[srhgobears]

For the last few days, our refrigerator's temperatures have been running on the low side (my wife noticed a lot of the vegetables were frozen even though we hadn't lowered the temperature). Last night I went upstairs and smelled that very recognizable burning electrical smell. When crouching down near the back of the fridge, the smell was very identifiable. A minute or two later, the compressor came on (I believe it was the compressor, not clear on how this operates), and an electrical buzzing sound was audible. I have the fridge unplugged and the back panel off, but before I start tearing things apart I thought I'd get some input - any idea what I should be focusing on? Motor? Compressor?

Edit: Ok so I plugged it in tonight for about an hour and a half. The compressor fan was running non stop, and the compressor is piping hot. Like you can touch it for 2 seconds before your hand hurts from the heat. Opening the fridge and freezer, you can feel semi-cool air blowing but it hasn't really changed temperatures at all in the hour and a half...

So is my compressor dead? Is the relay potentially faulty? What started all of this was a burning smell....Would a dead compressor lead to a burning smell, or is this likely the relay?

[srhgobears]

To answer my own question, I pulled off the relay and it was toast. Like burned to a crisp on the bottom. Picked up a replacement locally for $35 and our old fridge is like new.