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There is no back freezer panel on this model, near as I can tell. To access the evaporator coil it looks like I will have to remove a plastic panel inside the freezer. Either way, I think you might be onto something with the condenser fan and/or low refrigerant, because I put a thermocouple into the air stream from the evaporator and it was also at around 12F.
From the exploded parts diagram it looks like the condenser fan is a shaded-pole type and those are usually very reliable but I will check it anyway as well as clean the condenser coils. If neither of those are the proverbial smoking gun then I suppose I will call an appliance repair tech to check the refrigerant.
Thanks for the help!
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Pull the back freezer panel and check the frost pattern, if only partial frost, you have a refrigerant leak/bad compressor unless your condensing fan motor is bad.
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The freezer is now sitting at -11C/12F after setting it to maximum coldness last night. So it is cooler than before, but it isn't anywhere close to being below 0F.
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Thanks for the reply! The current temperature in the freezer is -7C/18F but it was set about 3 notches below maximum. I just set it to maximum so I'll recheck the temp in the morning and report back the results. Thanks again for the help!
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Turn the cold control to the coldest setting and measure the freezer temperature, should be well below zero.
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The symptoms: all of the ice in a full ice bin will melt into one solid block after a few days. An even after dumping out the block of ice last night, the little bit of ice that has been made since then has already started to bond together. Also, I often find condensation on items in the freezer. Clearly, the freezer is spending too long in defrost, or defrosting too often, or both.
The research I've done thus far - not for the same model, however - has most often suggested that the thermistor in the freezer is the culprit. So I removed the cover over the control board and found the wires to the freezer thermistor. I unplugged the connector to measure the resistance of the thermistor and got a reading of 1000 ohms in hot (126F) water and 7900 ohms in cold (35F) water. While that does prove that the thermistor is responding to changes in temperature, I have no idea if those values are anywhere close to what they should be, but both this site and Sear's parts direct have it in stock (6500JK1004A) and it is cheap enough to just go ahead and buy it to see.
However, some of the search results on this problem point to the control board that the thermistor plugs into being the culprit. That is a much more expensive proposition, at about $113 + shipping.
If anyone has some additional tests for me to perform, or can find a schematic (I'm an EE, so I *ought* to be able to read it), that would be most welcome.
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