first time (1 week ago) the freezer defrosted overnight. cleaned compressor air flow vents and it worked fine - for exaclty 1 week. again last night it thawed. this time i noticed a burn spot on motherboard & replaced it. also in freezer back wall i found a BURNED CABLE TIE down by the defrost heater. thought this was interesting but since it was working i put it back together. temp went to 0 and stayed there 4 hours - then started warming again. about an hour later i started a floor fan blowing on compressor to cool (out of desperation) and it cooled back down. is the defrost cycle not stopping? not allowing the compressor to restart? what is the next/last step? yesterday was the 9th anniversary of its manufacture - hate to think it died so young
Check the condensing fan in the back, probably not working.
presently nothing is running - but the freezer is at 6 degrees/fridge at 37. the condensing fan does run when the compressor is running
compressor and both fans just kicked on. looks like they work correctly just about all the time (but that isn’t enough!)
If you have a meter, check the evaporator thermistor resistance, should be around 16.3 k ohm after immersed in ice water for 5 minutes, or just replace it. This item terminates defrost, and the fridg will hang up in defrost if it’s bad.
Just read your post again.Seems like your compressor is overheating and shutting down. Possibly an intermittent condensing fan, just check next time it fails.
thanks am keeping my eye on it and will do resistance when i get a couple minutes - you’ve been a big help - what starts the condensing fan?
15.6 k ohm on the resistance test - good enough?
Thermistor is fine, if too high it will hang up defrost. Just check things when it fails again.