Fridge not cooling, freezer is cold

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

I have a GE Cafe fridge-over-freezer where the fresh food section is not getting cold - it’s holding steady at about 55 degrees F (it’s set to 34). The freezer is 0 degrees F, the meat drawer is around 34 degrees (it’s set to 32), and the ice maker in the door still makes/holds ice fine.

This unit has separate evaporator coils for the freezer and fridge sections (there is no damper/fan to pull air from the freezer to the fridge section). The main FF section and meat drawer both cool from the fridge evaporator, each with their own fan. The freezer evaporator coil chills the freezer and ice maker in the door.

Details below - for some reason it’s giving me some error that won’t let me post them all at once…

Chassis Diagram

2325×2475 566 KB

Fridge Section Diagram

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2
  • The thermistor on the ceiling of the FF section reads anywhere from 7.7k Ohm to 13.6k Ohm, which seems accurate to the temperature in the fridge at the time of reading. I replaced it anyway, no change.
  • The thermistor in the meat drawer reads anywhere from 12.5k Ohm to 13k Ohm, which seems accurate to the temperature in the drawer at the time of reading. I replaced it anyway, no change.
  • The thermistor on the copper pipe of the evaporator coil has measured 86k Ohm, 13k Ohm, and 7.7k Ohm at various times during my debugging - all of which seemed pretty accurate at the time of reading. I have not replaced this thermistor yet.
3
  • The thermistor on the copper pipe of the evaporator coil has measured 86k Ohm, 13k Ohm, and 7.7k Ohm at various times during my debugging - all of which seemed pretty accurate at the time of reading. I have not replaced this thermistor yet.
4
  • The fans for FF and meat drawer both run freely.
  • There is no frost build up on the evaporator coil.
  • The digital display on the fridge door says the fridge temp is 40 degrees, even when the fridge is wide open and both FF and meat drawer sections are roughly 55 degrees. When I put any of the 3 thermistors in hot water, the reading does not change.
  • The fan that blows air to the FF section is sometimes off even when the FF section is 55 degrees.
  • The fan that blows air to the FF section sometimes runs, and when it does it blows 40-45 degree air.
5

Since the meat drawer stays at the correct temperature, I’m thinking the evaporator coil and evaporator thermistor are likely working properly. My main questions are:

  1. Why doesn’t the FF section fan turn on when the FF section is 55 degrees?
  2. When the FF section fan does run, why does it blow 40 degree air?
  3. Why does the digital display say the fridge temp is 40 degrees, even though the 3 thermistors are all significantly warmer than that?