How to Troubleshoot & Replace Ge AP3185407 / WR55X10025 Refrigerator Temperature Sensor

Freezer would not defrost so I would have to do it manually so the fridge safe would stay cool. Finally heard about Appliance Parts Pros and they had the exact parts I needed for my repair! Parts arrived sooner than expected and I was able to do the repair in less time than it took for the freezer to thaw out. Very happy with my experience! 

Replaced refrigerator thermostat and defrost thermostat. Also vacuumed around compressor and back of refrigerator. 

Opened doors let it defrost overnight , removed the 3 parts, re installed the 3 parts. Let it run and it’ll reset and start up.. Runs great so far. 

Cut out the old defrost temp sensor and soldered in a new one. Used heat shrink tubing around the solder joints. I could have also used butt connectors. 

Since heater, sensor,and thermostat were in same area, I changed all of them 

Replaced the defrost thermostat and temp sensor. 

Tech help from AppliancePartsPros.com and ordered several parts 

Replaced the defrost heater and the defrost thermostat. Seemed to fix the problem. Youtube videos were very helpful. 

This was an intermittent issue that would happen every three weeks, only affecting the refrigerator section. When I removed the refrigerator coil section covers on the inside of the refrigerator, the coils were iced over. I had to use a blow dryer to free the cover. I ordered three parts: the defrost thermostat, the temperature sensor, and the fan. I had tested the fan before ordering, and it did turn on and spin, but when I took the fan out of the cabinet and spun it by hand, I found that it would intermittently get stuck. Also, comparing it to the new fan, it had friction in the bearings. As of this writing, three weeks after the replacement of the fan, and if the problem has not returned. If it does return, I'll replace the defrost thermostat and the temperature sensor. The temperature does seem to vary a bit in this unit, ranging from 34 degrees to 40 degrees, but I don't know if that is normal for this unit. My older refrigerators hardly changed at all from where I set them. 

Compressor not running. Check power going to it and nothing. Tested ohms on the compressor. 8-10 ohms approx Lights and display all working normal so I assumed the main board was ok Replaced the inverter board. Confirmed there was 4-5bdc on the red and white trigger plug on the inverter. It’s a waveform that is there also but having voltage on the red and white wire of the inverter is a good sign the mother board is ok. I wanted to confirm the damper door was working properly. The damper is located on the top right side of the freezer compartment and it’s harder to confirm it’s functioning from the refer or food compartment side. Tested the 2 temp sensors and replaced anyway as a precaution. You have to cut out and re soldier them back in a shrink tub the connection for a clean install. You can use gray twist caps if you don’t have soldier. I replaced the main board as a preventative maintenance.