Top freezer is good food compartment not cooling

Good day,
If your talking about the defrost thermostat, it should look something like this.


In the freezer compartment, remove the rear panel. You should be looking at the cooling coil.
The thermostat is clipped to the top of the coil, usually on the right side.
The heater is mounted to the same coil but is mounted to the bottom of the same coil. To check the heater you will need an ohm meter. It should read no more than 30 ohms and appear in good condition.
Testing the thermostat is a little different in that it must be tested while still cold. It should test out at zero ohms (no resistance).

If both check good the last item is the timer which is located in the fresh food compartment on the top. There is a hole where you can insert a screw driver to advance it. It will only turn clockwise.
With the machine running, turn it until the machine shuts off. Leave it like that. If the machine turns itself back on within 35 minutes, the timer is O.K. If not, the timer is bad, and must be replaced. All 3 items can cause the machine to allow the cooling coil to frost badly enough to deny the fresh food compartment any supply of air.
Also, the fan motor in the freezer section, if not running can cause the same problem.
Here's a good tutorial on defrost systems.

http://www.appliance411.com/faq/howdefrostworks.shtml

Good day,
If the freezer is working then there is no issue with the compressor. The cooling is all performed in the freezer with a small amount of freezer air bleed into the fresh food compartment to cool it. All machines are designed this way.

First, check to see if you can hear the fan motor running in the freezer compartment by opening the freezer door while it is running and listening. If you can't hear it, remove the rear panel inspect and replace as needed.
If the fan is O.K. then look on the bottom half of the rear panel in the freezer compartment for a frost buildup. If so, your defrost system has failed.
You will need to remove the back panel and defrost the coils.

The defrost system is made up of 3 components. The main defrost heater, mounted to the bottom of the cooling coil, the defrost thermostat (a small round disk about 1" in diameter) clipped to the top of that same coil and lastly, a defrost control mounted in the roof of the fresh food compartment and can be a timer, electronic defrost control, or a electronic module.
The main heater rarely fails, the last 2 are usually the culprits,
and should be replaced as a pair.

Your problem must be one of the 2 I've listed, unless for some reason the light switch failed in the fresh food section, and the lights stay on all the time.

Below is a good tutorial on defrost systems. Best I can do without a model number and style.

http://www.appliance411.com/faq/howdefrostworks.shtml

Good day,
This problem appears in spades this time of year, every year.
The problem becomes more severe when the temperatures in the house cools down and is made even worse if the usage of the machine becomes lighter.

It occurs when the machine is off, not on.
There is an open vent, near the bottom, between the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment. This opening or vent is necessary when the machine is running, so that the air pumped into the top of the fresh food section, can return to the freezer compartment. This is by design.
Now,
When the machine is off, the zero degree air from the freezer compartment. can drift into the fresh food compartmnet and drop the temps near the bottom to below freezing.
Off time increases substantialy at this time of year.
Some have even recommended turning the controls colder to offset the problem, but I've no proof it works well, or even a little.
SXS and top freezer models experience it more than bottom freezer models.

it may be a bad timer(timer can be anywhere,inside or out by compressor or behind toe kick it has 5-6 wires and a 1/4 inch hole with a flat screw head in it. use flat screw driver,turn it until it clicks...it will turn one way only...that should put in defrost and in 30 minutes or less the timer should turn compressor back on if not replace timer...when it is in defrost se if element works if not ...check element with meter...also termination switch...open above 32degreeFclose under 32

The fresh food compartment is cooled by air being blown from the freezer compartment into the fresh food compartment. Something is restricting that air flow which causes your fresh food compartment to stay warm.

There is a panel, or door if you will, that separates the freezer and fresh food compartments. The freezer temp control determines how much cold air is allowed to escape into the fresh food compartment by opening or closing this panel.

If the panel is restricted from moving (stuck closed, for example), the freezer will get VERY cold while the fresh food compartment will be warm.

Try thoroughly defrosting the refrigerator. Possibly an accumulation of ice is preventing the panel from moving and/or is restricting air flow from the freezer to the fresh food compartment. It's a free fix and may solve your problem altogether.

If that doesn't help, or helps only temporarily, you may have a problem with panel itself or the linkage that connects it to the control mechanism. Unless you're skilled in appliance repair, checking and repairing these components will require the help of a service technician

Hope this was helpful. Good Luck.

The fresh food compartment is cooled by air being blown from the freezer compartment into the fresh food compartment. Something is restricting that air flow which causes your fresh food compartment to stay warm.

There is a panel, or door if you will, that separates the freezer and fresh food compartments. The freezer temp control determines how much cold air is allowed to escape into the fresh food compartment by opening or closing this panel.

If the panel is restricted from moving (stuck closed, for example), the freezer will get VERY cold while the fresh food compartment will be warm.

Try thoroughly defrosting the refrigerator. Possibly an accumulation of ice is preventing the panel from moving and/or is restricting air flow from the freezer to the fresh food compartment. It's a free fix and may solve your problem altogether.

If that doesn't help, or helps only temporarily, you may have a problem with panel itself or the linkage that connects it to the control mechanism. Unless you're skilled in appliance repair, checking and repairing these components will require the help of a service technician

Hope this was helpful. Good Luck.

The fresh food compartment is cooled by air being blown from the freezer compartment into the fresh food compartment. Something is restricting that air flow which causes your fresh food compartment to stay warm.

There is a panel, or door if you will, that separates the freezer and fresh food compartments. The freezer temp control determines how much cold air is allowed to escape into the fresh food compartment by opening or closing this panel.

If the panel is restricted from moving (stuck closed, for example), the freezer will get VERY cold while the fresh food compartment will be warm.

Try thoroughly defrosting the refrigerator. Possibly an accumulation of ice is preventing the panel from moving and/or is restricting air flow from the freezer to the fresh food compartment. It's a free fix and may solve your problem altogether.

If that doesn't help, or helps only temporarily, you may have a problem with panel itself or the linkage that connects it to the control mechanism. Unless you're skilled in appliance repair, checking and repairing these components will require the help of a service technician

Hope this was helpful. Good Luck.

The fresh food compartment is cooled by air being blown from the freezer compartment into the fresh food compartment.

There is a panel, or door if you will, that separates the freezer and fresh food compartments. The freezer temp control determines how much cold air is allowed to escape into the fresh food compartment by opening or closing this panel.

In your case, the door must be stuck all the way open, allowing all the cold air to be diverted into the fresh food compartment. The compressor cycle is controlled by the thermostat in the fresh food compartment and thus 'short cycles' because the fresh food compartment acheives normal temperature while the freezer is relativel warm.

If the panel is restricted from moving (stuck in the extreme open position, for example), the fresh food compartment will get VERY cold while the freezer will be warm.

Try thoroughly defrosting the refrigerator. Possibly an accumulation of ice is preventing the panel from moving and/or is diverting all the cold air from the freezer into the fresh food compartment. It's a free fix and may solve your problem altogether.

If that doesn't help, or helps only temporarily, you may have a problem with panel/door/flap itself or the linkage that connects it to the control mechanism. Unless you're skilled in appliance repair, checking and repairing these components will require the help of a service technician

Hope this was helpful. Good Luck.

This has happened in my GE side-by-side (model GSS20IEMDWW). For me, the problem was caused by a faulty temp sensor in the fresh food side. That sensor never signalled the computer that the temp in the fresh food side was cool enough, so the compressor ran constantly.

Since the compressor was running constantly, the evaporator coils (back wall of the freezer compartment) eventually iced over (took about a week). Since the fan that draws air over the evaporator coils could no longer move any air (due to the icing), the temperature in the fresh food side continued to climb. (The fresh food side is chilled through a hole with a motorized door at the top of the dividing wall, so if no air is moving in the freezer compartment, temps in the fresh food compartment climb.)

I replaced the temp sensor in the fresh food side and solved the problem for a while. About six months later I had the same problem again, so I replaced both temp sensors in the freezer compartment - which solved the problem again. (My fridge is about seven years old.)

If you are going to replace any of the temp sensors, replace them all under the principle of "if one failed, the rest will soon fail too".

you probably have a bad evap fan motor in the freezer compartment. when this motor goes bad it doesnt distribute the cold air around causin subfreezing temp in the bottom of the freezer it then migrates into the fresh food compartment. you can order the motor by the mod# of your refrig and it is fairly easy to change yourself. good luck peyton