Since today morning, our GE Arctica (model PSC23NGNA WW) refrigerator is not cooling in either the freezer or the refrizerator compartment - actual temperature staying above 60 degrees. Also the Express Thaw stays on, and at 3 lb setting even after I have reset it many times.
Any tips on troubleshooting the issue? Any pointers to information with diagrams/photos will be very helpful as I have never attemped to work on a fridge before.
Cheers
What is running/not running. If the condensing fan and the compressor is not running, you probably have a bad motherboard in the back AP4436216.
You can remove the board and check for bad solder joints at the power relay on the board.
I will open the lower back grill behind the fridge to check, but seems that at least the compressor seems to be running. At least two other people in the neighborhood seem to have run into this problem in the past, both called GE services and mentioned that they needed the "fan motor" replaced to fix the problem.
Any help on tests/checks I could try myself to narrow down on the root cause (before buying and replacing any parts like the evap fan motor, motherboard at the back, etc)?
I saw some posts about self diagnostics, but I can’t set the temperature to 5 in the refrigerator section (doesn’t go below 34 degrees), so may be there is a different procedure for this fridge.
The evaporator fan doesn’t seem to be working. When I set the "Turbo Cool" control in the refrigerator section, the fan started to work, but very very slowly. Reseting the "Turbo Cool" stopped the evaporator fan again.
Though I am not sure whether the fan stops to work because the "Express Thaw " seem to be permanently on - even though I tried resetting it many times. Again, setting the turbo cool on refrigerator side makes the fan run slowly.
I finally got some time and checked a few things:
Opened the back grill to make sure that condenser fan was working. There was a lot of lint on the condenser which I cleaned up.
The evaporator fan is actually working (seems that when I checked in the morning, the fridge had been shut down. So no I opened the refrigerator door for 5 minutes, and the fan started to move). The thing, however, is that it is blowing only warm air. As reported earlier, the temperatures for both compartments staying above 60 degrees, and the "express thaw" setting remains on.
Based on another article, checked the voltages between terminals 3 and 8 on the main motherboard connectors at J2 at theback. It read 13V. Also checked the voltage between terminas 3 and 5, which read 11.2 V.
So, still not sure what to look next. Any help would be appreciated.
Remove the back freezer panel. If there is any frost there, you have refrigeration problems for a pro to look at. If not, your compressor just might not be running. If the compressor is running, some of the tubing from the compressor will be hot.
Just ran the fridge for 45 minutes (had shut it down last night as it is not doing anything useful anyway) and yeah, the compressor seems to be NOT running. Cold to touch with no humming etc, and the metal tubes attached are cold too.
Does the compressor need to be replaced, or can more checks be done to isolate the problem as it might be some other related component? I am hoping that I don’t have to call a pro and save some money in these times 
Seems like your motherboard is bad, really should confirm with a meter.
Is there any specific test that can be done with say, a multimeter, or is something specialized needed requiring a technician to come in and take a look?
BTW, thanks for all your help so far.
I would order a new motherboard AP4436216 and evaporator motor
AP3875639
— Begin quote from psc23ngn;172787
Just ran the fridge for 45 minutes (had shut it down last night as it is not doing anything useful anyway) and yeah, the compressor seems to be NOT running. Cold to touch with no humming etc, and the metal tubes attached are cold too.
Does the compressor need to be replaced, or can more checks be done to isolate the problem as it might be some other related component? I am hoping that I don’t have to call a pro and save some money in these times
— End quote
Is the condenser motor running or not? If the compressor is not running and condenser motor is not running, then its not calling for cooling.
I know you said the compressor is not running, but what about the condenser motor right beside it?
Replaced the motherboard. Refrigerator is working again.
Very good and you didn’t listen to the "static" from John .
Happy. Stop being an asshole.
Thanks for your support psc23ngn, I had to correct most of John’s responses to msgs sent in and he understood he was in error.
If you persist on negative comments I will ask that you be banned from this site, just give me more problems and see what happens.
Confine yourself to constructive comments only.
As should you. again.
OK enough is enough already
This type of exchange should be carried on in the more private Tech Talk section.
Am I correct in assuming that John@Fischers is the same person as techoline.fischers ?
If yes, then I would like to say welcome to the forum.
We can use more regular posters here.
As far as I can see richappy fired the first shot with
"Very good and you didn’t listen to the "static" from John "
I also would find that comment insulting.
But it was not nice to call him an ahole.
And richappy it was not nice making threats.
So in my opinion both of you are at fault.
So apologize to each other and kiss and make up.
I am going to ask Roman to give techonline.fiscers early admission to the Tech Talk section just in case you both want to continue the diatribe.
Have a nice day and chill out
denman
I Apologize. I was fired on first, but i should have not called anyone a ahole, just was upset. Again, my bad. Thanks for intervening. And yes, can you please delete the techonline.fischers account. I will be using the John @ Fischers. Made a mistake in my registration.
Thanks.