Perlick 8365 diagnostics

As this is my first post, I would like to take a moment and say hello to everyone and thank-you in advance for your help.

I work at a bar at my local town and there is a freezer which has been sitting unused for about 2 years. The boss didn’t want to try and fix it, so he said I could have it.

I’ve made a project out of it and am trying to get it running again. Anyways, this is what I know so far:

Once plugged in the compressor DOES run (I can feel it vibrating, and it gets hot after a while). The fan inside the cooler works as well as the one underneath which blows air on the coils.

The coils are grimy, but I don’t believe they are bad enough to be causing a complete lack of cooling.

The problem is that the freezer does not get cold at all. I put a temperature gauge in and let the freezer run over night. The temperature stayed at 68 the entire night and never moved.

I’m thinking that since the compressor works and the fans are blowing that it may be a coolant issue. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge on the subject could chime in and help lead me in the right direction.

What should my next move be?

The freezer is a early model Perlick (8365).
Think it was mad ein the 80’s and has a manual defrost timer.

[COLOR=“DarkRed”]What should my next move be?[/COLOR]
Unless you want to put major dollars into it I would scrap it.

Since the compressor runs it should be cooling so it is either a bad compressor or you are out of freon.
Both will be an expensive repair as you need a pro.
There is no guarantee that it would be a long term fix or they may not be able to fix it.
As an example: there is no use adding freon without finding and repairing the leak and that may not be possible.