Jenn-air compressor "rotor" shot?

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

Hello,

So my parents have a 10.5 year old Jenn-air JCB2388ARQ side-by-side refrigerator that recently died. For a while it had a slow water leak from underneath the unit, by the freezer compartment. Don’t know if that’s related, just figured I would throw it out there.

Up until a couple of days ago, both the freezer and the refrigeration unit worked fine. All of a sudden, both the freezer and refrigeration compartments stopped working completely. My parents have a warranty service provided through their utility provider, and they sent a tech out to take a look. He determined that the failed part was a compressor "rotor" (sorry, he didn’t give a written diagnosis which I found odd, so I am going by what my mom remembers), and compressor parts are not covered under the warranty.

I am fairly mechanically inclined, but HVAC stuff is definitely not my forte. There is a switch or relay that I can hear click periodically. I opened the panel in the back of the freezer, and the fan above the radiator-style apparatus is going, but there is no cold air coming from the pipes.

My question is, what is the compressor "rotor"? I checked on a few different parts sites, and found a compressor and condenser no problem, but could not find anything called a rotor. Also, is this part replaceable with standard hand tools, or does the R134 aspect require custom tools? I searched for a service manual online but cannot find a link anywhere.

Thanks in advance from someone looking to save my parents some cash.

Edit: I checked out the backside of the unit. The black compressor is warm to the touch. The unit next to it (condenser?) has a fan that is blowing at a good clip, but none of the copper lines feel cool or cold to the touch. The switch/relay also sounds like it is going off about once a minute.

3

You can monitor the voltage to the compressor to verify 115 volts to the compressor. Generally, if the compressor is never vibrating, you have a hard starting compressor that needs to be replaced. In most cases, the repair is more than the fridg is worth, repair cost typically $500- $600.

4

Yeah, $600 was the quote the service guy gave my parents, and then said they wouldn’t cover it and left. The compressor can be bought online for $200-300, but I assume there is more to it than just swapping out the units due to the R134 and all the hard lines that need to be cut & re-welded?

5

Part of the cost is to cover failures. Not advertised much, but a certain percent of repairs fail later due to contaminants, or undiscovered leaks. The majority of failed compressors I see failed from a bad evaporator leak which ads to the cost.