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Guys,

Need a little help here...

My kitchen frig is on the blink.  Condensor fan is running constantly and the box isn't cooling down.  I touched the compressor ball and it is hot.  Also, I can here the "click" about every minute or so.  Is my compressor toast (7-year old unit) or could it be something else.  Any ideas for troubleshooting before I get the cajillion dollar service call?

Thanks in advance.

Wayne,
If the coils on the back are free of dust and grime and the freezer is not badly iced up it may be time for a service call. I hate how appliances used to last forever now they don't.
Hope it helps,
Creighton

My Neighbor had the same thing happen to his new 'fridge after a recent Power outage & surges brought about due to some local Thunderstorms that hit the Waterford, Michigan (my home area) very hard. his start/run relay actually had a hole in it! I used a 3-in-1 hard start relay I had handy for my soda machines  & it worked just fine for his Maytag side-by-side. still running 2-weeks later. might be worth a shot.

Thanks Creighton and John.  Unfortunately, I don't have a spare 3-n-1 handy.  The thing that's getting me is the compressor ball is getting hot.  Could it still be the relay?  I was thinking the compressor was running, as I thought I felt vibration.  It's hard to tell with this.  Plus, the condensor fan is staying on.

Also, I was thinking it may be the defrost timer (who knows?).  Ths ironic thing is I've got a lot of stuff from the frig in a 1953 Cavalier 51 and a 1964 VMC 56.  Those systems are still kicking butt and taking names.  This new stuff is just plain horse......poop.

I see no oil and the thing was running great yesterday, so I wouldn't have thought I'd lost the gas that quickly.  Plus, no coils are frosting up.  It just ain't making any cold air.

Reason #3 to bring machines home, never know when the fridge will go on the blink :biggrin:
Creighton

The defrost timer could be stuck, I've had this happen once before to a old garage fridge.   Sometimes the defrost timer will have a slot where you can advance the timer with a screwdriver and the machine will kick back on.   You might want to give this a shot before calling for service.

Too funny..

When the wife and I were loading one of my machines with stuff from fridge - most notably, a pack of chicken legs - she remarked, "Man, it's nice to have these machines here."  Oh, for a recording of that!

The service guy is coming tomorrow, but I will check the defrost timer tonight.  Thanks, David!

Here is some more info...

I let the unit sit all night so the compressor would cool.  When I plugged it in, the compressor kicked on and then kicked off about 10 seconds later.  Then after a little while (about a minute), it did the same thing.  So, it seems like it's short-cycling.  Seems electrical to me.