[hartshaped]

The refrigerator and freezer are not cooling. I feel air coming out the back vents at the bottom and from the front vents at the bottom. I don't think the compressor is on, as it's been annoyingly loud lately from vibration and all is quiet now except for the soft noise of the fans. What should I check and how? My husband is overwhelmed at work right now and I'm trying to take some pressure off of him. What should take him a few minutes to check will probably take me all day, lol, so bare with me. I took the front vent cover off at the bottom and vacuumed those big black coils(?). They were covered with lint and dust (we have an ususually dusty home). Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I love your forum, I trouble shooted the washing machine last year and my husband was able to replace the part that you guys suspected was bad and it was fixed, thank you!
Mrs. Lacy

[hartshaped]

I turned off the fridge, unplugged it and took the back cover off. I felt the compressor and it was hot... I guess it was running earlier? Then hubby came home for lunch and I told him that I had learned that we should probably check the starter/relay thing that goes to the compressor and see if something rattles in there. He took the plastic cover off and said it didn't look like it even had a relay, there were no contacts or anything, just a plug going into the compressor. He had me turn the fridge back on and the compressor came on and there was a loud click. I told him that I read here that the click was the starter relay and he said it didn't sound like that, it sounded more like a short to him. White frost crawled along the copper coil, then a minute later, it melted. We turned it back off and vacuumed under there some more and tried turning it on again a couple of times. There was never another clicking sound, but each time the coil would turn frosty white, then frost disappeared. He had to go back to work so I'm lost on what to do at this point. When I awoke to the fridge not cooling this morning, I also noticed icicles in the freezer, as if water was dripping off the shelves, then refreezing. Don't know if this is a clue to the problem or not? Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks! ;O)
Mrs. Lacy

[woodchuckie]

Part 15 on diagram 12 is your overload relay. Check it here. Refrigerator Repair Guide: How To Fix a Refrigerator - ACME HOW TO.com