Freezer Does Not Turn Off

Kenmore model # 25359682992 Side-by-Side is 10 years, 4 months old.

Over the weekend I noticed that the freezer will not turn off. I have the temperature gauge at about 30% of full (about 3 lines up from off). Ice maker works, everything is cold and frozen, but it won’t turn off. At first I thought the thermostat may be bad, however if I turn the temperature control down (counter clockwise) to two lines, it will turn off. If I turn it back to 3 lines it will turn back on in 2 minutes and stay on.

Overnight I turned it to 50% of full (strait up) to see if it you get colder, and it seemed to be colder than at 30%. When I turn the temperature control knob counter clockwise it will turn off at about 30%.

Is it my thermostat, compressor, coolant levels (rare I know, but just a thought) or something else. I don’t see any ice build up anywhere and at least it’s still keeping things frozen, I just don’t want a $500 electrical bill. :frowning:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I was considering purchasing a thermostat to start since it would be considered a "cheap fix"… if that is the problem.

Remove the rear cover and the bottom front grille. Clean the condenser coils.

The thermostat does not look bad. Do not play with it too much. After any adjustments done you have to wait about 24 hrs to see how it works. If you turned the compressor off by the thermostat, you have to wait at least 10 minutes before turning it back on.

Gene.