in there all with the same result. Plus the heater comes on when the defrost connection is jumped.
I'm starting to suspect the evaporator fan motor and associated thermistor. If that is the problem, is the new motherboard that was installed last week already toast? How hard is the install on the evaporator fan motor kit, can a novice do it ok?
Thanks.
Is the evap motor running? If not, that would certainly make it frost up over time and your FF compartment would not maintain temp.
Can you hear it ramp up and down if it is in fact running?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man
Fermented Grand Master of Appliantology
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 14:34 |
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Chat_in_RI wrote:
In the picture above, the spliced in thermostat is a safety device to prevent overheating during defrost. The white thermistor below it is what actually sends information to the mother board about when to defrost. Be sure this was replaced along with the other items you already discussed...
Wisdom! Let us attend!
Also, those splices look very amateurish. I don't know of any Master Appliantologists who uses electrical tape to make splices, especially inside a wet environment like a freezer. Should have used wire nuts or stake-on crimp connectors with a dab of silicon in the bell end and the wire nuts oriented with the bell down.
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Curtacoma
Apprentice Appliantologist
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 19:10 |
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None of the thermistors have been replaced. The 2nd guy who came out supposedly "tested" them and said they were ok.
Evaporator fan is running, my concern with that was that from what I read in one of the FAQs on this site there is a thermistor attached to that is prone to sorting ot due to water and the whole thing is replaced in one kit?
A few folow up questions:
* how difficult is to instal the evap fan motor kit?
* If you replace one thermisotr are you supposed to replace all of them? (think I read that somewhere).
* If I have a shorted thermistors, is the new board that was installed alrady ruined by it?
My repair guys seem to be losing interest, taking a lng time to get a call returned so this otherwise perfectly good fridge is probably heading for the scrap heap shortly unless I can figure out how to finish the repair myself. There is no point $-wise in starting over with another repair guy, might as well just buy another fridge.
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denrayr
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Posted: Sat Sep 13th, 2008 21:19 |
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| replace the thermistor clipped onto the evaporator in your picture. the fan/thermistor you are talking about wont solve your problem. as previously mentioned the evap thermistor is what tells the fridge when to and how long to defrost. in my experience this thermistor will test good and be bad. what happens is the fridge will enter defrost and the temp goes up a little bit. this temp change causes the thermistor to briefly short out. the motherboard sees this brief short as a signal defrost is finished. please call your guy back and demand he change this thermistor. I'm confident replacing the thermistor will solve your problem.
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Curtacoma
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Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 02:40 |
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Well, the repair guy has agreed to come back out Monday. He insists that the problem is another bad board. What are the odds of getting 2 new bad mother boards in a row? He begrudgingly agreed to replace the thermistors if I insist (he says you always replace all 3 if you replace one?, even though he also said he never has to replace them). The new board is on him so I guess we'll see.
I think what I have learned is that if anything goes wrong with a modern appliance and you don't have an extended warranty and can't fix it yourself, time for a new appliance! I can't believe how poorly built these things are, I had an LG before this GE that was absolute junk.
Thanks for the help.
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denrayr
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Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 07:16 |
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| im sorry you are going through this......only the evap thermistor will need to be replaced.
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Chat_in_RI
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Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 20:26 |
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| Replace all thermistors only if they look like the ones on the left on attached picture, the ones on the right are the good ones... Otherwise, just replace the evaporator thermistor. Attachment: GE Sensors.jpg (Downloaded 60 times) Last edited on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 20:28 by Chat_in_RI
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aokappliance
Scholar of Advanced Appliantological Studies
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Posted: Mon Sep 15th, 2008 02:37 |
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I'm going through this on a GE Bottom Freezer. replaced mother FFFn Board. with no instructions to snip, #2 wire at plug J1. Did snip. Thought that would dissable thermister at Evap. then let defrost work, Wrong! Defrost not working. all that did was let damper open to get air to fresh food. Original Problem was No Defrost? I Checked bi metal term. stat. & heater all A-OK.
Are you saying all I had to do was replace the thermister at the evaperator???
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RegUS_PatOff
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Posted: Mon Sep 15th, 2008 03:07 |
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| aokappliance , please start a new Topic so as not to confuse the ongoing problems with this Fridge. Last edited on Wed Oct 22nd, 2008 20:17 by RegUS_PatOff
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Curtacoma
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Posted: Wed Oct 22nd, 2008 19:52 |
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Some follow up on this and a new requet for help. I did eventually get the tech to call GE for some advice. Fisrt they told him to discoonect a wire on the motherboard (sorry I don't know which one). That fixed the defrost problem, but the fridge kept getting colder and colder and after a few days would not stay above freezing. I got him to call GE again and this time they told him to reconnect the wire and replace a thermistor - I assume the same one recommended in the previous post but unfortunately I wasn't home at the time and didn't get to see. This all took close to 2 months btw.....
That seems to have more or less fixed the defrost problem - but things are still not quite right. For several days after the last repair the temp in the fridge swung wildly, 30 degrees right after a cooling cycle and 45 just before a new one began. I don't know what's normal because I never really looked at it before we started having problems, but at one point the fridge climbed into the low 50's while the freezer dropped to about 20 below, all during a cooling cycle. There did not seem to be any cold air coming through the little box at the top iof the fridge. I was in the process of gathering coolers to move all the food out again when it abruptly started cooling off again. It has been much better since (managing to hover around 40 in the fridge and zero in the freezer, but WTF? I don't have a lot of confidence in this thng the next time we go out of town for a few days.
On top of all that, I'm now getting some kind of intermitant fan noise from the freezer. It is coming from the box under the ice maker, whatever runs during the cooling cycle (sorry, I don't know my fridge anatomy that well, but it's the box that the ice mover drive shaft come out of. Is that the evaporator fan?). It sounds just like a problem I had with an LG a couple of years ago, where the freezer would retain too much moisture and ice would start to form on some buried fan blade - so what I would hear was the fan blades hitting this ice buildup. It would go away for a few weeks if I defrosted the freezer. I don't know if that's what this nosie is but that's what it sounds like, and it doesn't do it all the time. It was worst when I was having the temp swing problems, then disappeared when the temp stabilized. Now the noise is back, though the temp is still stable.
I don't think I will ever get the same tech back here, I'm pretty sure he never wants to see my fridge again and its too expensive to start over with someone new. What do you guys think - do I need to just give up on this one and start over with something else?
Thanks for any advice!
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RegUS_PatOff
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Posted: Wed Oct 22nd, 2008 20:30 |
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GE® imagination at work
Attachment: WR55X10552-motherboard-replacement.pdf
some info: Pages from 31-9071 Arctica Knob SxS.pdf
from another post: http://applianceguru.com/forum1/17949.html
denrayr wrote: i would ohm out the door switches from the harness at the board. if the door is open for 2 minutes it will go into liner protect mode. and close the damper and run the fan on high
denrayr wrote: the switches are a 3 way switch so verifying the light turns off is not a valid test.
EDIT i just double checked and the freezer switch is a 3 way and the fresh food is just a normal on/off switch. i would definately check them and if they are ok the only thing left is the damper itself.
Techlyne wrote: Thank you very much for your input. The problem was indeed a faulty freezer door switch. I would never have thought to check that with your post so thanks again!
Last edited on Wed Oct 22nd, 2008 20:36 by RegUS_PatOff
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denrayr
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Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 07:57 |
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| replace the remaining thermistors in your refrigerator
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Curtacoma
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Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 16:04 |
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I wondered about that. How many more are there, two? I think the one that was replaced already is the one next to the defrost thermostat, where are the others? I assume this is just an easy splice job?
I think I will start a new thread for my freezer noise - seems to be unrelated to the rest of my woes.
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denrayr
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Posted: Thu Oct 23rd, 2008 16:40 |
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| there is one by the freezer fan and one down low on the left by the evap cover. in the fridge there is usually just one, sometimes two. and yes you just splice them in. i like to solder them in and use heat shrink to seal the connection. you could use a crimp connector but make sure to seal it with silicone after to prevent moisture from getting in.
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