[Kaching_83]

This side by side is about 1 1/2 years old. It hasn't had any problems really but the ice dispenser wasn't working too well. About 3 days ago I removed a huge chunk of ice from the tray (basically all the ice was frozen into one big clump). I then reinserted the tray and that was it. The water dispensor is not working at all, and I think this may have been happening a few days before I removed the giant ice as well. No new ice has been made since I removed it, and the water still does not work. Since then the freezer has raised greatly in temp. At bottom of freezer most everything is still frozen. The back of the freezer is lined with ice... I figured i'd try to let it defrost and then start it back up so I shut the temp off completely for the freezer and left it for probably 5 or 6 hours... set temp back down and still nothing.. I tried removing power from fridge for a min, and plugged it back in... nothing. What next?

[Kaching_83]

I just pulled on the little cardboard panel along the back of the unit and on the left under the fridge is a black "pot" type thing that is warm. On the right, under the freezer side is a series of "coils" that are connected to the pot thing on the left.... these coils are not cold, and not warm/hot... they're basically room temp... No signs of frost anywhere in their... On inside of freezer, towards bottom on the back panel there is ice though... Thanks again

[woodchuckie]

If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check defrost heater, defrost thermostat Refrigerator Repair Guide: How To Fix a Refrigerator - ACME HOW TO.com

If the heater and thermostat are ok it’ll be the defrost control.

defrost control is part 23 on your controls diagram. Replacement parts for FRG FRS3LR5EM0 | AppliancePartsPros.com

[Kaching_83]

Ok so i'm slow at fixing stuff.... The refrigerator is still in the same state.

No water, no ice. Frizer towards bottom is cold, back of freezer is frozen. The coils and pretty much everything around the defrost thermostat is frozen. The refridgerator side is cold near the bottom, not really up top... I'm assuming its this way because the ventilation areas are getting froze up??? Not sure on the water/ice dispensors not working... So I tested the heater and it passed the test. I tested the thermostat and I thought it failed... It just reads 1 ohm.... which is wierd. It says if it's cold it should read 0, and if it's warm 40-90F it should read infinite. Well I ordered a new thermostat and it also reads 0... this is a brand new ohmeter i'm using, and it worked fine for testing the heater..anyhow i put in the new thermostat and it didn't do anything... So before I throw down $60+S&H on the thermostat control just wanted to make sure ya'll agreed.... thanks for your time.

[woodchuckie]

Yes, the adaptive defrost control is the only part of the defrost system left.

[Kaching_83]

Ok so i'm starting to get a bit depressed about this refridgerator. I replaced the defrost control last night and immediately my water started working again so I thought I had fixed the problem. A few hours later it was still frozen up in the back of the freezer and refridgerator. I figured maybe when I woke up this morning it would be alright, but no... It's still frozen up and the top of the refridgerator and freezer are both still warm. Is there a step I missed? Heater checked out, replaced thermostat, replaced defrost control. Only thing i'm curious about is if maybe I should manually defrost the thing, then turn it back on and see if it works??? Please advise.

[woodchuckie]

I don't know how often the board will defrost but it's based on the usage of the unit such as door opening and how long it stays open so maybe it hasn't decided to defrost yet. You can go ahead and defrost with a hairdryer to get it to working. It could be too much ice but some of it would be melted if it had defrosted.

[Kaching_83]

so it's been a few weeks and still not working, the only thing I didn't replace was the heater element itself. I'm a bit hesitant to spend another $50 plus shipping to fix this... the main thing that concerns me is the dang thing still isn't making any ice... so before I spend another chunk of change, I was hoping to get someone to agree that this is likely the problem... replaced the control, replaced the thermostat, have not replaced the heater element though it did pass the test reccomended. Please advise.

[Kaching_83]

So i'm in the middle of doing a manual defrost w/ pots of hot water in the freezer/fridge now... and I was curious and tried to turn on the refridgerator to cool, and left the freezer off.... nothing seems to be happening. Should I be able to run the refridgerator side with the freezer off, or does it get it's cooling ability from the freezer side? Also is it most likely that a hose running to the ice tray would be frozen, preventing the ice from being made?

[woodchuckie]

The cold air for the fridge comes from the freezer through a damper which opens and closes when you adjust the fridge temp control.

The defrost thermostat, heater and control board are the only parts of the defrost system.