Our GE fridge (french doors with freezer drawer on bottom, probably from 2010-ish) has 2 issues that I'm assuming are related.

Issue 1: It has the ability to cool properly - freezer gets down to 0 and fridge to 35. However, the automatic defrost kicks on every 4-5 days (I'm assuming that's what's happening), but it takes both the fridge and freezer up to 40 or 45 degrees before the compressor kicks back on and it cycles cold again. In total, the warming period seems to take about 3-5 hours but I haven't timed precisely. Food isn't spoiling, but obviously that makes the ice maker unusable and it's not great for frozen foods.

Issue 2: During normal operation, food is freezing in the produce drawers of the fridge. For whatever reason, when we set the temperature using the control buttons on the front of the door, we cannot go up past 35 degrees. If you continue to press the up arrow for the fridge, it does nothing - just stays stuck at 35. Freezer controls have full range. The actual temp in the fridge is usually closer to 33 (according to what the fridge controls say).

Notes: No frost buildup anywhere, coils are clean. There does seem to be a bit of moisture on the top edge of the freezer drawer at times, which I think is just condensation due to some gaskets peeling away a bit.

Does this seem more like an issue with the defrost timer? Thermostat? Computer? I'd rather not chase down one of these if it's clearly not the right fix. Thank you for your help!

Edited by user Thursday, June 25, 2020 3:56:10 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified