Finding the Problem

Since our freezer section was doing fine the next obvious culprit had to be the vent, or hole, that leads between the freezer and fridge. First thing to do is figure out where it is and if it was working.

In the upper left (freezer side) corner of our fridge you can see a little plastic contraption. A panel has been removed, normally the wires aren't visible. Even though our fridge was up to 65°F and the freezer was running there wasn't any cold air coming out of this vent. We cycled power a few times and followed the manual's steps to "reset" the fridge electronics, but still no cold air.

Removing this unit was tougher than I expected. There's a couple plastic covers over the wires and the vent apparatus, easy to remove with a few screws. After that though it wasn't obvious how the unit was being held in. I ended up removing a big plastic panel in the freezer and finding a pair of plastic "hooks" that when squeezed allowed the vent assembly to be removed. In this side view of the removed assembly you can see the hooks, or "ears."

Also this is where both thermistors (electronic part to measure temperature) are located. The fridge thermistor embedded into the plastic housing while the freezer's snaked through the hole and hung down into the freezer compartment. Make a note of where everything is as you remove it and, of course, do this with the power off.

«When a good fridge goes bad

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Taking Things Apart»