Replacing GE refrigerator evaporator motors and motherboards

Warning:The purpose of this article is to inform the customer that if the evaporator motor fails to run, the motherboard is replaced, and the evaporator motor is not replaced/repaired, the evaporator motor will burn out the new motherboard virtually 100% of the time!

Background:

The motor is a six pole induction motor, with copper windings. Sometimes the motor will ingest water and the increased friction, due to bad beaqrings, will load down the motherboard driver and burn it out.The more common problem is the motor just running out of oil. There is a resistor near the j2 connector that will burn open.This is a high efficiency motor with a small air gap between rotor and stator. It is not an impedance protected motor and it is possible, under certain conditions, the motherboard will not safely limit current in a power controlled stall condition,and the motor will draw excessive current and burn out the motherboard driver.This condition is rather rare.

The motherboard will send out a dc voltage from J2 connector pins 3 and 4 and probably a square wave from pins J2-3 and J2-1. The square wave will vary in frequency to speed up, or slow down the motor.

If one of these voltages are missing, or both are near the 12.3 volt limit, the board is not putting out a square wave and the motor will not run, but just draw excessive current which burns out the motherboard, but usually not the motor widings.
Just recently disected some failed evaporator motors ( the 115 volt,open frame type) and found they either had insufficient oil or the wrong type, it must be turbine type oil that will not gum up from the low freezer temperatures.Part #55191, but I would not add this oil to the GE motors.
The GE motors may have the same problem.

Conclusion:

Most failures are initiated by a motor failure which burns out the motherboard.To confirm, turn the motor while holding the housing, if you feal any roughness, the bearings are bad.If the bearings are good, the motherboard may have failed in some way. In this case, I would still repace board and motor as there is no way to reliably confirm which item is bad and which item initiated the failure. It is also possible the motor windings are burnt if the motherboard put out a dc level only, but I have never seen this happen. Generally, replacing the motherboard only, will result in board failure.
Fortunately, all emperical evidence points to a “fail safe” motherboard driver. When the evaporator motor fails and draws high current, the driver in the board will fail permanently and a replacement of the evaporator motor only will not result in motor failure!
Also, many persons lack the skill to use a meter,thus it is advised to allways replace both the evaporator motor and motherboard at the same time. It is suggested that Appliancepartspros provide these as a kit at some reduced price, if possible.
In the future, I will confirm the above with my portable scope.
Any comments are wellcome.
Update #1
Removed the bottom endbell from a failed motor. Found the motor to have permanent magnets defining it as a brushless dc motor with the external square wave providing comutation. Suspect the application of only dc voltage will allow the motor to run, but with limited starting toque and the motor might not run in the right direction as the square wave provides starting torqe to force it in the right direction.
Motor ran out of oil and the high rpm friction drove the current sufficiently higher than normal resulting in motherboard driver failure.
Suspect the motor windings are ok and addition of oil in both enbells would reduce friction and not burn out the motherboard.Therefore, it is sugested that addition of zoomspout oil (part # 55191 available at Lowes) to both upper and lower bushings after several years of use, should prolong the life of the motor. This is facilitated by prying off the bottom enbell and pulling out the armature. The addition of oil must be carefully added to prevent oil saturation of the armature that will prevent the motor from starting as it is a low starting toque motor. Suspect most of the friction was from the lower enbell thrust washer, so it is suggested to add more oil to the bottom enbell felt pad.
Unfortunately,at this time, there is no test proceedure for a re-oiled motor and the customer is advised not to assume it is ok.
In the future, when I get a fridg to work on, I will confirm the statements above.
Update:
The new motherboards WR55X10942 have relays that replaced the transistor drivers so I suspect these boards will not fail when the evaporator motor fails as the relay can provide all kinds of excess current. The only limit is the dc supply which could burn out if there is a short.
Would be nice if a GE tech could confirm this.
Latest update;
I believe the square wave is just a choped up dc level. To properly measure the square wave from pins J2-1, and J23, and between J2-3 and J2- 4, use a 300 mf capacitor in series with a meter set on ac mode to prevent false readings. A presence of voltage will proove the motherboard is putting out a square wave.

Great information, nice job!

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

Thank you. I have not seen any more motor failures since I wrote the article, perhaps GE is improving the motors.

If anyone has re-oiled a motor and found it did not damage the board, please let me know. I have plenty of used boards and will use one the next time I see a failure, but without a test proceedure am reluctant to use a used motor in a customer’s fridg. Suspect a current check of the winding getting the square wave might be a good test.

Hello richappy, I have a GE evaporator fan motor not working correctly. It is part #wr60x10185, 9.75vdc. It has the typical R, Y, Blu, W leads. I am assuming it is variable speed. The dc voltage at the plug in reads 13.6 RW, 13.6 YW, and only 4.6 BluW. Motor shaft spins freely, no sign of bearing friction. I have not had a chance to test the impedance across the motor as suggested by Glen in his sticky. Motor does not run at all now. While I have ordered a new motor, is there an additional way to test the motherboard? Is 4.6vdc OK at the BluW terminals? Thanks.

A resistance test of the motor windings is rather worthless, will not indicate if the windings are bad.
The original data published shows the lower voltage from the motherboard must be a square wave for the motor to run. A portable scope would show this.
In all my repairs, I have allways replaced the motherboard also when I replace the motor, in cases when the motor fails to run.
At this time, there is no good test for the motherboard or the motor, and there is no guarantee a bad motherboard will not burn out a new motor.
Thus, to guarantee no failures, best to replace both items.
I appreciate the response and I hope others with difinitive info will step forward and give us a test proceedure.

[quote=richappy;797303]A resistance test of the motor windings is rather worthless, will not indicate if the windings are bad.
The original data published shows the lower voltage from the motherboard must be a square wave for the motor to run. A portable scope would show this.
In all my repairs, I have allways replaced the motherboard also when I replace the motor, in cases when the motor fails to run.
At this time, there is no good test for the motherboard or the motor, and there is no guarantee a bad motherboard will not burn out a new motor.
Thus, to guarantee no failures, best to replace both items.
I appreciate the response and I hope others with difinitive info will step forward and give us a test proceedure.[/quote]

OK, I think I’ll just gamble and throw in the new motor, the board is pretty expensive. I don’t own a scope. Apparently richappy and Gene disagree on the value of a resistance test. Gene, your response?

GE is changing the motors so the resistance now is different. I measured 1.8Kohm between the blue and white wires and get no continuity to the others.The motor part # is WR60X10185
This is a six pole induction motor and if your motherboard is not puting out a square wave, at best the motor will not run, at wost, it will burn out if the motherboard driver will deliver the excess current! At present, I am not willing to burn open a new motor to confirm it is still a six pole, induction motor.
You might wind up paying more money than you think.

[quote=richappy;797458]GE is changing the motors so the resistance now is different. I measured 1.8Kohm between the blue and white wires and get no continuity to the others.The motor part # is WR60X10185
This is a six pole induction motor and if your motherboard is not puting out a square wave, at best the motor will not run, at wost, it will burn out if the motherboard driver will deliver the excess current! At present, I am not willing to burn open a new motor to confirm it is still a six pole, induction motor.
You might wind up paying more money than you think.[/quote]

Now I am totally confused. Gene says 1000 ohms. Are there any specs re: voltage output at the plug to verify the motherboard.

As I said before, you will need a portable scope to verify the motherboard is puting out a square wave. BUT, without a correct and complete test proceedure for the motor and motherboard,you run the risk of burning out both of them.
If you want to just replace the motor, don’t complain to us if it or the motherboard burns out.

[quote=richappy;797565]As I said before, you will need a portable scope to verify the motherboard is puting out a square wave. BUT, without a correct and complete test proceedure for the motor and motherboard,you run the risk of burning out both of them.
If you want to just replace the motor, don’t complain to us if it or the motherboard burns out.[/quote]

No one is going to blame you, I was only trying to learn of a test procedure for the motherboard. I appreciate the help you have offered, thank you.

Richappy,

I started another thread,but happened upon this and I think you have descibed my issue.

I had a power surge and fried the mother/main control board, it was blackened from smoke and the fridge was dead. I replaced the main board, but didn’t realize that the power surge also cooked the evaporator fan motor. The fan motor was visibly scorched and had a short.

I replaced the fan motor, but not until after I installed the new main computer/motherboard and ran with it for 24 hours.

So, now everything works, except the fan motor, it’s only reading 12 volts at the connector. I tested the NEW fan directly and it works fine.

Did I fry the motherboard/main computer by installing it with the bad fan motor? If I did, is it common for everything to work, except the fan? Seems like certain functions of the main board are working fine.

Oh and I tested the thermistors, they are fine.

Thanks
Great post
John

Your new board is bad, must get below 12 volts and be a square wave, motor will not run without a square wave

Thanks! That was it, replaced the board and all is good!

John

Glad to hear that.

Here’s a new problem. I replaced the motherboard and fan motor. Everything worked well for over a month. Then it started getting warmer. So I found the evaporator coil all frosted up. I defrosted in with a blow dryer, and now things seem OK again. Any ideas what might have caused the coil to frost up? Thanks.

Most probable problem is the defrost heater, just check, if a single coil and black inside with a open gap, it’s bad.

Story is:
I have never cleaned it and ridiculous as it sounds didn’t realize that its normal to clean the coils.
I took it all apart and the coils inside it were frozen. Cleaned the coils underneath of debris and dust and used a hairdryer to defrost frozen coils.

Not sure if that was the issue but after research saw that it might be one of 5 things that could be making the freezer not work. After cleaning and taking apart panels inside and back, and plugging back inpower, I saw that smoke was streaming out of the circuit board like a burnt computer..
I remembered a weird smell then the night before. Looks like I could have had a house fire had I not investigated when I did.
I saw there used to be a recall on my fridge that has expired but GE sent me a new motherboard for 40 dollars instead of higher price.

Now researching here I see that I need to get the evaporator fan or else my new board will burn like old one? My fridge is a PSS26mgpc bb , GE Profile. Should I get the fan as it seems like i have to do so? A tech is coming tomorrow and I don’t have time to order the part through the site. Is there a place in South Houston I could buy the motor for the evaporator fan? Thanks!!

If the evaporator fan motor never failed and is still working, you probably will not need to replace the motor, but I would still replace it to protect the board.