TBF21RAB General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I removed the 3 screws that held the motor and fan. Exchanged fan blades and reinstalled the fan and new motor

I was surprised to find the motor. The refrigerator/freezer was over 28 yrs old. Works fine now

The temperture control was mounted on the back wall of the refrigerator. One screw and a couple of tabs appeared to be the only attachments. After removing the screw, the freezer control appeared to be an issue since it was also attached to other parts. A little careful pushing revealed that the control knob simply snapped into the cover over the thermastat. Once unsnapped the thermastat and it's plastic cover were only attached by the three electricl connections. Pulling them loose off the terminals left the unit free. Simply examining how the old thermastat was mounted in the cover, and replacing it, and then reinstalling it in the frig was as breeze. All was well again.

Moving the frig out and cleaning was the hardest part of this job - lots of dust collected over the 17 years the frig was in place. Once all the cleaning was done, with the frig out and back cover off (10 -12 screws taken off with nutdriver),I plugged the frig in and observed the the problem was a noisy fan motor. The motor is at the very back of the frig with easy access to the 3 brackets holding it in place.
Pull off the electrical clip. Remove the screw holding the bracket to the frame on the front bracket, leaving the bracket attacked to the fan. The other two screws remove from the fan, leaving the brackets in place.
Reverse the procedure when you receive the new part from PartSelect(great company to deal with)!

Unplugged fridge removed the three screws that held fan on to fan frame unplugged condensor fan removed brackets from old fan and put them on new fan installed new fan plugged in fridge and now it works great!

Contact points on original defrost clock burnt out after 36 years of continued use. Hotpoint does not stock replacement defrost clock. PartSelect replacement clock was a simple substitute which fits directly into the original mounting bracket. Space is tight to get the part out, so remove screw in upper right hand corner of bracket to disconnect clock from bracket. Then remove bracket and pull clock out. NOTE: Original part had wire color codes on the clock and the replacement part does not. Make a note of the order of the color connections and connect new clock in the same order. Replacement part has no ground wire since housing is entirely plastic. Push clock back behind frame. Reposition bracket. Install screw to mount bracket to clock. Then screw bracket back into frame. Glad I found Part Select online... saved me the hassle of getting my old spare fridge out of the basement!

Unplugged frige, removed top shelf, pulled broken fan blade off. Replaced with fan blade just purchased from PartSelect. Very simple repair. Orderd and recieved the right part.

Unplug refrig! Removed back cardboard covering (~5 screws)
(1) Cleaned all the dust out (hardest part!)
(2) Removed power wire to motor
(3) Removed 3 bolts holding motor to frame
(4) Removed motor/fan blade to the left
(5) Moveded fan blade to new motor (clean it!)
(6) Replaced motor, reinstalled 3 bolts
(7) Plugged power wire to new motor
(8) Tested it - worked fine, failed safe, drained to bilge!
Replaced back cover (had to tape it since I horked it up removing it)

Pulled frig out. Removed back cover. Unplugged frig, unplugged motor. Removed fan from old motor first then 3 screws from bracket that holds motor and removed motor. Reattached motor back on bracket, reattached fan on motor. Plugged fan back in and then frig. Everything worked fine no more soupy ice cream !!

Turn of power to fridge. Removed all shelving in freezer section. Unscrewed back panel from freezer area. Removed old defrost term t-stat from top of evaporator coil assembly. Cut existing two wire leads, spliced in new T stat wires. sealed wire splices from water egress and clipped new t-stat in same position as old one. Reassembled rear panel, installed shelves. Turned power back on.That's it.

Removed the three screws from old motor body-bracket assembly , pulled off 1/4'' spade terminals and removed shield from terminal block for re-use.
Removed fan from old unit and installed on new,
screwed new motor in place, replaced terminal wires, plugged back in refrigerator.
Now my old rerfrigerator is whisper quiet

the temp control is suppose to shut unit down at certain temp....this was not happing , so I tried the new temp control .....that did the trick ...

Turned off and unplugged refrigerator.
Removed 1 screw (Phillips head) to detach old timer and 2 hex head screws to remove bracket from "beam" in front (bottom) of "fridge"and detach grounding wire. (Slightly difficult to maneuver bracket out of fridge.
Disconnected 4 wires from old timer and attache them to new one. Replaced (new) timer and bracket. Assumed that separate grounding wire was unnecessary because of cross-wiring between trrminals. (Was I incorrect?)
GE didn't have the timer but PartSelect had a suitable substitute.

It would have been quicker if I knew what I was doing in advance

Remove the 4 screws holding the back cover onto the refrigerator. Unplug the power for the refrigerator. There's 3 bolts holding the fan motor assembly to the refrigerator. Loosen the two bolts which allow the brackets to pivot out , and remove the third bolt. Disconnect the electrical leads, and remove the fan blade, then rotate the fan motor assembly out from the refrigerator. Install mounting brackets from the old motor onto the new motor, then reinstall the assembly in the reverse order of removal.

Unplug unit from wall. Removed cover from rear of unit. Cleaned coils with vaccuum cleaner. Unplug wires from fan motor and remove nut holding fan blade to motor. Remove 3 screws holding motor to mount. Replace with new motor,make sure fan blade does not hit housing. Plug unit back in wall and replace cover.

Cut old thermostat out and installed with heat shrinking wrap and solder the wires and still having issues it might be something else.