7 or 8 year old Kenmore Elite side by side, model number 106.59966803

A few weeks ago, early one morning I noticed that some things in the freezer were not completely frozen. Also, some refrigerated items temped around 47 degrees, rather than the 36 degree setting. I moved everything that was salvageable to the old basement frig, and was preparing to deal with repairs, etc. In the process, I found a small, flat frozen item that had slipped behind the wire basket drawer, and was partly/mostly blocking an air circulation (I presume) inlet/outlet at the back of the freezer, towards the middle/bottom. After removing that, I left a few partially thawed items at different levels in the freezer, and they all re-froze solid that day, and the frig seemed better also.

Last night before supper, I noticed some cilantro that I had on a middle shelf of the frig (up against the freezer wall/partition) was mostly frozen. After supper, I discovered some popsicles starting to thaw in the freezer. I made sure that the freezer air vent wasn't blocked like before, which it wasn't. I also cleaned the (very dusty) coils underneath the unit. As best as I could anyways, given the odd accordion-like arrangement.

This morning, the popsicles are almost, but not quite, totally frozen, and some leftovers in the frig temped at 46.

I'm really hoping to be able to fix this myself, for budgetary reasons. I also am balancing not wanting to sink $300-$500 into parts and labor for a unit that could have something else fail in the next year. I have a multimeter, although I'm not well versed on most of its uses. I believe the schematics are taped to the back of the unit. Is there anything you can recommend I check?

If all else fails, can you recommend a budget friendly no-frills or thrills unit that is less prone to failure? The Speed Queen of refrigerators, if you will. I'm much more interested in build and component quality than features. Also, I'm not particularly favoring a certain format (side by side, over/under etc). Frig space in a new unit is more useful than freezer space, as we have extra freezer space for overflow in the deep freeze in our basement.

Thanks for any help

My suggestion would be to buy a stand alone freezer, and move all the frozen stuff from you combo set up. Essentially retire the freezer portion of your unit. Just use the refrigerator portion until it fails, then replace it with a stand alone refrigerator.

Wife just informed me that in her travels she has seen those combo units at Costco, Home Depot, etc and they all run well over $2000!

Check to see if there's google or youtube support for your specific model. If you have a multimeter you can sluth out the control board for issues. I was able to fix my GE by identifying that I needed a new thermistor. $10 on Amazon and it was fixed. May not find a solution but it's worth a try.

I would check to see if the thermostat is working. I couldn't find the part number since the Sears website seems to be out of whack.

Some things will freeze in the frig if they are placed too close to the outlet air.

quote:

106.59966803

Biggest issue I have seen on that design is the air diffuser. It's located in the top left of the refrigerator compartment. It has a drive motor and a thermister (temp sensor). You can take off the covers and watch for it to operate. It may be staying open or closed. Part # is WPW10128734.

This unit uses a control board rather than a conventional thermostat.

Thank you Brad, and other gentlemen. I'll check out the diffuser tonight! Elk, I would like to eventually have a nice frig-only unit at some point. We have freezer space downstairs, so it's an option.

Follow up?

Yes, I meant to post back, albeit with no news. The problem, once again has temporarily resolved itself.

Is the intermittent nature of the issue another thing likely pointing to something physical/mechanical in the diffuser being the culprit? It seems like the thermistor component that triggers the diffuser's operation, would be either completely good, or failed, no?

Since we have spare frig and freezer space downstairs in the old kitchen unit, and our deep freezer, I thought the best action would be to keep an eye on it, and next time something is amiss on either the frig or freezer side, try to "catch" the diffuser in the act of being stuck open or closed. I hesitate to throw a $60 part at it, unless you recommend it based on your knowledge and experience.

I'm not one to throw parts at stuff.

I'd leave the cover off the diffuser so you can see it. Sometimes just bumping stuff makes it function.