The freeze section is colding

The Ref side is basicly an insulated box, all the cooling coils are in the freezer that's why they put a fan in the freezer to force some of the cold air over to the Ref. side. There is a small opening between the Ref and Freezer with a door. This door is controled by one of the two settings on the Ref side. One of the controls is for the Temprature usually 1 thru 9 with 9 being the coldest and the other controls the little door. Now, why is that cold air in the freezer not going through that little door?

1. The little door is not open wide enough.
Turn your control to open the door wider. This control may be labeled "Freezer" so, when you turn it to the "Coldest" this closes that little door and makes the freezer "Coldest".

You can't see this little door but you should be able to find where the air comes through and feel the cold air, that is,if the fan in the freezer is working. If everything in the freezer is working and you can't feel any air coming through then your "little door" control is not working.

2. Fan in the freezer is not working.
This is pretty easy to check, open the freezer and listen for the fan running.

3. The cooling coils in the freezer are clogged with ice which won't allow the fan to circulate the cold air over to the Ref side.

On a side by side you can take out the bottom drawer and get a partial view of the coils in the back however, to get a full view of the coils you must take everything out of the freezer, romove the shelves, remove the back pannel. You should be able to see the drain at the bottom right under the coils. This area should be clear whit nothing bolcking the drain hole in the middle.

The coils will normally have a light coating of frost but should not be completely clogged with ice. If they are clogged then your defrost system isn't doing it's job.

Defrost System consist of a defrost timer, heating coils, and a thermal disc. You will need an OHM meter to check these and I can give you more details on how to use the meter and how to check the defrost system. ronbuice.com