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smithbone  
#1 Posted : Saturday, September 6, 2014 2:13:01 PM(UTC)
smithbone

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 9/6/2014(UTC)
Posts: 3

I need some further assistance with troubleshooting my GE gss20iepa ww

The basic symptom is that refrigerator gets warm. Based on information in the forums and frost on the back wall the defroster was suspect. So I pulled the access panel and the evaporator was almost completely frozen up. Continuity of the defroster heating element checked out.

Then based on this post here in the forum:

http://forum.appliancepartspros...st-cycle.html#post557537

I manually checked the defrost and it worked as expected. Recommendation was to purchase a new mainboard which I did from appliancepartspros. :)

This mainboard is a bit different than the board that was in the unit but various google searches agree that the WR55x10942 is the replacement mainboard.

However, after I install the new mainboard cooling never turns on. I periodically was checking the temperature and the freezer rose above 0 deg C. I would have expected it to have turned on by then.

So I put the old board back in and cooling turned back on.

Also I've noticed that with the older board cooling never seems to stop. I suspect that may be the source of the ice build up in the freezer rather than a lack of defrost. After I do a manual defrost the freezer temp goes below -20 degC despite the temp set at number 7.

What would be my next troubleshooting steps? Is there something special that I have to do with the replacement mainboard?
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smithbone  
#2 Posted : Sunday, September 7, 2014 10:25:54 AM(UTC)
smithbone

Rank: Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 9/6/2014(UTC)
Posts: 3

I believe I may have sorted this out. I found a bunch of information available at ApplianceJunk.com that gave me pin outs, thermistor resistances + expected voltages, and the service manual for a later model of this unit.

Using that info I went through the thermistor voltages on with the old mainboard installed and they were both oscillating and going out of range.

During that process I noticed that the wiring on J1 pin 2 looked very similar to a step in in the WR55X10942 installation instructions that I _didn't do_. I skipped it because I though it said it was for a Bottom Freezer. So I went back and re-read the instructions and realized that the Note: is an OR condition bottom freezer or this list of prefixes on the serial numbers. My model serial numer prefix (LF2) was on the list.

So I cut the thermistor jumper wire connecting pin 1 and pin 2 of J1 and re-installed the new mainboard. Re-checked the thermistor voltages and they were not solid. The evap and freezer thermistors were a bit high 3.7V. The service manual says the max should be 3.5V. Checking the resistance of the sensors with the connector pulled shows them to be in the expected range. So for not I'm not going to worry about that.

After a brief boot up pause the unit turned on the compressor and evap fan as expected. Then later on when I checked the freezer it appears to have gone into low-speed evap fan mode. It was running but much quieter and after I had the door open for a bit it kicked up into high speed.

Previously none of that happened. I'm going to monitor the temperature for a few weeks and watch for the slow creep up that indicates its freezing up again but hopefully things are back to working.
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